Vegan Diet Guy

Part 2 of a guest post by Jim Dunlop, a loyal reader, frequent commentator, and self-declared “flexitarian”. I hope Jim’s story inspires you–wherever you are–to begin taking steps to improve your diet and health today.

Once I finally realized that meals didn’t need to be centered around meat, I started examining the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. William certainly expressed his firm convictions gained from Dr. Campbell’s “The China Study”, and the results are compelling. I also found the Meatless Monday website a very practical resource. It explains the movement’s historical significance–having been part of a massive WWI consumption reduction campaign by Herbert Hoover–and how mainstream medical professionals agree on the benefits of going meatless. The website stated “Going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic, preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. It can also help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fresh water and fossil fuel.”

“That’s awesome!” I said to myself. “If going meatless only one day a week can have those kinds of benefits, then how much MORE could I benefit my health if I went meatless TWO days a week… What about THREE? Four? Okay… Let’s not get TOO carried away here…” And yet, it was then I had a second epiphany — another “aha!” moment… If we eat three meals a day, many of us already eat one-third of our meals meatless.  I’ve never been one to eat much meat at breakfasts, and I know many devout carnivores who don’t, either… Cereal, oatmeal, toast, eggs, fruit, are all commonly eaten breakfast foods without an once of meat anywhere in sight! Well, if we are already eating ONE meal meatless, all we have to do is extend that same kind of thinking to two more meals, and the next thing you know, you have a meatless DAY. Repeat this the next day, and before you know it, you have a meatless WEEK. It’s all just one small step at a time.

Fast-forward to year-end holidays, (more…)

When I encourage others to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet, my job is infinitely easier when they are receptive and eager to learn, with a high “teachability-index”, that combination of willingness to learn and willingness to accept change.

Although Jim Dunlop is still in progress toward a 1oo% plant-based diet, I’m happy to play some small part in his journey, and I’m honored to run Jim’s personal story here:

Waking up every morning shivering in my cold, uninsulated house, it’s almost comforting to think back and recollect the summer that just passed when it all began. The sweltering heat in Yamanashi, Japan felt especially brutal with everyone taking special measures to conserve energy after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that took out one of Japan’s nuclear power stations, thus causing shortages on much of the main island of Honshu.

I’ve never been anything but a carnivore. Really. Growing up with traditional Czech parents transplanted to southern Alberta, Canada (where beef producers are about as proud as Texans), I don’t think I ever had a single meal that didn’t somehow involve meat, or dairy for that matter. In fact, if you try Googling: “Czech +vegetarian” your computer will start audibly laughing at you.  So after I moved out on my own, went to college, got married, and eventually moved to Japan — another land of meat-a-plenty, I never even thought about it. I simply just kept cooking and eating what I’ve been used to my whole life.

Imagine my bewilderment then, waking up one day late July, having lost any and all desire to eat meat. It’s almost as if my body just told my brain, “Brain, you know what? We’ve had enough. How about something different for a change? We demand new dishes!” (more…)

Although you may just be considering a vegan diet for the first time, you probably already know that the fewer animal products you eat, the better–with a 100% plant-based diet being best for health, as well as ethically and environmentally.

However, given all you’ve heard about the Mediterranean Diet, “healthy fats”, and “good cholesterol” you may be surprised to learn that a diet containing NO (zero!) added oils is both optimum AND possible to achieve.

While it is true that a Mediterranean diet is superior to a Standard American Diet, this is mainly because the Meditterean diet contains less animal protein and more fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.

A big reason for the confusion over dietary fat is that “healthy” is a relative term, and even foods that exclude animal products can be health-promoting OR health-degrading.

Olive oil is healthier in comparison to animal fats such as butter, but unfortunately cannot be considered health-promoting. In fact, olive oil (even extra virgin) has virtually no nutrients, except fat–and our body already manufactures all the fat it needs. Excess dietary fat from any source contributes to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Many people have become obese on the Meditteranean diet consuming too much fat, mostly in the form of olive oil.

According to Dr. John McDougall, the oil extraction processes remove the “naturally-designed and balanced environment of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and ten thousand other chemicals” of the whole food (olives, corn, soybeans, etc.) to such a degree that “Free-oils are not food—at best these are medications, causing some desirable effects, and at worst; they are serious toxins causing disease.”

