Vegan Diet Guy

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.

If you have been concerned about the current state of your health, or worry about falling ill in the future due to a medical condition that runs in your family, you are certainly not alone. But you don’t have to resign yourself to poor health, because research proves that diet plays a much more significant role than genetics in predicting health.

Although I was brought up eating a large variety of vegetables, until 3 years ago (at 43), I was also an avid consumer of animal products–especially meats, cheese and dairy products–and would not have dreamed of adopting a 100 percent plant-based diet, much less singing its praises. That all changed when I read The China Study.

According to the book’s author, T. Colin Campbell, PhD., there are major health benefits to be gained by reducing the percentage of animal-based foods from the 20-30 percent average for most Americans to under 10 percent, or better yet, zero percent. This means the large majority, 95 percent of US adults who eat animal products regularly, will have to alter your eating habits, as I did.

But almost everyone who gives up eating animal products say they feel healthier, energetic, and younger, and wonder why they waited so long. My own cholesterol and body fat dropped notably within a month or two after reducing my intake of animal products, after years of trying but never succeeding to reduce it by regular exercise alone.

I have since lost 15 pounds and have had to purchase new clothes (it’s much more fun buying smaller clothes than bigger). I had to get all new cookbooks and learn how to cook all over again, too. Fortunately, there are endless resources on the internet to assist with meatless cooking. Please check out some of the links on this site for ideas.