Pain Quotidien UK; A Review

Having visited the US lots in the past 10 years, and having consulted Happy Cow a bazillion times to find vegan restaurants (or restaurants with vegan options) in various towns and cities, I’ve long been aware of the Pain Quotidien chain of rustic, casual bakery/restaurants.

I’ve just read they are Belgian of origin, but the headquarters are now in New York. You can find them in London; many cities in the US; Paris, Belgium and Australia; and you can find franchises of PQ in places such as Japan, Brazil, UAE and Spain.

To vegans they are known for having very clearly marked vegan options on all their menus, and to others for having communal tables in their spaces (don’t panic Brits! They have smaller, private tables too. Or is it just me that gets nervous at the word communal 🙂 )

The vegan options are not just salad or hummus and celery sticks, but proper, grown-up starters and main courses that feel like they would rival the non-vegan dishes in taste and texture.

I have no idea why I didn’t try them out for the longest time.

Earlier this year, I finally got around to trying my first Pain Quotidien in Los Angeles (the Larchmont branch).

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t discovered them earlier!

The space was attractive, with a little shop selling some of their own artisanal products – jams, chutneys etc. The garden was beautiful, full of sweet-smelling flowers – but this was Los Angeles, you wouldn’t get this everywhere!

I opted for some lentil soup and salad, which were both substantial and thoughtfully flavoured. The salad wasn’t too heavily dressed (this is a common mistake in restaurants!), it was just perfect. My partner had a killer tofu scramble, and I washed my meal down with some delicious house chai with almond milk.

The hot drinks are served in bowls, which I love; it reminds me of when I lived in the south of France.

I was really impressed with the food, value, service and ambience at this Pain Quotidien and will always bear PQ in mind now when looking for somewhere to eat in the US.

So how does Pain Quotidien UK measure up?

Well, I can only truly speak of one branch, I have no idea if it’s representative or not, though there are elements that are the same in every PQ – the wooden chairs and tables, the rustic atmosphere, the communal seating etc.

The menus are all similar but there are variances based on locale and season. There always does seem to be solid vegan options however, this doesn’t change.

On the rainy August Bank Holiday Monday, after an event that ended up being a washout at the Royal Festival Hall, we decided to try the local (Royal Festival Hall) branch of Pain Quotidien, for a late lunch.

This particular branch is very close to Waterloo station, so as well as the space you see in the above photo, there’s also a basement level hall under the actual railway arches, which adds a nice local touch.

The vegan options are clearly marked on the menu with a carrot sign, like so:

As well as a vegan soup and a couple of decent vegan salads (forgot to take a photo – one had quinoa, taboulé, raw vegetables, avocado and organic rapeseed oil and the other was freshly shaved fennel, raw slaw, chickpeas and basil vinaigrette – no iceberg lettuce here!), they have a couple of vegan ‘tartine’ options:

The other was also avocado toast but with lemon and cumin.

These were the hot dishes, or mains (the chilli seems to be available at most locations):

Some straight-up sides:

And desserts:

They also do breakfasts, and vegan choices include porridge, fruit salad and granola.

Now I’m a huge lover of chilli, and have wanted to try PQ’s version since I learned they had one, so my choice was easy. My partner went for the quinoa cake. We figured we couldn’t go wrong adding a side of roasted baby potatoes!

This was a bean chilli, But I think I counted just 3 beans in the entire dish!

I ADORE chilli and it’s a great dish to veganise because it really doesn’t need meat. The beans carry the flavour marvellously, and if you have enough beans in there (you can chuck some corn in there too if you want to add another texture) you don’t need anything else.

Unfortunately, this chilli contained a tonne of – I’m guessing it was soy protein or TVP? Now a little of this would have been fine, especially if there were more beans for variance of texture.

But whoever made this dish had been a bit heavy-handed with the soy protein, or maybe this is just the PQ recipe? It felt like a meat-eater had made it and thought ‘I’ll chuck a tonne of this meat-substitute in ‘cos that’s what vegans want.’ It definitely made for an, um, ‘over-chewy’ experience.

Yet…the actual taste was great. It absolutely came up to scratch flavour-wise. The guacamole that came with it was good too.

The soy sour cream was completely superfluous, and tasted more like soy yoghurt. Then one of the wait-staff told us it actually WAS soy yoghurt.

The dish came with a couple slices of bread, and it was strange that it was served with regular butter when it’s a vegan dish! I get that non-vegans may order this dish too, but maybe give us some vegan spread, and if someone wants regular butter they’ll ask?

This was the quinoa cake. You know, it was ok. It tasted just fine. But I don’t know how they came up with it. The beetroot ‘caviar’ tasted just like mashed-up beetroot, and the carrot hummus tasted just like, well, mashed-up carrot.

Because these things are nice enough in and of themselves, this dish was, uh, nice enough. The quinoa cake was lightly flavoured with herbs, and not as dry as it perhaps looks. It was slightly weird to me that the cake was hot and the other elements were cold, but maybe this is a thing, I don’t know.

The roasted baby potatoes were great, but I thought roast potatoes were supposed to be a bit browner and crunchier? Look, they were good, let’s leave it at that.

I LOOOVVED my matcha latte! Hurrah! But can I have one final moan and say it could’ve been a bit hotter?

My partner enjoyed his coffee 🙂

I’m always thrilled to see agave available as a sweetener. This has been available for years in many US cafes, but I think it’s the first time I’ve seen it here,

Verdict:

If my experience of PQ in Los Angeles was pretty representative of all US branches – I’d say it’s an excellent choice for snacks, breakfasts, brunches, lunches and early dinners (they tend to close earlier than regular restaurants).

Service was second-to-none, as was the freshness, taste and value of the food.

If you find one with outdoor seating in a pretty space as we did, even better.

I’ll ALWAYS consider PQ while in the US if there is no dedicated vegan restaurant available, and you know what? Maybe even if there is.

As for PQ UK (which maybe should be PQ London – it’s the only city in the UK with branches) I’d still consider it. It wasn’t bad, it’s just that nothing was great, and a few things just niggled. It’s so great to not feel niggled when dining out!

I don’t know how much the fact that I’d consider it is due to there not being many other options.

Next time I’d probably stick to a soup and salad, which I’m sure they’d do well.

The service at this particular branch, like the food, was just ok. The ambience was nice, especially in the basement arches, and they do have free wifi – but it was painfully slow, so maybe not great for working, just playing.

