How Do Vegans Get Calcium?

020 Calcium - Periodic Table of Elements from Flickr via Wylio — © 2015 Science Activism, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

The other day a potential client told me they’d be concerned about how they’d meet their calcium needs if they went vegan.

This made me realise I haven’t yet written a ‘calcium’ post. Yipes!

Since I live in a bit of a ‘vegan bubble’ – my partner is vegan, and I am now chatting to other vegans daily on Periscope (Oooh talking of which – why don’t you come join me there on www.periscope.tv/karencottenden), I often assume that people KNOW there are plenty of plant sources of calcium, but clearly I am being presumptuous in this assumption!

If you have the ‘where would I get my calcium from as a vegan?’ question, this post is for you.

Similar to the protein issue, you cannot be blamed for asking yourself this question and not immediately knowing the answer. We’ve all been led to believe a HYYUUUUGE load of crapola, and it’s hard to comprehend just how entrenched and pervasive those beliefs have become.

I had yet another wake-up call to this when I heard the question being asked of me the other day.

So, here’s the deal with calcium.

Firstly, you need to know that it’s hugely probable that we don’t need as much calcium as we’re told we do. There are major interests invested in keeping us all drinking cow’s milk. They’d have us believe that we need a ton of calcium and that this must come from milk – but this is not true.

Secondly, the calcium we DO need is obtainable elsewhere.

Where?

From exactly the same source lots of other animals get it – plants.

Getting calcium from plants instead of milk also ensures that we not getting the horrid saturated fat, cholesterol, hormones and antibiotics that are in cow’s milk.

Where do cows get their calcium? Hmmm, let’s think about that for a second…

Calcium is a mineral.

Minerals come from the ground.

Cows get the calcium (that is in their milk) from the grass that grows in the ground (except, these days they mostly eat feed crops that are supplemented with calcium!).

Where do you think the huge animals (elephants, giraffes etc) are getting their calcium from?

Not from cow’s milk that’s for damn sure!

If you eat a whole food, plant-based diet, then calcium – just like protein – is not something you need worry about.

We’re led to believe we should worry about it far more than we actually should.

I highly doubt you know someone who has suffered from calcium deficiency.

Dr John McDougall writes:

The relationship between people and plants works so well that there has never been a case of dietary calcium deficiency ever reported.

Yet I can bet you know someone who has suffered a disease of excess related to the other properties in cow’s milk (cholesterol, saturated fat, hormones); like diabetes, heart disease and prostate or breast cancer.

There is also a widespread belief STILL, that if you don’t drink milk for calcium you’ll risk getting osteoporosis when you’re older.

A study involving 77,761 women, monitored over 12 years, found that drinking three or more glasses of milk per day DID NOT protect them against hip or arm fractures. It actually showed that there were significantly higher fracture rates in the milk-drinking group than in those who drank little to no milk.

Then there is this study, from 1992, that shows that populations with the lowest calcium intakes had far fewer fractures than those with much higher intakes.

There is lots of evidence suggesting that dairy is harmful and actually contributes to osteoporosis rather than helping to prevent it.

The best osteoporosis-preventing foods are, in fact, whole grains, beans and legumes.

Worried that the calcium from plants might not be as well absorbed as the calcium in milk?

Don’t waste ya time a’ worryin’!

PCRM (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine) says:

The calcium absorption from vegetables is as good or better than that of milk. Calcium absorption from milk is approximately 32 percent. Figures for broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale range between 40-64 percent.

Thinking about taking calcium supplements to be sure? Don’t waste your $$$.

Honestly? If you’re eating a varied, whole food plant-based diet, you really don’t need to be worrying about calcium.

If you WANT to worry about it ‘cos that’s just who you are, then just ensure you’re getting enough leafy greens, beans and whole grains, and as an extra calcium bonus – have a couple of teaspoons of ground sesame seeds (high in calcium) on your oatmeal a couple of times a week, or enjoy tahini sauce over falafel or salad from time to time.

Go Back To Your Winter Roots: Celeriac And Rutabaga Fries

Winter ain’t good for much in my book.

If I never see another winter it’ll be too soon.

I mean…um…not that I want to die before next winter; but whhhhhhhhhyyyy can’t it go SPRING! SUMMER! AUTUMN! REPEAT!!!

But…I guess I love skating on the Christmas rinks. And the new Starbucks mulled apple chai with REAL cinnamon sticks is kinda delicious.

And I loooove hot, warming soups and bean stews and curries.

And………

………Wait for it…….

WINTER ROOT VEG!

It’s perhaps worth suffering just a little winter for these?

Now we’re all down with the parsnips, carrots and turnips; but there are two others you may not be so familiar with that would love to be players in your winter meal rotation.

Why?

Just ‘cos they’re darn well delectable that’s why!

Uh, it’s fair to say these two characters ain’t pretty; but their charm is in their rich, earthy taste.

If you haven’t tried them already, get some in and see what you think.

It isn’t always the prettiest veg that taste the nicest!

And they’re cheap as chips, hurrah!

The first is celeriac. This is its prettiest side:

And this is its slightly grizzlier side!

Not to put you off, but it looks a little brain-like to me!

But seriously; please don’t be put off by the nobbles or the hairy bits 🙂

The second glorious but lesser known winter root veg is rutabaga; or swede as its known here in the UK.

