RECIPES & TECHNIQUES
    
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PRACTICAL TIPS FOR ADOPTING A PLANT-BASED DIET

Be conscious of your food choices.  Try keeping a diary of what you eat for a week, or so.  Note how you are feeling throughout the day and any digestive difficulties, or other health issues that may occur during this time.  “Learn to distinguish superficial cravings from authentic appetites, to give your body the nourishment it needs” (The Yoga of Eating, see resources below).  Also, when consuming food or other items, ask yourself: what you are voting for with your dollars; what are you saying yes to?  If your health and that of your family, others, and the planet is important to you, learn about the true cost of food and other consumable items, and make your choices to the best of your ability with this in mind.

Give yourself time for transition.  Don’t be too hard on yourself.  If you make the transition to a healthy, plant-based diet difficult, it will be hard to stick with it.  Make a list of the food items you would like to reduce, eliminate, or replace with healthier options, then line ‘em up and start knocking ‘em out one-by-one at a reasonable, sustainable pace.  Also make a list of things you would like to try or eat more of and find recipes for them.  Here are a few simple steps to consider:  (1) think of some plant-based dishes that you already enjoy and start eating more of them; (2) find some recipes that could be adapted to be plant-based; (3) go to the library or buy a vegan or vegetarian cookbook and learn some new dishes.  

Eat a wide-variety of organic, whole (unrefined) foods.  Especially avoid or minimize refined flour, sugar, salt, and hydrogenated oils.  Emphasize whole grains, vegetables, legumes (beans), fruits, nuts, and seeds.  Learn to love and eat lots of leafy green vegetables, which are excellent sources of calcium, beta-carotene (a pre-curser to vitamin A), iron, folate, and other nutrients.  Eat a wide variety of colors – veggies, fruits, legumes, and even grains come in a wide variety of colors, which all contain different nutrients that are good for you.  Be careful about depending too much on a single food, such as soy.  Soy beans and products made from them (milk, cheese, butter, tofu, tempeh, miso, seitan, etc.) have many health benefits and are great transition foods when moving towards a plant-based diet, but should not be your sole source of protein. 

Eat foods that were grown locally whenever possible.  Locally produced foods are better for you and for the planet.  They are more likely to be fresh and will therefore retain more nutrients and do not require a lot of non-renewable resources to be used for distribution.  Learn to garden or frequent your local farmers market.

Choose organic or pesticide-free foods. There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects.  Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.  Growing foods organically, especially in gardens or small-scale farms, using sustainable practices is much better for the planet, too!  For more information see online resources below. 

Educate yourself about nutrition and a plant-based diet.  The book “Becoming Vegan: The complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet,” by Brenda Davis, R.D. & Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D., is a great place to start.  Calcium, Omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin D are nutrients to pay attention to in transitioning to a plant-based diet.  Some of the best sources of calcium are leafy greens (especially bok choy, collards, kale, broccoli), almonds, tahini (sesame-seed butter), soy products, other high-calcium beans, hijiki seaweed, blackstrap molasses, and figs.  Vitamin B12 can be obtained from supplements or fortified foods.  Vitamin D can be obtained from 10-15 minutes/day of sun exposure or from fortified foods.  See the next tip for more about Omega-3 fatty acids.  In addition to consuming a well-balanced diet in terms of nutrients, consider consulting long-standing healing traditions that have much to teach us about the effects of specific foods on our bodies and energetic system, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda (from India; see books on nutrition below, or consult a practitioner).  
  
Be smart about, but not afraid of fats.  Too much fat and/or unhealthy fats in your diet can cause health problems, however, we do need some fat, especially the essential fatty acids, which when eaten in the right proportion are health-enhancing.  It is best to get most of the fat you consume from whole foods, such as: flax seeds (which should be ground immediately before consuming) or flax seed oil (flax is a great source of the health-promoting Omega-3 fatty acid); nuts, especially almonds and walnuts, which are unsalted and not rancid (rancidity is a common problem); seeds (especially pepitos, or pumpkin seeds); avocados; olives; and, soy beans.  Although it is clear that moderate amounts of fats found in fresh, plant-based foods are wonderful for your health, there is A LOT of controversy about what kinds of cooking oils are best to use in terms of health.  For example, is coconut oil good or bad for you?  Recent research suggests the answer may not be what we were previously taught, but rather that saturated oils from tropical plants (coconuts and palms) may actually be good for you, as opposed to the saturated fats in animals, which are made of a different chemical structure.  When you do use extracted oils, whenever possible, use oils that are unrefined and cold- or expeller-pressed and do not heat oils to high temperatures, which creates free radicals that are very bad for your health. 