Rather than using olive oil (or other processed oils), choose instead to eat the whole food, such as olives. One tablespoon olive oil has 126 calories vs 154 calories in one cup of olives. Olive oil may contain traces of the benefits of olives–such as polyphenols–but has none of the fiber, mineral or vitamins contained in whole olives.

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While some visitors to this site come searching for first-hand vegan diet advice and easy and delicious vegan recipes, others wind up here simply curious about how vegans can live without consuming any animal products, including dairy or eggs.

A vegan diet is widely described as a “strict vegetarian diet”, and apparently even vegetarians see it as too difficult to follow. On the other hand, many long-term vegans cannot identify with the challenges of those trying to go vegan.

All the hyperbole over a vegan diet can be overwhelming to someone just considering beginning one. To ease the journey, I recommend the term “plant-based diet”–focusing on the vast number and variety of plant foods available, instead of what you perceive you’ll be giving up.

When I first read “The China Study” and decided I was ready to take author Colin Campbell’s One-Month Challenge (“You’ve eaten cheeseburgers your whole life; a month without them won’t kill you.”), I wondered why the publisher didn’t commission a China Study diet plan and recipe book to aid the transition to a plant-based diet.

Well, Rip Esselstyn’s “The Engine 2 Diet” is about as close as you can come. (more…)

Sushi was one of the hardest foods to give up after I resolved to adopt a vegan diet. After all, my passion for sushi was one of the things that brought me to live in Japan in the first place. And while Japan is infamous for exclusive sushi shops that charge $500 per person, even low-end sushi (such as kaiten, or “conveyor belt” style) is fresh and inexpensive compared to other countries, making it hard to resist.

For some time after I had bid sayonara to meat, eggs and dairy, I continued the Japanese institution of going out for sushi with friends and family. At first, I ate varieties consisting of mostly vegetables such as natto (fermented soybeans) and green onions, cucumber, takuon (pickled radish), kampyo (dried gourd), as well as inarizushi (fried bean curd filled with sushi rice and black sesame seeds). (more…)

Fast Tube by Casper

Fortunately, now there’s hope even for those not willing to read The China Study, provided they’ll go to watch the movie instead.

Written by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, The China Study is THE book that triggered me and many others to begin a vegan diet. Legendary South African golfer Gary Player (the oldest player to make the cut at The Masters in 1998) is the one who recommended The China Study to me, explaining that giving up eating animal products in his early 70s had changed his life and made him feel 20 years younger.

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Jo Stepaniak’s “Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook” was among the first cookbooks I bought after deciding to adopt a vegan diet 3 years ago. For those not familiar with the term “uncheese”,  Stepaniak uses it to describe rich-tasting spreads, dips, sauces and blocks produced with dairy-free whole foods (primarily beans, nuts, or grains).

Cheese lovers be forewarned: you may be in for some disappointment if you’re expecting tofu to taste like Feta cheese or chickpeas like Havarti. The book’s introduction even acknowledges that “uncheeses are not going to be like dairy cheeses, so please adjust your expectations accordingly. ”

Unfortunately I skipped Stepaniak’s well-intentioned introduction and plowed in to the recipes, attempting  Tofu Ricotta, Chick Cheez, Swizz Cheez, Buffalo Mostarella, Brie, Betta Feta, White Bean Boursin, Monterey Jack and Port Wine uncheeses.  And while all were tasty (my favorite is the sharp Chick Cheez spread–made from Garbanzo Beans) they left me somewhat disillusioned and wondering whether I could actually live without real cheese.

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I’ve blogged numerous times about how The China Study was the single biggest motivating factor in my adopting a vegan diet. However, at least equally important is “Veganomicon,” the book that has sustained me through the transition and has become a fixture in my kitchen.

Veganomicon, which bills itself (rightly so) as the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, is the product of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, who also wrote “Vegan with a Vengeance” and “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”. The pair also created the PostPunkKitchen (theppk.com) vegan recipe website, where you can find some teaser recipes from the Veganomicon book.