This is a little more photogenic – I love the green with the purple.

Oh, also? These two fellas are fibre-filled nutrient bombs.

Celeriac is a great source of Vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium, manganese and vitamin C; while the rutabagas will provide you with vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

One of the best and simplest things you can do with these two veg is make fries. YAY, friiiiiiiiies!!

Celeriac / Rutabaga Fries

Pre-heat your oven to 200C.
The hardest part of this recipe is peeling your root veg and chopping it into fries; but you’re no wuss; you can do it.
You’ll want to make the fries quite thin, say, 1cm wide maximum, otherwise they’ll take too long to bake.
Lay your cut celeriac or rutabaga fries in a parchment-paper lined baking tray thus; and spray them with either sunflower or olive oil.

Salt generously and sprinkle either fresh or dried rosemary evenly-ish all over.
Bake for approximately 35 minutes (or until they brown slightly), turning them once half way through.

These are the fries of the celeriac:

And these are the fries of the rutabaga:

Serve with vegan garlic aioli, vegan mayo, ketchup etc.

Mash

Have a change from potato or sweet potato mash – try mashed celeriac or rutabaga!

You can even do half potato, half rutabaga; or half potato, half celeriac. The other day I mashed a mix of the root veg I had left in my fridge – which happened to be sweet potato, a wedge of celeriac and a couple of turnips. I was doubtful that it could work but it was absolutely delicious!

Make the mash exactly as you would regular potato mash. i.e. boil the veg till soft; drain; mash your veg while adding a splash of soy or almond milk and a knob of dairy-free margarine. Season well with salt and black pepper.

Stews & Soups

Celeriac and rutabaga are great in stews and soups. Try sometimes adding either (or both!) to any recipe instead of potato.

Don’t get in rut with your roots! Shake it up! Don’t worry about the ugly! Isn’t there a saying.. ‘ugly on the table, damn tasty in the mouth?’ No? Well there OUGHT to be.

Constipation. Not A Natural State Of Affairs

Vintage Tins of Ramon's Mild Laxative Pills, Trade Mark - "The Little Doctor", NOS from Flickr via Wylio — © 2013 Joe Haupt, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

I’m hearing frighteningly often that people are constipated.

I’ve heard it so often it seems like it’s an epidemic.

It’s such a shame that people are feeling so uncomfortable when there is no reason at all they should.

Life is too short to spend that much of it in the bathroom!

If you’re suffering with this all-too-common problem, read on.

Once you’ve checked with your doctor that there isn’t a more serious problem causing it; that is, once you’ve been told its good old regular constipation, you can start the remedy immediately.

I know that YOU know I’m about to go on a fibre-filled rant…and you probably suspect I’m going to tell you that the BEST cure is a whole food, plant-based diet, right?

CORRECT!

Give yourself a candy.

To better understand WHY though, we need to be aware of a few things.

Food in = an almost equal amount of stuff coming out the other end, right?

And you eat three/four times a day?

This food needs to pass through our bodies in 8-12 hours, to avoid overstaying its welcome!

If it takes longer to pass through it will fester and putrefy – your body isn’t refrigerated. When you eat you’re pretty much putting food in a hothouse for 12 hours.

Ick.

It’s fibre that takes food through our bodies. So for timeliness of digestion, everything we eat should contain fibre.

There are two main food villains when it comes to constipation.

The first one is ANIMAL PRODUCTS, ALL OF THEM: MEAT, DAIRY AND EGGS. They have a constipating effect due to their lack of fibre, because….

……fibre is ONLY in plant food.

Therefore, the more animal foods you eat, the more chance you have of being constipated.

The OTHER constipating villain(s) you have to look out for is WHITE, REFINED GRAINS such as white rice and any product containing white wheat – white pasta, white bread, cookies and cake made with white flour etc.

White flour is wholewheat flour with the bran and the germ taken out – the very elements that contain the fibre. White rice is brown rice with the fibrous elements removed; not exactly ideal for easy transition out of the body.

When I hear (and I DO hear this) that a relatively young person has been prescribed prunes (EFFING PRUNES!) for constipation by a doctor, and the doctor hasn’t even recommended a diet rethink; I get a bit crazy.

Nothing wrong with prunes, they are a delightful fruit. But it’s the most root-cause-dodging, short-term remedy ever. Do you have to buy prunes for the rest of your life? What happens when you stop eating the prunes?

Why buy prunes, or take laxatives when you can just erase the constipating animal products and refined starches from your diet and everything will start working as it should, forever?

And doesn’t this tell us that a whole food, plant-based diet is how we are meant to eat for our bodies to perform correctly?

If you can’t eliminate all the constipating animal products and refined starches at once, then add two tablespoons of ground flaxseeds to one of your meals every day (adding it to breakfast oatmeal is probably easiest!)

Try also to eat more bean, whole grain and legume-based curries, stews and soups. These are also full of fibre, and will fill you up so you will hopefully consume less animal products.

Some great fibre-filled recipes are this lentil dhal , this Italian white bean soup , or this delicious Hoppin’ John

Fruits for dessert and snacks will also help.

But if you don’t want to waste time in the WC, lose the constipating animal products and refined grains.