Learn to cook!  There are plenty of “fast” foods that are plant-based out there now, which are great for times when we really need food to be convenient.  However, to cultivate maximum health from a plant-based diet, it is best not too rely too heavily on these foods, as they tend to be more processed and contain more salt and/or sugar than dishes you can make from scratch using whole foods.  To make your plant-based diet simpler, learn to make a few “signature” dishes that are relatively easy and you really enjoy making and eating; then, vary the recipes from time-to-to-time, using different grains, legumes, veggies, or spices, to add variety and nutrients.  Also, veggies can be prepped (washed, chopped, or otherwise prepared) ahead of time on the weekend, or whenever you have a little extra time.  Don’t expect other people to know how to cook for you: bring yummy plant-based food to dinner parties and offer to cook when visiting friends or relatives – this will ensure that you have something to eat and is a way to share this aspect of your lifestyle with others in a way they can appreciate. 

Discover healthy plant-based treats.  The market for vegan treats is really booming these days, so there are more and more truly yummy options available.  Be aware that they are not all super-healthy, especially if they contain refined flour, sugar, and/or unhealthy (highly-processed) oils.  However, it is important to allow yourself especially tasty treats on occasion, so that you do not feel as if you are depriving yourself, which may result in make less healthy food choices in the long-run.  When you are making wholesome treats for yourself and/or your loved-ones, experiment with alternative sweetners: stevia is a sweetner made from a plant that has almost no calories, is much sweeter than sugar (so you use much less – be careful here!), and is so good for you, it is actually sold in the supplement section of health food stores; agave nectar is relatively low on the glycemic index and tastes wonderful; pure maple syrup has minerals in it; and, blackstrap molasses is a source of calcium.

Learn about sprouting and soaking grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds prior to eating or cooking.  Sprouting and soaking greatly increases the digestibility of foods and in some cases their nutrient content.  In addition, soaking and sprouting greatly reduces cooking time, so more nutrients are retained and you spend less time and fuel cooking your meal.

Learn to read labels.  You may be shocked when you start looking into what those unfamiliar ingredients in your food, cosmetics, and household products really are.  Many preservatives and artificial flavors and colors are derived from petrochemicals or animal products and aren’t exactly good for you.  See the Environmental Working Group’s website listed below. 

Be prepared when you travel.  It is often difficult to find vegetarian, and especially vegan, food while on the road.  If you are traveling by car, bring a cooler packed with yummy, plant-based food.  If space is limited, bring nutritious and filling snacks to get you to your destination.  Check out some of the websites below for guides to veg-friendly food stores and restaurants in the area where you will be traveling.

Plant-based diets, spirituality, and religion.  Some people choose to eat vegetarian or completely plant-based diets because of ethical values, including environmental, general non-harming, Ahimsa (a Buddhist, Hindu, and Jainist doctrine holding that all forms of life are sacred and urging the avoidance of violence), and others. These values often stem from religious or spiritual beliefs (most notably Jainists, Sikhs, Hare Krishnas, some Hindus, some Buddhists, some Daoists, and the Christian Essenes or Nazarenes – if you are familiar with others, please let me know!). For people of these faiths, a vegetarian or vegan diet is part of a set of ethical standards they have decided to live by, including in most cases, developing universal love, compassion, humility, forgiveness, and a non-judgmental attitude. 

BOOKS

    NUTRITION & PLANT-BASED DIETS

Becoming Vegan  Brenda Davis, R.D. & Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.  This is an excellent starting point if you are considering transition to a plant-based diet, or even if you already eat this way and want to be sure you are optimizing the nutritional value of your food.

The China Study  T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II.  Drawing on the project findings in rural China, but going far beyond those findings, The China Study details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The report also examines the source of nutritional confusion produced by powerful lobbies, government entities, and opportunistic scientists.

Conscious Eating  Gabriel Cousens, M.D.  This is an interesting book that emphasizes the nutritional benefits of a plant-based diet and living (raw, sprouted) foods.   It also contains several self-tests that can help you to individualize your diet for your specific needs, helping you to be more educated and conscious of your personal food choices.  Although it is advocated in this book, eating a completely, or even primarily, raw food diet may be healthful for some, or for a short period, but is not necessarily for everyone, all the time.  (For example, the book above, Becoming Vegan, presents information on both cooked and raw foods and concludes that it is wise to include some of both in our diets). 