For the portion sizes, it’s definitely overpriced, and there is a discretionary 12.5% service charge added onto the bill. The wait staff told us they get 70% of this and the restaurant gets 30%.

I will say that I definitely want to pass by and grab a matcha latte to go. They’re a whole quid cheaper to take out, and extra hot, it’ll be yummy.

Have you visited PQ anywhere, specifically for the vegan options? How did YOU find it? Does my review hit home? Or you think I’m being a bit of a grumpy-pants?

Hit reply and let me know!

Why You Shouldn’t Care About ‘Sticking Out’ As A Vegan, But What To Do If You DO!

Colour clash from Flickr via Wylio — © 2013 Ruth Hartnup, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

At the end of last year, articles like this one were written about a study that showed that out of those who go vegetarian or vegan, 84% end up going back to old habits.

One of the main reasons cited is that people didn’t like ‘sticking out’ or being different.

I’m not sure how accurate this study was, but even if there are a certain number of vegans who relapse for this reason, I understand this. Of course it can be disheartening to not feel a part of something that our friends and family are all part of. We live in a largely non-vegan world and there are reminders of this EVERYWHERE.

But here is why you should never let fear of ‘sticking out’ get in the way:

1. You ‘stick out’ already.

You do!

You are a unique being borne from an inexplicable collision of energies and information. There are precisely no others on the planet like you, nor will there ever be. You have quirks and idiosyncrasies and weirdnesses all your own.

Vegan or not, you’re an original already. So there!

2. Awareness of veganism is on the rise.

I post a round-up of plant-based and vegan news every week, and I can tell you for sure that even in the relatively short time I’ve been doing this, there are more vegan-related articles each week than ever.

New vegan restaurants are opening ALL the time; often, thrillingly, in the most unlikely places. More and more sports people and athletes are going vegan; more celebrities than ever are going vegan and talking about it; and more people than ever are going vegan for a week, month, whatever, and writing about it, with very positive results.

Right now, vegans are from the future, this is why you might feel you stick out. But the future has a habit of becoming the past ridiculously fast, and with interest in veganism growing exponentially minute by minute it seems, it will soon enough be mainstream.

My point is, even if you feel you stick out now, you’ll not stick out for long, and you’ll be ahead of the curve to boot!

3. Some people are always gonna think you’re weird.

You aren’t gonna please everyone, ever. Don’t worry about it! There’s a saying that goes…’If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no-one,’ meaning, if you’re trying to please and fit in with everyone, you’re not actually connecting with anyone.

Always speak your truth (when asked!), and even when it seems that everyone disagrees with you, you’ll be surprised how many seeds of curiosity you’ve sparked, and how most people will respect and secretly admire you for voicing a different way of thinking.

4. Where would we be without Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, the Suffragettes?

Yes, these are great people who we all revere, but ultimately, they were just ordinary people like us who saw injustice and spoke out against it; not great extroverts who particularly wanted to be different. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be as prominent in your cause as these people were in theirs; just speaking your truth when it’s appropriate is enough.

5. Know that sticking out doesn’t mean you think you are ‘better’ than anyone else.

It just means you simply decided to live in alignment with new values you gained through information you happened to come across.

If we are wise we DO change our opinions and ways of doing things when we find better information; this is all you’ve done. If anyone tries to lay the ‘you think you’re better…’ shtick on you, this is testament to their insecurity with their life choices, nothing else.

…But if you DO find yourself feeling a little, well, different – do these things:

6. It’s the way you frame it.

You can frame it as ‘Oy…I’m different, I stick out.’

Or:

‘I have the courage to live in accordance with my values of compassion to all beings, and with awareness of the needs of the planet, ensuring it is liveable for future generations. I also live in such a way that optimises my health, so I can work and serve others better and more efficiently, and not have to keep focussing on petty health issues. The way I live helps combat world hunger – my food does not eat food that could be fed to starving people.’

Granted, it doesn’t roll off the tongue as easy as ‘I stick out,’ but isn’t it hella cooler ?

7. Remember, everyone has issues.

Don’t forget – EVERYBODY ON THE PLANET has (or has had) issues that make them feel isolated.

NO-ONE escapes the issues. Sometimes these issues are small, sometimes not.

I’m not trying to say ‘some have it worse so quit whining;’ or to diminish your issue of feeling different, living as a vegan here on Planet Bacon as you do – trust me, I live here too, I get it. But it’s a fact that there are some truly awful reasons why some people feel alienated from the rest of the planet.

We as vegans are ‘different’ because we’re lucky enough to have come across, understood and internalised information that is life-changing (for us and the animals), planet enhancing, hunger reducing and, many believe, world-peace promoting.

Some say this information finds you when you’re ready.

Maybe it’s worth feeling a little ‘different’ for?

8. Revisit your initial inspirations continually.

Whether it was Earthlings, Forks Over Knives or Cowspiracy; or one of the incredible talks (Melanie Joy, Gary Yourovsky), or books on veganism; you got the information that motivated you to go vegan from somewhere.

Go back to this inspiration whenever you need morale and to get reinvigorated.

This ALWAYS works.

9. Find like minds.

Once upon a time you may well have been the only vegan in the village – now THAT would have been lonely.

Thank God for the internetz!

You can find your people with a quick consult with Professor Google.

Connect with other vegans via social media, find local vegan meetups, look out for local vegan potlucks. These new connections will help you stop feeling like you ‘stick out’ as much, because you’ll be part of a whole vegan community.

(I just read about an excellent vegan support group in Washington DC, if there’s not one near you, maybe you could start one).

Above all, keep on ‘sticking out’ – trust me, the planet and the animals need your difference!

Should You Go Vegan Cold Turkey (Um..Cold Turnip? Cold Tortilla?) Or Gradually?

Wild Turkeys from Flickr via Wylio — © 2013 Robert Engberg, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

It’s a turkey (a wild one!), and it’s in the snow so it has to be cold – d’yageddit? Am I trying too hard?

There’s a lot of debate as to whether it’s best to go vegan gradually, or to jump in head-first.

Hmmmm. I can see it from both sides. I’ve known several people who have cut out a few meats, then all meats, then milk, then other dairy, then eggs, and finally cheese (Ha! It’s often cheese that’s last!).

This definitely works for some. It’s kind of what I did, though my trajectory was really just vegetarian for a short while, then vegan.

The real answer to the above question is – do whatever’s right for you.