Recipe: A Shepherd’s Pie NO-ONE Can Argue With

Even though it’s eerily warm here right now (what happened? Novembers used to be cold! Oh yes…global warming); we know the cold nights are soon to be a’ brewin.’

Or at least I hope they are.

Then I get to make this superb (and simple) shepherd’s pie recipe.

It’s quite simply the best shepherd’s pie recipe I’ve found and I’ve served it to plenty of non-vegans who have been so blown away they’ve gushed embarrassingly over it.

It has all the flavour, and all the comfort and stodge you want from a shepherd’s pie, but none of the minced up…um….what animal is mince even from? I just realised I never actually knew this when I used to eat it!! (OK, just googled it, its ground cow).

I found this recipe years ago. It’s originally from a tiny, pocket-size book called Vegan A Go-Go by Sarah Kramer – though I’ve adapted it somewhat and make it a little differently every time.

You’ll maybe want to play around and make it your own too.

You’ll need:

1 medium onion, chopped
3 small carrots, roughly cubed
1/2 cup fresh spinach (or pre-steamed kale or pre-steamed spring greens/collards)
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 large beef tomato, chopped (or just 2 big tomatoes if you can’t find a beef tomato)
splash of olive oil for sauteeing
1/2 cup canned green lentils, drained, rinsed and mashed (you can also use dried green lentils – throw 1/2 cup dried lentils in a saucepan of boiling water and boil for 20 mins or until soft. Drain. You might need to measure out 1/2 cup again of the drained lentils – as they will have expanded)
1/2 tspn dried basil
A pinch of rosemary; a pinch of sage; a pinch of thyme and a pinch of parsley – or whichever of these you have
2 tspns garlic powder or 2 crushed garlic cloves (or less, or more, to taste)
1tbsp Braggs or soy sauce

Topping:

3 medium potatoes, roughly chopped – or you can do half white potatoes, half sweet potatoes
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tbsp (This is what the recipe says – I use a little less) vegan margarine
Salt (to taste)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
In a medium pot of water, boil the potatoes. If you are mixing white and sweet potatoes – give the chopped white potato a 5 minute head start before throwing in the chopped sweet potato.
In a medium saucepan, saute the onions, carrots, celery, tomato, and spinach if you are using it (if you are using kale, add this once you’ve steamed it).

Just to make life difficult, I used dried lentils instead of canned!

When the carrots are tender, add the mashed lentils, herbs, garlic and soy sauce.

Stir and simmer uncovered until the liquid cooks off.

While the vegetables are cooking, mash the potatoes with the milk, vegan margarine and salt. Then set this aside.
Pour the vegetable mixture into a greased casserole dish (use the vegan margarine) and push down with the back of a spoon.

Then layer the mashed potatoes over the top.

Bake for 15-20 mins
Grill (broil for US peeps!) for 5 mins at the end so it browns a little on top, like so!

This recipe makes 4 average-sized portions, though to be honest my partner and I often have a couple of servings each and finish off the whole thing!

Everything In Moderation Right?…..WRONG!

Let's have some complexity from Flickr via Wylio — © 2010 futureatlas.com, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wyli

‘But Karen…don’t you think we should just eat everything in moderation?’

I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve heard this.

It used to drive me CRAYZEEE and I didn’t have the counter-argument at my fingertips, so I got frustrated every time I heard it.

I had no answers other than ‘but what about heroin or cocaine, surely they’re not good in moderation?’

But this argument never felt sufficient. Someone would always say ‘er…no….they’re not food, we mean all foods in moderation.’

It didn’t help my frustration levels that the person saying it always thought they’d just KILLED ME with common sense, and that there was NO WAY I couldn’t now see things from their point of view.

And after all, it’s not one of the more aggressive things that get said to vegans. It sounds quite innocuous. Strangely, I prefer the stupider, more aggressive, defensive comments ‘cos they’re… well, just plain silly and quite easy to respond to.

But this one really does sound like common sense. Perhaps in another context, on another planet, it WOULD be common sense, but not in the way we use it today.

Now that I’ve given it some thought, I’m clearer on why the ‘moderation’ defence is poppycock; tosh; balderdash and bunkum.

There are really four elements to it, and they are:

1. What is moderation?

My definition of moderation is different to yours: yours is different to your auntie’s; hers is different to Donald Trump’s (not sure why I picked him, ew). This word has SUCH an ambiguous, indefinable meaning.

Everyone nods in agreement when someone says they ‘eat everything in moderation,’ yet none of them have the same idea of what moderation is.

And do they REALLY eat animal products in (any definition of) moderation? We all like to think we eat certain less-than-healthy foodstuffs ‘in moderation,’ but when it comes down to it, we just don’t.

Me? I like to believe I eat dark chocolate in moderation. I have it JUST on the weekends so I MUST do right? But when I really think about it honestly, I probably eat way more than is healthy for a two day period. I probably don’t eat it in moderation at all.

How many times have I had non-vegans say to me ‘Oh, you’re vegan? Well you know I hardly eat ANY meat or dairy.’ In actuality, they eat a lot more than they like to think of themselves eating. If all the people who said this were speaking the truth; half the livestock industry would’ve shut down by now! People don’t know how much they eat of anything until they stop eating it.