My partner and I have tried about 40 of the dishes in Veganomicon, some several times, and our copy of Veganomicon (covered with numerous post-it notes and splatters of various sauces) is never far from our sides or minds. (more…)

Since I became vegan within the past 3 years, I have become an enthusiastic advocate of a vegetarian diet. As a result, I was disappointed to learn from the Vegetarian Resource Group’s 2009 survey that the vegetarian needle has hardly moved in the past 6 years. In fact, there has been little increase in U.S. vegetarianism from a statistical standpoint in 20 years. VRG poll responses indicated that 3% of adults were vegetarian, and about 1/3 of those could be classified as vegan (eating no animal products).

Unlike many vegans who became vegan for reasons of ethics or animal rights, my main reason for becoming vegan was to maintain and improve health. The China Study revealed that eating a plant-based diet was the best way to reduce risks for the top causes of premature death, namely cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mis-medication, and hospitalization. Because my work was extremely stressful, and there was history of heart disease and cancer in my family, I felt it almost inevitable I would fall ill, too.  While there is no guarantee I can avoid that fate, adopting a plant-based diet has given me a greater sense of control over my future.

As I’ve described in previous posts, getting to the point of maintaining a vegan diet (and considering myself vegan) took time. I was deeply attached to many foods, whether from my Italian-American upbringing (i.e. meats and cheeses) and also from having lived in Japan for two decades (sukiyaki, sushi, etc). The hardest part of a vegan diet is difficulty of eating with others and eating at restaurants.

In order to avoid eating animal products (and unhealthy products in general), you usually need to prepare and eat more food at home and carry it with you, as well. I recognize the time and trouble (varies depending on the type of work you do, i.e. sales) it takes to maintain a vegan diet is an obstacle for many who would like to become healthier, too. Eating at home is healthy, but I understand it is not always practical, and some people may feel socially isolated as well.

That’s why I was somewhat disappointed in the results of the latest VRG survey. If there were more vegetarians and vegans to attract marketers, there would be social support for busy and socially active people to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle, encouraging more people to become vegetarian or vegan.  It would be a virtuous cycle.

I believe many people are turned off by ethical connotations of the word “veganism”. This must be the case, because there are so few vegans (perhaps less than 2% of U.S. adults according to a 2003 poll!), and I can’t think of any good reason, unless it’s that people are just accustomed to eating animals?

On my site, a vegan diet simply refers to a diet that is free of animal protein, including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy products.  When I say becoming vegan, I mean adopting a plant-based diet. Nothing more.

Once you decide to adopt a vegan diet, at least three-fourths of the supermarket floor space, and 99% of restaurants (including much of your favorite all-you-can-eat buffet) are off-limits! That was a depressing realization when I first began practicing a vegan diet a few years ago.

It’s not that hard to adopt a vegan diet, and nor do you have to  be 100% faithful to benefit from one. For me it was a gradual, not an overnight, process to give up eating animal products. But–when you become vegan for health reasons–you don’t have to feel guilty for the occasional and sometimes unavoidable lapse of meat-eating.

In fact, the most challenging part of becoming vegan is how to deal with eating out, and dining with family, friends, and colleagues. Therefore, as it is when developing any new habits, it’s helpful to find like-minded people who are also interested in reducing their intake of animal products, too. But don’t despair if you can’t think of anyone now!

Trust me. I was a HUGE meat eater. I couldn’t have imagined giving up grilled steaks and rack of lamb with mint sauce and veal shanks cooked in wine…or garlic and herb crusted chicken. But eating a vegan diet doesn’t require you to feel you are sacrificing the pleasure of eating. You can have your (vegan) cake and eat it too.

It takes time, but your tastes will adapt, and you will not crave or miss animal products, because there are infinite possibilities for delicious vegan meals and snacks. Just follow some of the links on this site, or Google “vegan recipes” for yourself. Don’t expect to change  overnight, just believe you can achieve whatever you want if you want it bad enough.

For those of you who read this far but forgot why you should consider becoming a vegan: Strong evidence suggests that eating animal products is not good, and is probably more than a little bad for your health. To see for yourself, I highly recommend (again) you read The China Study.