Healing with Whole Foods  Paul Pitchford.  This is an incredible reference book for anyone who truly wants to eat for health!  It combines information from Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and western nutrition to inform the reader about whole foods and herbs to be consumed for overall health, as well as specific health issues and includes  recipes and food preparation tips.

Rejuvenate: A 21-Day Natural Detox Plan for Optimal Health  Helene Silver.  This is a very gentle (non-fasting) approach to detoxing your body and learning about a healthy diet that is easier on your body.

The Yoga of Eating: Transcending Diets and Dogma to Nourish the Natural Self  Charles Eisenstein.  This is an excellent book that explains how to become more aware of the effect of your food choices (on your health, others, the planet, etc.) and how to tune into your body to see what it needs prior to making them.

    VEGAN (OR VEGAN-FRIENDLY) COOK BOOKS

Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners: Familiar Western Food Prepared with Ayurvedic Principles Amadea Morningstar.  This book is not completely vegan, but has many wonderful, healthy recipes that are vegan or can be adapted to be vegan with egg, ghee, and/or milk substitutes.  It also includes some basic information about Ayurvedic nutrition principles and advice on personalizing your diet for your body.

Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker Robin Robertson.

Incredibly Delicious Gentle World Inc.

Millennium Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine Eric Tucker, John Westerdahl, Sascha Weiss.

The Sacred Kitchen: Higher-Consciousness Cooking for Health and Wholeness Robin Robertson and Jon Robertson.

Vegan Lunch Box Jennifer McCann.

Vegan with a Vengeance Isa Chandra Moskowitz. 

Vegan World Fusion Cuisine Mark Reinfeld & Bo Rinaldi. 

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone Deborah Madison.  This is not strictly vegan, but has many vegan recipes and is an excellent cookbook! 

Vive Le Vegan!: Simple, Delectable Recipes For The Everyday Vegan Family Dreena Burton.

The Voluptuous Vegan Myra Kornfield and George Minot.  These recipes are so yummy!  But many of them are also a bit labor-intensive, so it is great for making meals on special occasions, or just when you have a bit more time.

JOURNALS / MAGAZINES

Vegetarian Journal  This is the home page for the Vegetarian Resource Group, which publishes this journal and has lots of great information on their website.  The Vegetarian Journal features health tips, recipes, book reviews, and information about new vegetarian resources (foods, companies, travel, etc.), and does not accept paid advertising.

Vegetarian Times  This magazine focuses on recipes and articles about cooking.

VegNews  The focus of this magazine is everything vegetarian (including resources, travel, green investing, vegan weddings, animal rights, activism, etc.), with an emphasis on veganism.

ONLINE

    Tips and “Starter Kits” for adopting a healthy plant-based diet

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s vegetarian starter kit

The Mayo Clinic’s Vegetarian diet: A starter's guide to a plant-based diet  A well-planned vegetarian diet is a healthy way to meet your nutritional needs.  Find out what you need to know about.

Dina Aronson, MS, RD is a vegan dietitian whose specialties include chronic disease prevention, vegetarian/vegan nutrition, and lifestyle management.  You can submit dietary questions to her online.
 
    Veg-Friendly Restaurant and Travel Information

Happy Cow  Happy Cow's vegetarian restaurants guide is a global, searchable vegetarian dining guide and directory of natural health food stores, including nutrition & health tips, vegan recipes, raw foods, travel, veganism and other vegetarian issues.

Geen People  List of local vegetarian societies around the country.

Vegetarian USA  A guide to restaurants, health food stores, and other veg-resources in the USA.

    Sustainable Food

The True Cost of Food  A campaign to promote sustainable food choices from the Sierra Club National Sustainable Consumption Committee. 

Sustainable Table  Sustainable Table celebrates the sustainable food movement, educated consumers on food-related issues and works to build community through food. 

    Information about Chemicals in Food and other products

Environmental Working Group's pesticides in produce pocket guide  This produce ranking was developed by the not-for-profit  (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce.  Also, see EWG’s homesite for more information about potential threats to threats to your health and the environment, and to find solutions.

    Plant-based Diets and Culture, Spirituality, and Religion

History of Vegetarianism: Native Americans and Vegetarianism  On the International Vegetarian Union Website.

Vegetarianism and Religon  Interesting information about vegetarianism and religion on Wikipedia.

Links to articles about Religions and Vegetarianism  On the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) Website.