And ‘moderation’ is such a positive word; we all want to be associated with it. It’s the opposite of radical, fanatical and fundamentalist – all of which none of us want to be. We all want to believe we eat everything in moderation, but the truth is that lots of our meal choices are more animal product-heavy than we realise.

Just consider – do you eat chicken in moderation? Beef? Steak? Eggs? Cheese? Fish? Lamb? Pork? Yoghurt? Butter? Most of these? Weeeellll – that’s a heck of a lot of animal products to be eating ‘in moderation.’ If you eat each of these foods in moderation – you’re not leaving much room for plant foods!

2. What is everything?

Do the people who use this phrase really eat EVERYTHING?

I consider myself to eat a wide variety of foods from all over the globe, but I certainly don’t eat everything. I’ve yet to try durian, turnip greens and natto; plus hundreds of other plant-foods I’m sure.

I’m assuming the ‘moderation’ crowd don’t eat monkey’s brains, or frog’s legs, or shark meat. Some of the ‘moderation’ folk I know don’t even eat avocado, or sweet potato for the love of all things holy. And some I know eat chicken and potatoes in some form for pretty much every meal. Maybe they have Weetabix for breakfast.

Their concept of ‘everything’ is narrower than any fair definition of the word oughtta be!

The ‘everything’ they are referring to is the very small group of foods they stick to on a daily basis.

This is not what ‘everything’ means.

3. It’s not cool to eat ANY things in moderation (or otherwise) that have suffered and been brutally slaughtered when we have absolutely no need to do so.

Uh, that’s it.

4. It’s not cool to eat ANY things in moderation (or otherwise) that have a destructive impact on our planet (habitat destruction, global warming, topsoil loss, air/water pollution, desertification and rainforest decimating etc), when we have absolutely no need to do so.

Yep. That’s it for that one too.

The Healing Power Of A Plant Based Diet, Part 4 – Asthma

Inhaler from Flickr via Wylio — © 2008 allispossible.org.uk, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

Asthma seems to be SO common doesn’t it?

Don’t you know at least, like, 6 people that have it?

I know I do.

What’s more, I used to be a chronic sufferer myself – twofold, in fact.

What on earth do I mean by twofold? Well, I had good ol’, plain ol’, regular standard asthma; and I also had chronic atopic asthma as an allergic reaction to fur.

Yes, you SHOULD be jealous – I had ALL the fun.

If you’ve never experienced asthma, let me tell you that it can be horrific. Breathing in oxygen is our most basic need, and when you can’t do this effectively it’s frightening. Try breathing through a straw. A VERY THIN one. Sometimes it’s just like that. Sometimes it’s worse.

In the nineties sometime, I heard that eliminating dairy products might help my asthma and eczema (eczema is closely related to asthma in terms of its causes). This knowledge has clearly been around a long time.

I had suffered enough to want to give this a try.

If you’ve read my ‘about’ page, you’ll know that I succeeded in ridding myself of asthma by going vegan. To be more specific; my ‘general’ asthma has completely gone since going vegan – I haven’t had an inhaler in years.

My atopic asthma as an allergic reaction to fur has also significantly improved, and I can enjoy a visit to the house of a friend that has a dog or cat, which I couldn’t before. The allergic reactions haven’t completely gone, I still have to wash my hands thoroughly in hot water after stroking any furry animal, otherwise they itch like crazy; and if, say, I’m visiting a house with a cat or dog in winter, with all windows closed and heating on; I’ll start sneezing and my lungs will definitely let me know THEY KNOW there is an allergen in the vicinity. Some allergies I believe are too systemic to completely disappear.

However, this is a vast improvement on before – and I just avoid putting myself in the ‘hot, stifling house with fur’ situation, so I’m asthma-free all the time!

I personally know of two other long-time asthma sufferers that had always used inhalers. They went vegan fairly recently and after a while no longer needed medication and now consider themselves asthma-free.

So that’s my personal story and some anecdotal evidence – but what happened when actual scientific studies took place?

Incredible huh? (BTW – if you haven’t already subscribed to NutritionFacts.org, you really should. Dr Michael Greger is an expert on all things plant-based and health related).

And in this article on Dr T Colin Campbell’s nutritionstudies.org website, we see that dairy consumption is linked to many diseases, including asthma. The original article was written in 1997 and updated in 2015 – so again, this information is NOT new!

Seemingly, even Hippocrates back in 370BC knew cow’s milk wasn’t the universal health elixir it is cracked up to be:

‘Hippocrates first observed and wrote about negative reactions to cow’s milk around 370 BC, since when, the prevalence, awareness and understanding of this allergy has increased. Milk allergy is one of the major allergies in infants and is caused by the proteins present in cow’s milk’ ~ The Food Safety Hazard Guidebook, by Richard Lawley, Laurie Curtis, Judy Davis, 2008

No-one ever got asthma by eating broccoli. Or brown rice. Or apples.

Disappointingly, on the NHS website you have to click through to the last menu option ‘living with asthma‘ and right down at the bottom it does mention that cow’s milk (along with other animal products like eggs and shellfish) can be a trigger for asthma.

Given the amazing results of the Swedish study in the video above, you think they’d mention this on their asthma homepage.