BUT BUT BUT…

The opinions of Dr Neal Barnard (founder of PCRM, author of Reversing Diabetes) , and Dr T Colin Campbell (Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, author of the China Study, Whole, and contributor to the documentaries Forks Over Knives and Plant Pure Nation), which make sense and which I tend to agree with, are as follows –

Giving up animal products can be likened to giving up smoking in the following sense; we know it’s better to go cold turkey than to cut down and try and gradually reduce the amount you smoke…

Because…

…If you have even a little bit of nicotine in your system, this is going to want to be ‘fed’ – you are always going to crave more. This is borne out by the fact that if someone attempting to quit smoking cracks and has one cigarette, they often just give up and just relapse back into smoking habitually.

As I’ve written about previously, cheese, and to a lesser extent, other dairy products are addictive due to the opiate -like effects of the casomorphins they contain.

If you have even a small amount of dairy in your system, then just like tobacco you’re always going to crave more at some point.

Yet if you quit all dairy at the same time, your body may at first kick up a bit of a fuss while it detoxes from mucous-forming cow’s milk products (don’t worry if it does, this won’t last long), but then it will adjust to not having it and will become accustomed to the new foods you are consuming.

As your body acclimatises, you’ll realise how much lighter and clear-headed you feel, and maybe other things as well, like better digestion, better skin, your weight will be maintained easier – in fact a whole host of benefits may occur.

Obviously these benefits come quicker if you give up all dairy at once.

Now we all like rewards and pay-offs, and even though the knowledge that you are not contributing to animal cruelty, environmental damage and world hunger may be the prime reason for your lifestyle shift, it doesn’t hurt to have good health benefits as a pleasant side-effect to keep you extra full of positive feelings about your new path.

The other reason it may be better to dive straight in, is because animal products have different tastes, textures, and ‘mouth feel’ to plant foods. It takes approximately 21 days to break a habit and acquire a new (better) one. If you are still eating some animal products, you’ll still be eating a certain amount of fat and certain types of textures. Plant foods tend to have different textures and ‘mouth feel’ to animal products. If you eliminate the animal food textures, you’ll get used to the new ones quicker.

This, by the way, is also the answer to the question – do I need to be 100% plant-based to achieve optimal health i.e. perhaps 95% plant-based is enough (there’s no evidence saying that if you have some tuna once a fortnight you’ll have lesser health than someone who is 100% plant-based), but it’s maybe easier to do it 100% so you don’t keep craving animal products and so your body gets accustomed more rapidly.

Once you are used to the beautiful and varied tastes and textures of plant foods; animal foods will seem heavy, fatty and cloying. If you were to try meat or dairy after a 21 day period of not eating it, chances are very high it would taste disgusting.

Conclusion:

– If you can, go 100% plant-based straight away.

– If you can’t go cold turkey, then give up either meat OR dairy.

Then, when you’re ready, give up the other. This is a more effective measure than giving up SOME meat and SOME dairy, as your body will acclimatise quicker to the elimination of a single animal-food group if it’s eliminated at once, rather than gradually.

– If you want to move towards a vegan diet but can’t do either of these things, don’t let this stop you. As I mention at the top of the post, plenty of people have done it little by little in a way THEY feel comfortable with, and succeeded. This could be you, too.

6 Cool Things Going Vegan Says About You

Vegan Boutique / N1 from Flickr via Wylio — © 2013 george rex, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

Unimaginative and misinformed folks alike are frighteningly prone to regurgitating the same old words when they hear you’ve gone vegan. You may hear that vegans are all self-righteous, militant, angry, preachy, hippy, zealots and sandal-wearers.

Are we? Well, some of us might be I guess. I mean, I’ve been known to wear sandals 🙂

A new vegan unwittingly yet inevitably holds up a mirror to those that still participate in animal consumption (and thus cruelty), and this can provoke a guilt that often expresses as derision and mockery.

For example: I feel that people use the word ‘militant’ when really the vegan they’re referring to is ‘passionate’, but they would rather say ‘militant’ because it’s easier to be reductive and dismissive about something they couldn’t do themselves but know they perhaps should.

But what does it actually say about you if you go vegan?

If you’ve become vegan, or are thinking of doing so, you’ve already proved your self-assuredness and don’t need mine or anybody’s validation, but there are some facts that it’s safe to say are really true about you:

1. You are a discerning individual with massive capacity for critical thinking. You’ve taken a look at the status quo and asked questions. You haven’t believed the ‘well that’s just the way it is’ shtick. You KNOW it’s not the way it has to be, and you’ve taken action to change that, starting with what you consume three times a day.

2. You have proved you are a free-thinker. With all the meat and dairy ‘noise’ going on around you – all the folks whining about how they couldn’t live without bayyyyykun; all the ads for Sunday roasts; for yoghurts; for ice-cream; all the trendy single concept joints (usually burgers or chicken!) trying to seduce you – you have gone and bloody well risen above this shizzle and chosen for yourself what you will and won’t consume.

Many ‘liberal’ folks feel they are independent free-thinkers, but they really are not.

Most university professors, doctors and philosophers, etc aren’t as free-thinking as you.

If only they were!

3. You’re a leader not a follower. Even if someone you consider a leader initially inspired you to go vegan, many in your social circles (who are not acquainted with your original source of inspiration) will see you as a radical pioneer, which you totally are. Everyone learns from someone. Now go be someone else’s inspiration!

4. You may disagree, but I think you are pretty damn fearless. You have dared to make changes because of what you’ve learned, despite the fact that this is not yet (YET!) the popular thing to do. You have dared to be a vegan in a non-vegan world. Do you even realise how huge a deal this is? Do you even realise how many people are too frightened to do this?

5. Assuming you are going vegan for ethical reasons (though I’m convinced you will make the connection even if you initially go vegan for other reasons) you are able to say you are truly living in alignment with your values. Everyone gushes about how they looooove animals, when they really just mean they love their pets or exotic animals, not the ones that are available for them to eat.

YOU are walking the proverbial, er, walk.

6. You have the ability to see the bigger picture. You have connected the slab of flesh that comes shrink-wrapped in supermarkets to cruelty and unnecessary slaughter.

Maybe you’ve made the connection and realised that animal products and the saturated fat, cholesterol, hormones, anti-biotics and chemicals they contain are the primary cause of most chronic diseases.

You could have also realised that animal agriculture is the primary cause of all forms of environmental degradation. You’ve made the link between eating animal products and your children’s or grandchildren’s future on this planet.

