? for Kathryn and other Vegans

[debbydarestobefit]

I'm considering easing into more vegetarian/vegan eating. What books would you recommend for this? Also, what brand of soy milk do you recommend both for the nutritional value and the taste? Or do you prefer rice or almond milk? TIA, Deb

 

[SRP]

Hi, Deb - I'm a vegetarian, but sometimes I'll tend a bit more toward veganism. Anyhow, a great cookbook is "Vegan Planet." It's got some awesome recipes. Another really helpful book is "Eat to Live." I can't remember the author, but you should be able to find it online. This book promotes veganism, primarily as a way to lose weight. But it provides some wonderful information about how to eat healthy as a vegan.

And if you decide to become a vegetarian instead, vegan diets are easy to modify, just by adding dairy or eggs.

My personal preference for soy milk is the Silk brand, by the way.

 

[debbydarestobefit]

Thanks Shannon ... Vegan Planet is now in my shopping cart at Amazon. Deb

 

[alsrnbsn]

Not even close to being vegan/vegetarian, but I can't drink regular milk and I prefer 8th continent soy milk. I'm not a huge fan of Silk because carageenan and I try to stay away from that.

In fact, I've actually been trying to cut a lot of soy out of my diet and it's helped me drop weight, bloating and generally, less extraneous hair growth ;-)

 

[luvmylabs]

Eat to Live is written by Joel Fuhrman. I like both rice and almond milk. There is also hemp milk and hemp protein powder. I use brown rice protein powder.

 

[Liann]

Debby - I like any cookbook by Dreena Burton. She's great! Also, the book "Becoming Vegan" has a lot of important nutritional info. etc... There is another book called "Being Vegan". I have that, but do not really like it at all. "Becoming" Vegan was great though. I'm vegetarian and have been slowly cutting out the rest of the animal products. I use Vegenaise now instead of mayo (and I love it). For sour cream, I have found a product called Tofutti "Better than sour cream" and again I love that. Milk has been replaced with Silk's Soy milk. I only use the regular version - can't stand the "vanilla" flavor. I am starting to experiment with cheese alternatives. There are so many products on the market today that make it easier than ever to go vegetarian or vegan. The other night my DH and I had hamburgers. I had a morningstar veggie burger on a whole wheat bun with a slice of soy cheese and vegenaise. It tasted great! Good luck!

 

[kathryn]

Hi, Deb!

>I'm considering easing into more vegetarian/vegan eating.
>What books would you recommend for this?

"Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina is a good general reference guide: http://store.nexternal.com/shared/S...2=730430245&CategoryID=48&Target=products.asp

Shannon mentioned "Eat To Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, which is another good reference.

A good nutrition guide (very well researched) is "Plant-Based Nutrition and Health" by Stephen Walsh.


>Also, what brand of
>soy milk do you recommend both for the nutritional value and
>the taste? Or do you prefer rice or almond milk?

I usually get Silk soy (it's the easiest to find). I prefer the chocolate (which I sometimes use as a post-workout carb/protein drink). If you use it as an ingredient in recipes or mixed in smoothies, almost any brand is pretty good. If you want to drink it 'as-is,' some take some getting used to. I recommend picking up a few different types, trying them out to see which you prefer (and those you don't like to use as-is, use as a milk substitute in some recipes). Nutritionally, they are all pretty similar, but watch the carb content on some of the vanilla ones, which can be rather high in some cases.

I also like Hemp milk (Living Harvest brand. There's another brand that sounds similar, but tastes yuk!), and rice milk (Rice Dream). I also occastionally drink almond or other nut milk, like macademia nut milk (I make them myself from raw, soaked nuts).

 

[debbydarestobefit]

Thanks for your help everyone! I'm kinda excited about this. I've been on a detox diet for the past month and next week I'll be able to start adding back red meat, eggs and dairy, but I'm not sure I want to. There was a week in the detoxing in which all animal and soy products were eliminated. I've added back poultry and fish this past week and can tell a big difference in my digestion, and not for the good.

I'm not well educated on the pros/cons of soy products. So Amy, I don't know what "carageenan" is and I've never heard about hair growth as a side effect of soy. Guess I'll need to read up on that aspect as well.

I've read "Eat to Live" a few years back & will re-read it now. I'm looking into the other resources suggested here now. Kathryn, I'm having difficulty finding Walsh's book ... guess it was printed in Great Britain?

Thanks again! Deb

 

[SRP]

Carageenan isn't a soy product. It comes from seaweed and is generally used as a thickening agent.

 

[kathryn]

> Kathryn, I'm having difficulty finding Walsh's book ... guess
>it was printed in Great Britain?

It used to be at Amazon, but it looks like it's out of print (though available through Amazon from other vendors). I got mine at www.veganoutreach.com , but they don't have it anymore either.

 

[bethers]

A great educational website is http://www.drmcdougall.com/
Here you will find medical info, recipes, discussion boards, etc. The "Star McDougaller" profiles are very inspirational too. As far as soy, rice, or almond milk, I usually go for the unsweetened brands as I don't like the taste of the ones with too much sugar.

 

[pixiesis]

I agree with another poster that Dreena Burton books are very good. I just picked up the newest one "Eat, Drink, and be Vegan" and it's a super cookbook. I also like her website, where she provides many of her great recipes for free (vivelevegan.com). I most certainly will be making her chocolate pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, if not sooner! Go to the website and look at the pictures if you dare!

I also just picked up Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein. This book is cool because it uses no meat or dairy subs. Everything is very simple and authentic. I made an orzo dish last night that was amazing AND very simple and healthy. DH LOVED it actually asked if he could have the leftovers to take to work. I have never seen this man eat leftovers so that's big.

For wonderful and yummy recipes (not necessarily low-fat however) Isa Chandra is my favorite. My sister, my mom, and I have her book Vegan with a Vengeance and we all swear by it. This woman's recipes are all perfect and delicious. She has a new book on the way, Veganomican, that I will definitely get. I honestly believe that it will be the Holy Grail of vegan cooking.

I like Eat to Live and the RAVE diet for super healthy recipes. I also look at vegweb.com often. I have a TON of vegan cookbooks, and others that I haven't mentioned that I also love, but these are my current faves. Enjoy your vegan adventure! A lot of people think vegan eating is so limiting, but with all my cookbooks and recipes I know that there are endless amounts of variety and tons of exploring to do!

Amy