They also put links to the Asthma UK website where I eventually found an option called ‘asthma triggers’ (really not obvious to find at all in amongst a tonne of other options), and then had to click on ‘food’ (again, this was in among 17 other options; it wasn’t even the first one). I clicked on food, and it DOES cite milk and dairy products at the top of the list of food triggers, but is not very positive and encouraging about avoiding them, and gives FALSE information regarding the impact of dairy on calcium intake and bones!

Milk and milk products – You may have heard there’s a link between dairy foods and asthma, but only a very small percentage of people are allergic to milk products. For them, eating these foods may result in wheezing. Dairy allergy is more common in children but they often grow out of it as their digestive system matures. Calcium-rich dairy products are essential for healthy bones, especially for children and adolescents. And people with asthma can be at higher risk of bone disease osteoporosis (which causes thinning, brittle bones and increases risk of fractures) because of the use of steroid medication. So you should only avoid dairy products if necessary, ensuring you replace them with other sources of calcium under the guidance of your GP, nurse or a dietitian.

Again, the results of the Swedish study conflict drastically with this.

Ugh. Just…Ugh.

It seems that as well as avoiding dairy, including lots of fresh fruit and veg in your diet also helps reduce asthma symptoms; so we can easily surmise that a whole food, plant-based diet would be your best bet for improving asthma, and maybe never suffering from it again.

If you’re an asthma sufferer and haven’t tried avoiding animal products yet in a bid to improve your condition – what are you waiting for? Why suffer needlessly? I mean, why?

I know parents of children with asthma who, despite me passing on the above information, are reluctant to take dairy out of their children’s diets.

Now, when parents are advised to do other things to treat disease in their children, they DO it – like giving them antibiotics for example.

Antibiotics have side-effects, while avoiding dairy only has benefits, so why wouldn’t you want to treat your kid in a non-harmful, plenty-beneficial way?

The only reason I can think of is that they genuinely fear their child would miss out on nutrients, or maybe just not be receptive to the idea.

If your child has asthma and you’d like to make their diet more plant-based but don’t know how open to this they would be, maybe this post will help.

If you need more reasons (besides just curing yourself of asthma) to give up cow’s milk and dairy, read this.

If cheese is your downfall, read this.

You know what? If you don’t think you can do it long-term just commit to three weeks. See how you feel then and re-evaluate.

Life is waaaay too short to lose any of it to wheezing and spluttering and feeling like your lungs are about to explode. Take back control over your windpipe and lungs! Don’t let the dairy and animal agriculture industries commit you to a wheezy, hacking, breathless future.

‘Vegan’ Does Not = Eating Fruit For Every Meal

Water melon from Flickr via Wylio — © 2006 Hajime NAKANO, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio

So there is a trend that worries me somewhat…

I’ve watched a tonne of YouTube videos that have ‘vegan’ in the title and are instructional in nature, and I have something I NEEEED to say.

In my opinion, the absolute vast majority of these videos are great, and it’s heart-warming to see so many people so clued up on the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of vegan. I’m also hugely jealous of the production values, editing skills, and just sheer confidence of the creators of these videos – but really enjoy watching them despite the ol’ green-eyed monster!

Yet some of them really concern me.

Some of these vloggers, if you watch their ‘what I eat in a day’ videos, eat nothing but fruit. Perhaps a nut here and there.

Of course, if you’re eating mainly fruit, then it’s pretty much a raw diet. My thoughts on raw in more detail are here.

I’m not naming any names or trying to take anyone down, I’m just genuinely concerned.

To be fair, some of these people DO look healthy, and report that their blood work is great. If this is true then good for them. But there are definitely others who don’t look like eating 95% fruit is serving them.

It’s popular and trendy diet plans like ’80/10/10′ and ‘Raw Till 4,’ (both encourage you to eat hyyyuuuuuge amounts of fruit for – supposedly – maximal health and fitness), that seem to have inspired this way of eating.

As a plant-based nutritionist I wouldn’t recommend eating a mostly fruit diet. Yes, of course it’s better than eating the standard US or UK diet full of chicken, fries, burgers and cheese etc, and maybe some people can live on it. But it’s not something I would recommend doing.

These are ALL the reasons these videos concern me:

Health-wise, we know the optimal diet is based around whole grains and starchy root veg. Brown rice, whole wheat products, whole spelt products, oats, quinoa, corn, potato, sweet potato, squash – these types of foods should be the foundation of most meals. After this come beans and legumes, and your veggies on the side.

Fruit appears as dessert; or a snack; or maybe PART of breakfast.

Where do I get off spouting this?

It’s true, I’m a nutritionist not a doctor…

…So I follow the advice of these guys who are:

Dr John McDougall, has practised medicine for many years and successfully treated hundreds, if not thousands of patients with a whole food, plant-based diet, with whole, starchy carbs as the basis. This is what he says on the matter.

The very accomplished and eminent Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, author of Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, who again, has treated hundreds if not thousands of people successfully with the same diet Dr McDougall prescribes, has this to say on the subject.

Here is what Dr T Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, thinks of diets such as 80/10/10 that espouse a raw, fruit-heavy way of eating.

All these guys say THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE proving that eating mostly fruit is optimal for health.

However – there IS scientific, peer-reviewed evidence proving that a whole food, plant-based diet with a focus on grains and potatoes etc, IS.