And just for shits and giggles:-

What the words used to describe vegans really mean:

Militant = passionate about a lifestyle that can save the planet, our health, billions of animals lives and potentially end world hunger.

Preachy = wanting to spread the message about this lifestyle, because duh, why wouldn’t you?

Angry = frustrated when you explain the above and get the response ‘but… BAYYYYKUUUN!’

Self-righteous = when you explain how good you feel living this way

Zealot = see ‘militant’

Hippy = you dare to live counter to the status quo

Sandal-wearer = um, someone who wears skimpy footwear

How Do You Get Enough Protein As A Vegan? (Yes, I know! But It’s Still An Issue!)

Protein® from Flickr via Wylio — © 2011 Ilias Bartolini, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

I’ve been blogging for almost two years on all things vegan and I’ve never yet written a post on protein.

Why?

Because SO many excellent vegan educators have written on it before me, and I genuinely thought we were past that. I thought there was enough info out there with the truth on how much and what sort of protein we actually need and how we’ve all been led to believe a shedload of garbage concerning this.

I was wrong. The protein issue is still coming up frequently.

I’m still seeing comments under vegan articles like ‘we need animal protein or we get weak and tired,’ or ‘I’ve never seen a vegan that didn’t look pale and sickly.’ Never mind the fact that there are plenty of healthy and strong vegans out there (including these ultra-strong guys); the oft-spouted ‘pale and sickly vegan’ shizzle comes from the belief, as erroneous as it is deeply entrenched, that we need a certain amount and certain sort of protein (i.e. meat) for strength.

Admittedly, I DO live in a bit of a vegan bubble, and I reckon I underestimated just how profoundly ingrained the whole ‘YOU NEED PROTEIN FROM MEAT OR YOU WILL DIE’ thing was.

My bad.

If you are a new vegan and wondering where you’ll get your protein, or more likely, if you are coming up against this question from concerned friends and family, this is for you.

What’s the deal with ‘complete’ and incomplete protein?

Protein is an essential macronutrient and we need it, this much is true.

It is composed of amino acids that are essentially building blocks for every function in our bodies

There are 20 amino acids, 8 of which are essential to our bodies – i.e., they cannot be synthesised.

Some people may tell you that meat is a ‘complete’ protein (i.e. contains all the necessary amino acids), and that plant protein isn’t, and think they’ve won the protein argument.

It is true that plant food doesn’t always contain all the amino acids, but it’s also a fact that we don’t need to eat complete proteins.

We can eat foods that contain the amino acids separately, and our bodies are clever enough to put the pieces together themselves. Rice and beans combined, for example, are an excellent way to get the full complement of amino acids, (lots of world cultures have known this forever, think of chana masala and rice in India, or rice and beans in Cuba); beans and wholewheat works great too – think beans on toast, or wholewheat pasta dishes that contain beans. See? It’s as simple as that. And the steamed broccoli you have on the side? Well that actually contains more protein per calorie than beef!

However, please don’t think you need to pay lots of attention to food combining in order to get enough protein, you really don’t. Eat whole, plant-based foods and you’ll easily be getting enough – without the health risks associated with animal protein!

How much protein do we need?

Just remember, it serves the meat and dairy industries well to have us believe that we need as much protein as possible.

We actually need about 10% of our daily calories to come from protein, a little more if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or an athlete.

Considering that around 11% of the calories in brown rice come from protein, 40% of the calories in leafy greens come from protein, and 5% of the calories in a banana come from protein, it’s not difficult to reach your daily protein needs.

It’s actually harder to NOT reach them than it is to reach them!

How best to get that protein?

It also serves the meat and dairy industries to have us believe that there is only protein in animal products.

Some people even know there is protein in plant foods (food scientists and dieticians for example) yet they still believe (thanks to meat and dairy industry advertising) that animal products are the BEST source of protein.

Just look at the food plate the United States Department of Agriculture and the US government (who subsidise the meat industry) use for dietary recommendations to the public.

This plate graphic does not represent the fact that there is plenteous and sufficient protein for us in vegetables, grains and fruit without needing the meat. To be fair, in the text on the USDA website they do include nuts and seeds as protein, but many people don’t read the information on the website. They just focus on this graphic and think that ‘protein’ means meat – which was very possibly the intention.

This graphic does little but perpetuate the idea that protein = meat and meat only.

Those with interests in livestock agriculture have, quite frighteningly, well and truly achieved making this belief mainstream.

As we’ve seen above, protein is in all whole foods.

Getting enough protein on a vegan diet is NO PROBLEM AT ALL!!!!

As well as the brown rice, bananas and greens mentioned above, other protein superstars are beans, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh.

Just eat a variety of whole foods and you’ll be good.

**Look, I really need convincing – is there any chance at all of becoming protein deficient on a vegan diet?**

Anyone heard of kwashiorkor?

Kwashi-WHAA..?

Exactly.

Yet you’ve surely heard of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. This is because these are diseases of excess – which are the majority of diseases we suffer from in the western world.

Kwashiorkor is the medical term for protein deficiency. You haven’t heard of it ‘cos it doesn’t happen where you are. It is a disease of ‘lack’ as opposed to ‘excess.’ It can happen to emaciated children in parts of Africa, or in singular cases of seriously neglected children here, but that’s it.

I can bet you don’t know anyone who’s had it.

Yet there are millions of vegetarians and vegans NOT suffering from kwashiorkor. There are all the HUGE herbivores – cows, gorillas, elephants, horses etc – all NOT suffering from kwashiorkor.

To the people who say ‘well, I was vegetarian but I felt weak and tired all the time so I had to go back to eating meat and the first time I bit into a steak I burst into tears of joy as I could feel the strength returning to my body’ – if you were feeling weak as a vegetarian or vegan, this was NOT a protein issue, but something else; very likely an iron issue. Possibly not enough energy-giving complex-carbohydrates were consumed; or maybe it was the fact that they just weren’t eating enough nutrient-dense food. If you just take the meat out of your diet and don’t replace it with nutrient-dense whole foods, you may have energy or strength problems, but this won’t be because of lack of protein.

Are there any dangers in consuming too much protein?

Li’l bit!

Too much protein is highly detrimental to us. Excess protein (specifically animal protein) is linked to osteoporosis, heart disease, cancers, and kidney disease.

Statins Or A Whole Food Vegan Diet To Lower Cholesterol?

Fatty pork sponsored by ... from Flickr via Wylio — © 2005 irrational_cat, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

In case you haven’t heard of statins, they are a drug used to bring down LDL (bad) cholesterol in people whose levels are too high.

Statins are the most prescribed drug in the UK, and the second most prescribed drug (after anti-depressants) in the US.

Pharmaceutical companies make billions a year from sales of statin drugs.

Over the years I’ve witnessed many people who reach a certain age and BAYUM! They are all of a sudden put on statins at their next doctors visit.

If you didn’t know better it would be easy to think it was a rite of passage, or just ‘something that happens as you get older.’

It seems that many otherwise healthy patients are being given statins as a preventative approach when they get to a certain age, and if it’s also assumed from their current (meat and dairy heavy) lifestyle that they may end up with high cholesterol.

When you really get informed about the causes of high cholesterol you realise this is crazy. And who wants to take drugs if they don’t have to?

Statins are not without side effects either. According to the Mayo Heath Clinic (the first and largest integrated nonprofit medical group practice in the world) these include muscle pain and damage, liver damage, digestive problems, rashes and increased blood sugar (not cool if you are diabetic!). The long term use of statins is also associated with more than double the risk of both types of breast cancer: invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma.

It seems that statins are massively over-prescribed.

Fun fact: There is NO cholesterol in plant foods. It is ONLY IN ANIMAL FOODS.

Every mammal generates cholesterol in their own body. It is manufactured in the liver, and is necessary for the production of hormones and cell membranes. An ideal range for a healthy human is below 150mg/dl.

That’s all we need – our own cholesterol.

Of course, when we eat animal products, we take in the cholesterol from the animal too, and our levels rise. Nothing complicated to understand here. The more animal products we eat, the more our cholesterol levels rise.

Of course, we also have good (HDL) cholesterol, which helps keep bad cholesterol levels down.

Dr Neal Barnard, in his book ‘The Power of Your Plate: A Plan for Better Living Eating Well for Better Health’ says we can think of good cholesterol as a dumper truck. It exists to carry bad cholesterol out of the body. Therefore, if you eat lots of animal products, it’s best for you if you have decent levels of good cholesterol to take the crap out!

Vegans and plant-based eaters may have lower levels of good cholesterol – because they don’t need it. They are not ingesting any excess (bad) cholesterol so nothing needs to be gotten rid of.

I must also state here that it’s actually a little more complicated than the party line we’ve been led to believe, that is : High cholesterol = high risk of heart disease.

Dr T Colin Campbell reports that it’s actually the protein in animal products which is far more significant and has more of a degenerative effect on humans when ingested,

Dietary cholesterol may help to clog arteries but this condition accounts for only a small fraction (~10%) of coronary heart disease events.^[1] Far too much attention has been given to cholesterol as if it is a major cause of disease. Such focus diverts attention away from the much more reliable evidence showing that a diet rich in animal protein, which represents multiple risk factors, is the main dietary cause of heart disease….

This suggests strongly that with regard to heart disease the focus has purposely been put on cholesterol being the baddie, in order to sell cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Based on the latest research, Dr John Mcdougall (who, alongside practicing conventional medicine, has, for 22 years, successfully treated a huge amount of patients with a plant-based diet) now prescribes statins to those who have high cholesterol and have previously been through heart surgery, or have a family history of heart disease and strokes. He will ALSO prescribe a whole food, plant-based diet, as the optimal way of combating high cholesterol.

In those with high cholesterol but NO previous heart disease or history of heart disease in their family; a whole food, plant-based diet is all that is prescribed, it being the most natural and effective way to bring cholesterol down to normal levels.

There seems to be no reason at all to prescribe statins as a prevention measure to a healthy person without high cholesterol. The BEST preventative measure in this scenario is absolutely a whole food, plant-based diet.

I’ll leave the last words to Dr John Mcdougall. He says:

To answer the question, “Who Should Take Cholesterol-lowering Statins? Everyone or No One?” My response is slightly more complex than all or none. The decisions made primarily depend upon what a person chooses to eat. Eat meat, dairy products, eggs, and other unhealthy foods and you may benefit from taking statins (a little). Eat a starch-based McDougall Diet [this is a whole food, plant-based diet] and any benefits from statins for an otherwise healthy person vanish, and all that is left are side effects and costs.

Lack of profit is the primary reason for lack of acceptance of this simple, safe approach. Consider that the most popular brand name statin, Crestor, purchased at a discount pharmacy like Costco or CVS, costs about $6 a day. Comparatively, a starch-based diet costs $3 a day for all of the food (2500 calories).

Killer Snacks (That Were Already Vegan), Part 4: Toast ‘n’ …

Toast rules.

You know this already of course.

There is nothing like the smell of fresh, wholewheat bread, toasting away in the, er, toaster.

If you weren’t hungry before, once you get a whiff of the toast your partner is fixin’ you want some yourself amirite?

I remember being in a theatre in Paris when I lived there, oooh, a long-ass time ago, being really stoked to see a play in English (Sam Shepherd’s True West, since you ask). I spoke French fluently, but sometimes it was just nice to see something in my own tongue.

Halfway through the play, as part of the scene, one of the characters starts making toast (for realz, not fake prop toast). Though I was at the very back of the theatre, the gorgeous smell of it entered my nostrils – I’m not sure whether it wafted that far back or if my nostrils actually involuntarily suckered it back there. I hadn’t eaten before going out and was STAR-VING. The minute that smell hit my nasal passages the play was over for me. I couldn’t concentrate on anything anymore, only fantasise about toooooaaaaast!

When you first go vegan it’s important to have killer, quick, easy snacks to hand, so you don’t feel like it always takes an age to get some good, tasty grub down your throat.

You need to know there are as many amazing, quick bites for you as there are for those who consume animal products.

Though ideally, when first transitioning to a plant-based diet you’ll spend at least a few nights a week in the kitchen cooking from scratch making simple, yet incredible tasting meals (this is the best way to realise that being vegan isn’t difficult or bland), there needs to be something you can grab those times you come in late from a gig/match/play/party and NO WAY are you gonna cook anything at THAT time.

I found myself desirous of a savoury snack yesterday afternoon (uh, I hadn’t come in late from anything, it was just a regular between-meal snack), and with bewilderment, realised I had too large a choice of toast toppings, each one equally delectable, each one calling my name as loud as the others.