I also have personal experience of eating just fruit. About 26 years ago, I’m not going to say I had an eating disorder because I was never diagnosed and I managed to get out of it on my own with no medical help; but I wanted to lose weight, so I started JUST eating watery fruits and veg, knowing that with this regime I could only lose weight as these foods are basically just water and would go straight through me.

Well I lost weight alright, and I lost my period too (if you’re a female human, you NEED your period so everything can function as it should).

Everything went back to normal eventually when I added starchy plant foods back to my diet, but for a while there, I was not the healthiest!

This isn’t to say that it doesn’t work for some people, perhaps it does, I don’t know. But I don’t understand scientifically how it could be a good idea long term.

The other thing is – what kind of climate do you live in? In Chinese medicine (not that I’m an expert, but a close friend is a Chinese Herbalist) they believe that some foods are cooling and some are warming.

Tropical fruits, for example, are believed to have a very cooling effect. If you live in a cold climate it doesn’t make sense to be eating lots of mangoes, watermelons and dragon fruit that are meant to cool you down.

The couple of fruit-heavy vloggers I’ve seen who DO look healthy, I believe DO live in hotter climates.

If you live in the UK, Northern or Eastern Europe, East US, or anywhere where the temperatures can drop; eating fruit all day just ISN’T gonna cut it. You need your stews, chilli’s and curries to warm you and fill you up.

Also – how expensive is eating 3 melons for breakfast, 6 mangoes for lunch, 2 dragon fruit as a snack; and 4 oranges, 2 more melons and 3 dates for dinner? Tropical fruit isn’t cheap and with the amounts people are eating in order to fulfill their caloric intake, the cost must rack up pretty quickly. Compare the price of six decent mangoes with a 2kg bag of lentils that will last you months!

The final reason these ‘fruity’ videos concern me, is that, to me, they are somewhat misrepresenting a vegan diet. If these vloggers called themselves ‘fruitarians’ instead of ‘vegans’ this would be helpful, so people don’t think that this is a typical version of a vegan diet.

Veganism and plant-based diets are, at last, gaining traction. More and more people are interested. But imagine a person who eats a meat and dairy-heavy diet that starts to be curious about veganism and wants to learn more. So they whack ‘vegan’ into the YouTube search engine. Then imagine the first video they see is someone who tells them that eating 3 melons for breakfast and 12 mangoes for lunch is the way to be vegan. I worry this is off-putting. Lots of people think vegans are weird anyway. I don’t believe the ‘fruity’ vegans are helping this perception any.

If YOU are the meat-eater tentatively looking for info on going vegan and want to do it healthfully, then type ‘whole food, plant-based’ into your search engine; or read anything by the doctors I mention above – these dudes are the real deal; they’ve done the science and published it. They’ve witnessed hundreds of times over how healing a whole food, plant-based diet is and they live to spread the message.

And if you need any help transitioning….YOOHOO!!!!!! You know I’m here to help you. I offer my programs, and have addressed lots of the common questions and stumbling blocks around going vegan here in my blog posts.

Let me know if there’s anything I haven’t talked about yet that you’d like me to, and I’ll get to it in one of my next posts.

Here’s What To Do If Your Parents Aren’t On Board With You Being Vegan

Last week, in this post, I gave all the reasons your folks might’ve been a tad wary when you told them you were going vegan – or why they are still wary since you became vegan.

Now, I’m not promising that the following suggestions are going to turn your parents vegan overnight; but they may help to keep peace, relieve tension around your new lifestyle, and just make them comfortable with it.

If, right now, you’re thinking that it’s not up to you to keep the peace and that they should be automatically accepting of your choices because they are YOUR choices – read my post from last week again.

Think of it this way; the more your parents feel secure that your new lifestyle will not change certain things they hold dear, and the more they are convinced that you are healthy and happy; the more peaceful your life will be, so you’re really doing this for YOU!…If you see what I mean.

If your parents are totally cool with you being vegan and if your dad just made you a soy matcha latte to wash down the quinoa and black bean soup your mum made you? Good for you! You are one lucky mofo – be grateful!

This post is for the rest of us whose parent(s) have not yet been enlightened to the benefits and joys of plant-based living!

When you tell your parents you’re going vegan, what first hits them may be sub-conscious fears that they aren’t able to fully verbalise. Sometimes irrational fears crop up just because something is ‘different’, (which veganism is, in their eyes), and they can be difficult to express. If you think it might help, show them my post from last week to see if they relate to any of the fears I listed.

On the other hand, they may realise exactly what they are feeling which might make them defensive. Depending on their generation, they may not be comfortable with ‘the feels’ and would rather be defensive than talk about how you going vegan is affecting them.

However they react – you can cleverly pre-empt any negativity and neutralise it with your stun gun of reason!

ZAP!

KERPOW!!!

Exactly like that.

Use whatever within the following information applies to them and what you think will resonate most:

I talked about food memories last week, and how your parents have many memories of you that relate to food; whether celebratory food, or of you all eating a beloved family dish etc.