This is a fabulous (yet confusing) dilemma to have – but one that people think doesn’t apply to vegans. ‘What DO you eat?’ is the first thing many new vegans get asked. Yesterday I really needed to decide what NOT to eat.

I weighed up my options:

Tapenade. If you don’t know what this is, it’s crushed olives with garlic and capers. You can get both black and green olive tapenade, and you’ve never had anything more delish on a thick slice of artisanal wholewheat toast. It’s available in Whole Foods and in most big supermarkets – you might need to look in the world food section as it’s often with Greek products, and may also be called ‘olive meze.’
Guacamole. One of my favourites. Of course plain old ‘avo toast’ is excellent, but you can either buy ‘guac’ from a deli, or make it yourself with some avo’s, salt, coriander/cilantro, lime juice, chopped onion – and chilli if a little kick is what’s called for.
Kimchi. I’ve spoken of the spicy, pickle’y’ delight that is kimchi here, and here I show you how to make it. You can also find it in Whole Foods or other supermarkets (though you’d need to check it’s vegan as it can contain anchovies or fish sauce). It’s soooo good on toast, especially when the toast is well done and the juice from the kimchi soaks down into it. You get the burnished taste of the browned toast with the salty, ginger of the kimchi – *’MWAA’S’ on fingers and gesticulates like an Italian*
Peanut butter. You might think humble old PB is the runt of the litter here, or pure filler, and I can see why you’d think that. Admittedly, you need quality peanut butter, preferably organic. Crunchy or smooth? Up to you. I prefer crunchy for added texture. Spread it liberally while the toast is still hot, maybe add a few drops of soy sauce and smoosh it into the PB with the spreading knife. Add some chopped spring onions if desired.

What did I choose? One slice guac and one kimchi. I’d had toast with tapenade that morning.

SHUTUPITWASTHEWEEKEND

Here’s Why Being Vegan Isn’t Elitist

ethiopianLentilStew_002 from Flickr via Wylio — © 2007 SaraJane, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

An ~~excuse for not being vegan~~ accusation often thrown at vegans is that to be vegan is ‘elitist’; that it’s a white, middle-class, bourgeois thing to be.

Apparently some think it’s a first-world luxury, and a privilege only rich and pretentious types can afford.

This is so easy to ‘out’ as an excuse for, at best, not wanting to go vegan, or, at worst, an uninformed, ignorant jibe, that this post is gonna write itself.

Here’s why this is BS:

1. Is veganism a first world luxury?

Lots of the countries that we call ‘third world’, by default eat very close to a vegan diet. Meat is rarely eaten – maybe at a religious feast or celebration, but is way too expensive to eat on a daily basis. The RICH people in these countries may eat more meat, but the poor certainly don’t. It’s MEAT that is considered a luxury, not plant foods.

In most of Africa, most of Asia and most of the Middle East, meat is an occasional luxury, and everyday staples are made up of grains, veg, beans, legumes and fruit. The demand for meat is on the rise in developing countries, precisely because people are becoming richer and aspire to live in what they see as a more ‘western,’ i.e. affluent, fashion.

Thus – in most of the world meat equals luxury; beans equal poverty. Veganism would definitely be thought of as a peasants diet by most of the world, so HOW is it considered elitist here?

2. Is veganism a ‘white’ lifestyle choice?

This couldn’t be a more insane point of view.

Being vegan makes even more sense, health-wise, for non-whites. About 75% of the world’s population lose their lactase enzymes after weaning. This mean they are forever after intolerant to lactose and ideally should not be eating anything that contains it. This is especially applicable to the vast majority of Africans and Asians. Only some (very white!) Northern European and some Mediterranean peoples are thought to retain the lactase enzyme into adulthood, meaning they are more able to digest lactose (this DOESN’T mean dairy is good for them, it just means they have less trouble digesting it than others).

MANY people of non-white ethnicities are vegan for ethical reasons. Veganism is a tenet of the Rastafarian religion, Jainism, which originated in India, prescribes a cruelty-free diet; and just check out the work of A. Breeze Harper and Bryant Terry , (whose book Vegan Soul Kitchen has been a favourite in my kitchen for years).

3. Is veganism just for rich people?

Many, MANY of us have written about the fact that it’s cheaper to eat a plant-based diet than a meat and dairy strong diet. I’ve even done it myself. Meat costs more than beans, always has, always will.

So we shouldn’t expect people to spend money on healthy food, but we SHOULD expect them to spend huge amounts of money on healthcare when they get diseases that could have been avoided by buying healthy food (WHICH IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER THAN UNHEALTHY FOOD) in the first place? Have you seen how little beans and grains cost from bulk bins???

This is absolutely frickin’ bonkers.

4. DO vegans think they are better/more superior/of higher status than anyone else?

A few seconds of critical thinking will help anyone see that vegans don’t eat animals precisely because they do not think they are superior to any other living being.

Meat eaters, by the same token, must think they are of a superior status to animals – otherwise they couldn’t have them killed in order to eat them. In truth, it’s meat eaters that are elitist.

5. Is it a luxury or privilege to devote time to thinking about what you’re going to eat?

No. As I’ve said before, if you are healthy, happy and strong in every way, you can better and more optimally serve.

Most diseases can be prevented with a whole food, plant-based diet. If you are ill, you are not able to contribute to, or help others because you are suffering. When you are in pain or discomfort (whether physically or mentally), your focus is inwards, on yourself, because you are hurting.

When you feel good in mind and body, you naturally think less about yourself and more about what you can do for others, even if it’s just exuding joy or radiating positive energy – which can have an amazing effect on those around you.

If you really think that looking after yourself is elitist, you are not seeing the big picture. When you’re sick – someone has to look after you; you’ll take sick days from work, putting more of a load on others; you won’t be able to look after your kids properly; you’ll miss appointments etc.

6. Is it really elitist to care about the planet?

Meat and dairy consumption is the worst thing for the planet. If you think it’s elitist and middle-class to care about this and want to do something about it, I can’t even….you’re crazy, that’s all.

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To be absolutely fair, I can see how some might get the idea that a plant-based diet is elitist, with all the instagram pics of smoothies containing the hideously expensive chia, maca and lucuma, and the oh so pricey coconut water and coconut-related products.