Remind your parents that the most important part of these memories is not the food. It’s being together WHILE eating the food; it’s the communal participation in something. Often, the food in question isn’t necessarily even LIKED by all of the party; it’s purely about being together. For example, even before I was vegan, I haaaated pretty much all Christmas food. Christmas pudding, turkey, Christmas cake, the lot. I’d rather have had a curry any day! But I loved being AT Christmas dinners. Why? Because we were all together, laughing and joking, being Christmassy, pulling crackers etc…But, food-wise, it wouldn’t have mattered if I was vegan or not for the amount of food I ate, it wouldn’t have been noticed. What mattered was the being together and celebrating.

Reassure them that you will still participate in celebratory family meals to come, and you’ll either help by suggesting and helping make fabulous plant-based dishes with them, or you’ll bring some with you for everyone to share. Paint an exciting picture of all the new memories there are to be made.

The best way to stealthily attract people (even parents!) to veganism, is to lead by example.

Explain to your parents carefully WHY you’re doing what you’re doing. Be sure not to say that you think they should do it too, just say that you’ve discovered this information, and it’s made you want to try it, and you’d appreciate their support. Breathe, be calm, and don’t talk over the top of them. I know it can be difficult (God knows I do!) but this is for the long-term benefit of everyone. If they see you are calm, focussed and reasonable, they’ll have more faith in your decision.

- Involve them. Sometimes parents might get weird and feel judged if you start living your life differently to how they do. The best thing to do is to get them involved. Go shopping with them, make fun dishes with them, and let them see that you are eating amazing, healthy, vibrant food. Buy them a copy of your favourite vegan recipe book (make sure it’s one with lush, mouth-watering pics!).

Did you used to go fishing or hunting with your dad? Did you used to bake something at an annual event with your mum? (I know – this is sooo gendered, but it still happens!)

There are plenty of new bonding plant-based activities you can ritualise. For example, if I visit my dad’s house in winter, he’ll always roast us some chestnuts. Nothing better than cracking open freshly roasted chestnuts on a cold day. This is something we did before I was vegan, and luckily this didn’t need to change. Yay for chestnuts!

It doesn’t matter what the bonding activity is, if it’s gentle and meditative and leaves room for talking AND shared silence, then it’s effective. If you went fishing with your dad, it wasn’t really THAT much about the fishing, was it? It was more about being in nature, sitting quietly, mulling things over, being contemplative, and having a feeling of achievement if you caught something. Well you can get all that with many different activities that DON’T involve animal cruelty.

You can go foraging for mushrooms and wild herbs, picking berries etc. How about vegan beer or vegan wine tasting?

The same with cooking a particular dish in the kitchen if this is a family ritual. It doesn’t matter what the dish is. Maybe you could just veganise whatever it was?

- Assure your parents you are well informed on the nutrition side of things – show them my protein post if they try and pick the old protein argument! Assure them that it’s as simple as making sure you eat a range of different coloured veg, fruit, beans and legumes, with lots of energy-giving whole grains and you’ll be fine – BETTER than fine in fact!

This is a good one! Remind them that there are (depending on their generation) plenty of things their parents ate that they now wouldn’t dream of eating. For example; my grandparents would’ve eaten lard, bread and dripping (I have no idea either!), spam, and they cooked everything in animal fat. My parents wouldn’t eat any of this now because they’ve learned that these foods are unhealthy. People DO better when they KNOW better. This is all you are doing – which as you’ve just shown them, is something they have done themselves.

Bottom line – keep talking. Keep making them (or showing them how to make) tasty food. If you find a great vegan restaurant, take them. If they have health questions, email them facts from reputable websites (anything by Dr T Colin Campbell, Dr Michael Greger, Dr John Mcdougall, PCRM). Talk with them, share information with them (you don’t have to share everything, just anything you think they might relate to; if one of them has a cholesterol issue for example, you could explain how it’s only animal products that contain cholesterol and that plant foods don’t contain any), and involve them.

You’ll soon get those walls down – and you never know what might happen. It might end up being THEM whining about all the Tofurky being sold out at Christmas!

There’s No Such Thing As Vegan Food, It’s All Just Food.

Fried artichoke hearts with marinara and ranch dipping sauce, from Sage Bistro, LA. Perfect example of 'food.' — Fried artichoke hearts with marinara and ranch dipping sauce, from Sage Bistro, LA. Perfect example of ‘food.’

Just so we’re clear – there is no such thing as ‘vegan’ food.

So why do we often hear phrases like..

‘I tried vegan food but I didn’t like it’

‘I could never eat vegan food; it’s really dry and rubbery’

‘Come to our party, there will be vegan food’

What is this ‘vegan’ food?

Ok, hands up, I’m also guilty of using the term ‘vegan food’ for ease of expression on occasion, but it’s a term that is grossly overused by vegans and non-vegans alike.

Do we say vegan carrot? Vegan strawberry? Vegan olive? Er…no.

Food that vegans eat, non-vegans often eat too!

The word vegan already, to some ears, sounds like something from another planet; so using ‘vegan food’ to mean, well, just food, isn’t really gonna attract anyone to it. Which is a shame if the food in question is a gorgeous Ethiopian Berber lentil stew, or black-eyed pea fritters with Creole sauce, or salted caramel ice cream.

It’s not surprising someone invented the term ‘plant-based.’ It’s more specific, and everyone knows we all already eat plants, so it’s not as alien-sounding.

Maybe we should even quit using the word ‘food’ to mean anything other than plant-based food!