But these are just extremely fashionable superfoods right now. While there is no harm in them and they are great to include in your diet if you have a pretty penny or two, there is absolutely no need to include any of them on a healthy, whole food, plant-based diet. My theory about their popularity is that people see them as a quick fix – as the super-quick route to health; they are marketed to us in such a way that we think they will dramatically rejuvenate us and protect us from all evil. It’s not surprising that the world has gone crazy for chia et al.

I can assure you, you don’t need expensive shizz from the peaks of the Peruvian Andes to have an optimal vegan diet.

The less glamorous truth is – long-term health is really built on solid, consistent quality nutrition. That is to say, meals of ‘plain old’ vegetables, grains, beans, legumes fruit and nuts, These are what will sustain you long-term. They are less sexy to be sure, and maybe beans don’t look so hot on instagram, but they will see you right, and won’t drain your bank account.

I’ve NEVER ingested a single chia seed (nothing against chia, I’ll no doubt try it soon), and I wouldn’t know lucuma if it smacked me in the face, but I’m doing great without them.

How To Navigate Conflicting Information On Plant-Based Diets

So you’re seriously thinking about going vegan, or at least leaning in to a more plant-based way of life.

Something or someone has made you consider all the reasons why you might do this, and one or all of them resonate with you.

Maybe you have dogs or cats and the penny just dropped that all animals are as intelligent and sentient as your furry friends.

Maybe you watched Forks Over Knives and they talked about a health issue you can relate to.

Or maybe you’re a nature lover and are keenly conscious of environmental issues, and just discovered that livestock agriculture is the prime cause of ALL forms of environmental degradation.

So you decide to give this plant-based thing a try and see what happens.

Then…

…you tell people of your decision, and they immediately tell you of studies they read that say meat and butter are good for you, and it’s actually wheat that is the devil; or that livestock agriculture is actually GOOD for the planet, didn’t you know?

You dig around on the internet, seeking out more and more information.

This is GOOD, you need to inform yourself. You need as much info as possible to make sure you get the nutrition bit right, and you want to know all about the environmental impact of meat and dairy so you have lots of motivation to sustain your decision through the first couple of weeks when you might experience cravings and get tempted; and so you can answer any questions people might have.

However, though the internet is a beautiful thing in many respects, it is just like people; the more you involve yourself with it, the more conflicting information you come across.

Just who ARE these William Davis and David Perlmutter guys saying it’s actually wheat that’s responsible for most chronic disease? What is the Weston A Price Foundation and why are its members telling you to eat lots of meat? Is butter now a health food? Who is Alan Savory and why is he saying there is an environmentally sound way to farm cattle? Who is Denise Minger and is she right when she says The China Study is rubbish?

If you’re time-strapped, let me help you – it’s all crap.

But…if you have the time, I’d MUCH rather you discovered truths for yourself – they resonate more powerfully that way.

It’s important to know what to do when you come across information that says the opposite of something you believed to be true.

Here’s some things that it’s helpful to consider:

1. Consider the source

For example: Allan Savory, who says he has invented a way to farm cows that is actually beneficial to the environment – is a cattle rancher in South Africa. He has a very obvious financial interest in continuing his farming practises.

The Weston A Price Foundation are behind lots of articles on how meat and dairy are healthy, and that veganism and vegetarianism are bad. They are heavily criticised by scientific institutions as having little evidence for their treaties, and are listed on quackwatch.com.

Though Weston A Price himself recommended vegetarianism, the foundation now promote a diet containing meat and raw milk, and state that soy is dangerous (which goes completely against peer-reviewed science).

2. Consider who is paying/funding the source

Is the study/article independent of commercial interests that would benefit from the public being aware of it?

Ronald Krauss, the guy behind the recent ‘butter is back’ shizzoula, and the whole ‘saturated fat is now good’ BS, works for the beef and dairy industries, specifically the National Cattleman’s Beef Association and the National Dairy Council. Of course, the mainstream media ran wild with his work and ignored the many criticisms of his studies, because they support the status quo.

3. Consider the bias

Different to ‘consider the source’ as financial gain/loss is not necessarily at stake, but nevertheless you need to find out what the personal motivation could be behind any article or study.

For example; Denise Minger, famous criticiser of the China Study, runs a ‘low carb’, meat-strong, paleo type website. She clearly didn’t want to hear that meat is not a healthful food, as this would not be in accordance with her lifestyle choice, and so she spent what must have been an insane amount of time trying to pick apart Professor T Colin Campbell’s life’s work (she also speaks and writes for the Weston A Price Foundation).

Lest you think that Dr Campbell was biased towards a plant-based diet, his background was very much in animal farming and he grew up believing that dairy and meat were necessary parts of a healthy diet. He believed this until the science he was working on showed him it wasn’t true, and he could no longer believe it.

Just like Denise Minger – the other criticiser of The China Study, Chris Masterjohn works in health and nutritional science, and is particularly interested in cholesterol. He argues that this is not what causes disease. He is also an author for the Weston A Price Foundation.

To make us think his science on animal fats is legit, he says he has a number of peer-reviewed publications indexed on PubMed. You know what? He has – but NONE of them are related to showing that cholesterol from animal fats isn’t detrimental to health! They are on completely unrelated subjects!

4. This is perhaps the most important one – Is the study peer-reviewed or published?

When any study worth its salt is completed, peers of the person who carried out the study will review it, and the study is replicated to see if it produces similar results. If it does, then this study is often published in a reputable scientific or medical journal.

No critique of the China Study has ever been published or peer-reviewed.

Davis and Perlmutters books are not based on any peer-reviewed or published studies.

The Blood Type Diet is not based on any peer-reviewed science.

Allan Savory’s study on cattle farming is NOT peer-reviewed; he has only published the information HIMSELF on HIS website. Hardly science with integrity!

5. Ask yourself (and answer yourself honestly!) whether the study supports a mainstream view (that might support corporate or political interests)…

…and if this could be a case of ‘people wanting to hear good news about their bad habits’?

6. Consider the tone in which an article in written.

If the tone is as neutral as possible, this obviously shows professionalism and objectivity.

If there is any snark in the tone AT ALL – this can only reflect a bias, and any information given in this tone cannot be trustworthy. Even if you are trying to prove that someone as hateful as Hitler was a psychopath, it is more effective if you seek to inform in a neutral, pure fact-stating, manner.

Denise Minger, in many posts and talks, is pretty consistent in using a snarky tone towards Dr T Colin Campbell and the other plant-based doctors. Dr T Colin Campbell in all his mentions of her is fair, measured, neutral and balanced..

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Dr John Mcdougall posted this handy infographic below on Facebook this week (very timely for me writing this post!)

He says:

‘Note that this is not a comprehensive overview, nor is it implied that the presence of one of the points noted automatically means that the research should be disregarded. This is merely intended to provide a rough guide to things to be alert to when either reading science articles or evaluating research.’

Attribution: http://www.compoundchem.com

You know, even though science is most definitely on the side of a plant-based diet in every aspect, if you are still on the fence about meat and dairy due to all the conflicting information, there are nevertheless a couple of things you can’t argue with:

The sheer number of people who have reversed both mild and chronic diseases with a plant-based diet, and the number of people who have lost weight, and found a plant-based diet to be the only way to sustain that weight loss. The amount of testimonials out there reporting renewed health and consequent maintenance of optimal health because of a shift to a plant-based diet is overwhelming.

In John Robbins Reflections On The Weston A Price Foundation , he reports that one of the board of directors of the Weston A Price Foundation, Stephen Byrnes, published an article called ‘The Myths Of Vegetarianism’ where in an ‘about the author’ section it is stated that ‘… he enjoys robust health on a diet that includes butter, cream, eggs, meat, whole milk, dairy products and offal.

Stephen Byrnes in fact suffered a fatal stroke in 2004, before he was even forty.

A vegan diet will always be better for the animals, and, seeing as how none of us relish the thought of killing animals ourselves, this lifestyle actually allows us to (and is the only way we can) live in accordance with our values of non-violence and compassion towards EVERYone.

Vegan Health Hacks – Easy Ways To Remember How To Get All The Nutrients You Need

Cuban Black Beans and Rice 2 from Flickr via Wylio — © 2010 Brett Oblack, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

If you think there’s a ton of new food rules you’re gonna have to learn and memorise in order to stay properly nourished when you embark on a plant-based diet – relax. It is not so.

People and the internet may scare you into thinking that it’s very difficult and time-consuming to ensure you get all the vitamins and minerals you need; and you’ll read stuff warning you of possible vitamin B12 deficiencies, iron deficiencies, and Lord knows what else.

This is KUH-rap.

These are the voices of uninformedness (is that a word? It is now), and fear (of something different).

You only need a pair of decent peepers (or some good glasses!) to SEE there are plenty of badly nourished meat-eaters amongst us. Obesity and sickness abound.

Even though it IS simple to nourish yourself well on a vegan diet, there are still a few things to remember – but this is the case even if you are on a standard, meat and dairy-strong diet trying to stay healthy. It is not different for you just because you are now vegan. I’d even say it’s EASIER for you as a vegan, because you don’t have to continually be looking for fibre and alkaline foods to counterbalance and compensate for all that constipating and acidy animal food – pretty much ALL your food is going to contain fibre anyway.

On my coaching programmes we cover in detail just what you will need, and I give you a ton of ideas on combining foods to make up a full nutrient quota.

There is a handy hack however (HURRAH!) that will help ensure that you get a good mix of nutrients.

All you have to remember are the following three words – and two of them rhyme so it’s easy:

– GRAIN, BEAN, GREEN.

I’ll explain.

A nutritionally well-rounded meal contains the following:

A whole grain – brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat pasta, wholewheat bread, wholewheat couscous, buckwheat, brown rice, corn or buckwheat noodles (oats and barley also count – these can be a hearty stew ingredient)

A bean – (um, several beans of course, not just one, this is certainly NOT a starvation diet!) choose from black beans, chickpeas, red kidney beans, soy beans, flageolet, lima beans, pinto beans broad beans, black-eyed peas, any lentils (not technically a bean but has a similar effect in the body).

A green – try for as dark green as possible; kale, cabbage, pak choi, broccoli, collard/spring greens for example

Extras – Any other veg of your choice; any seeds or ground seaweed can be sprinkled on top

The grain, bean and green can be part of a stew, a chilli, or a soup – many vegan recipes will contain all three.

Here is one such recipe from the excellent PPK:

Miso soba stir-fry with greens and beans – you can use garbanzos (chick peas) instead of azuki beans

Or try these two recipes (selected on the basis of good reviews):

Tuscan kale and white bean soup – have some hearty wholewheat toast on the side.

Very simple Red beans and rice – obvs use veg stock instead of chicken stock, and steam some broccoli or kale as a side.

OR:

You can just eat your grain, bean and green plain, Buddha Bowl style, with a simple sauce on top (either soy sauce; or whip up a miso-tahini sauce, or a ginger peanut sauce for example).

This is an easy basis for a meal containing the full range of nutrients. Eat this a few times a week, just switch up the grain, the bean and the green each time, and you won’t go far wrong.

What about other veg? As long as you eat plenty of dark leafy greens, you can add as many other veg (and fruit as you like. For optimal nutrition, try and eat a rainbow. Have some carrot or sweet potatoes, some beets, some radish, tomato. Attempt to get a full complement of colours in a week. But you know what? Don’t sweat it. You’re not eating the foods that really do damage, so just do the best you can.

What about legumes, nuts and seeds? A roast squash can make a great basis for a meal too. Wilt some greens, heat some beans and Bob’s your uncle! Add a slice of wholewheat toast and a grilled portobello if you are really hungry! The gorgeous orange of the squash and deep green of the veg (and red of the kidney beans, or black of the black beans, means a great combo, nutrient – wise.)

And you can switch that orange butternut squash for orange sweet potatoes! Bake them or boil and make sweet potato mash, add a green and a bean, and you’re good.

The same goes for regular old white potatoes. These are nutrient powerhouses when baked. Add some beans and a green and there you have one of the easiest meals on the planet.

Try and eat a mixture of nuts and seeds a few times a week, as these contain healthy fats. If you keep, say, three types of nuts around – brazils, walnuts and almonds for example, and have two or three of each every two or three days. If you get bored, swap the brazils for macadamia one time, or pecans – surprise yourself!

What about fruit? Knock yourself out. But again, try to mix it up and eat fruits of different colours.

Aside from flax seeds – which I’d love you to take most days (if you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know I’m a stickler for these!), try sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds on oats or cereal, or sprinkled over salads or soup.

And don’t forget to hit yourself up with your new drug of choice – Vitamin B12. Take your tablet or your sub-lingual droplets as often as your brand says to take them.

This is a basic guide to vegan nutrition which should serve ANYONE very well – ALL IN ONE BLOG POST.