For if we believe that non-human animals aren’t ours to eat or take bodily secretions from; then we really don’t see meat, dairy, fish and eggs as edible; i.e., as food.

If we could all switch our perception thus – just think! We wouldn’t even need the word ‘vegan’ – there would just be people who ate food, and others who ate food and animals. It may have the effect of bringing home to people just what they are eating.

If you think ‘vegan foods’ means fake meats; soy protein burgers etc, you may have a point. It’s true that these products were made specifically with vegetarians and vegans in mind.

But bear in mind that most vegans, after a period of transitioning to a vegan diet, don’t tend to eat this kind of thing often. It can be helpful for some people when they first go vegan to eat foods that resemble the meat-based foods they used to eat. But after a while of experimenting with all the veg, beans, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds etc – it’s common to start to naturally move away from the fake stuff and make real foods the basis of your diet the most often.

I only tend to eat a seitan or a gardein dish (gardein is another plant-protein with a meat-like texture) on holiday. I DO eat veggie burgers but they’re made from spicy brown rice and pumpkin seeds, so they are just really GOOD food. Hey – maybe we should reclaim the word ‘burger’ too?

And as for some people saying ‘vegan food’ is tasteless or dry etc – well guess what? Lots of non-vegan food is tasteless and dry! I remember many a dry, overcooked piece of meat on my plate, or something cooked in milk that had gone off, or cheap disgusting vanilla ice-cream where the food colouring was so intense it was practically glow-in-the-dark!

Of course there is bad ‘vegan food’ just as there is bad non-vegan food. Why the double standard? If food is badly sourced and badly made, then it’s crap – vegan or not! At least if ‘vegan food’ is bad, no one had to die and the environment wasn’t ruined for something that everyone hated anyway.

I believe in the future perceptions WILL change around what constitutes ‘food’ and what does not. They will HAVE to if we are to survive on this planet – as anyone who has seen the documentary Cowspiracy, or read Comfortably Unaware by the dedicated and brilliant Dr Richard Oppenlander will tell you.

But in the meantime if you hear anyone refer to an animal product-free dish as ‘vegan food,’ try and find a polite way of saying…

…’dude, it’s just food.’

8 Things You Need To Do BEFORE Going Vegan

produce for the week from Flickr via Wylio — © 2009 Peyri Herrera, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio

I’m assuming here that you’re going vegan cold Tofurky!

But if you’re easing into a plant-based lifestyle at a gentler pace (which I wholeheartedly encourage if you think this is best for you), these tips will also apply, though perhaps at different stages.

1. Inform yourself well on plant-based nutrition

Before you run for the hills because you didn’t expect to have to study – RELAX.

It’s not complicated and will not take long, I promise. Here is a good starting point.

The reason this is top priority is because there are lots of people who go vegan without being sufficiently informed on nutrition, and as a result relapse back into meat-eating because they feel like they are missing an important nutrient.

Being well nourished on a vegan diet WILL become second nature to you much quicker than you think.

There is NO nutrient in meat that isn’t available from a healthier source in plants (before you say vitamin B12 – vitamin B12 is a bacteria that animals ingest, it’s not actually FROM animals, and we can supplement this easily).

Therefore, with a little studyin’ (not much, honest!), or a little help from a coach (Hi there!) there is no reason to be undernourished and every reason to enjoy your best health ever!

2. Do a big-azz shop.

You’ll need lots of gorge-looking food at home to inspire you, and so you’ve always got enough stuff on hand to whip up something yum – even if it’s dead simple.

I don’t care whether you shop at a farmers market, at Whole Foods, Lidls or Walmart. Doesn’t matter.

Include: Lots of colourful fresh produce (don’t forget potatoes, both sweet and the white variety; avocados and squashes); a good selection of grains (brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat pasta, oats etc); beans (chickpeas, red kidney beans etc); lentils, nuts and seeds, and some decent wholewheat bread. Dips like hummus, guacamole and salsa are great for snacks. Maybe some olives to stick in a pasta dish…

3. Get some answers to the questions and comments you’ll inevitably get when people find out you’ve gone vegan.

Don’t worry, you really don’t get bombarded with aggressive questions when people find out you have this new lifestyle, in fact the most common question is ‘what made you go vegan‘ so you’ll already have your answer for that.

But, whether its internet trolls, paid shills or actual friends and family who are misinformed about a plant-based diet, you’ll need answers to lots of questions and comments that you’ll come across. Whether it’s the PROTEINPROTEINWHEREDOYOUGETYOURPROTEIN??? Or ‘But lions eat gazelles it’s the circle of life don’t you know…’ if you are armed with knowledge you’ll be confident and assured in your responses.

This post and this one will help you get started, but there is plenty of info online. If my voice doesn’t resonate, try this Gary Yourofsky talk, or this one by Colleen Patrick Goudreau.

You don’t have to learn this all at once; you can always read up as you’re going along. If you’re making a lifestyle shift as impactful as going vegan, then you are probably motivated and firm in your intention and a few silly comments won’t bother you or sway you from your path anyway – it’s just satisfying to have that knowledge to draw on those times when you need it.

There’s a lot of dodgy health info around as well so you’ll need to know what’s good and what’s really serving some animal-product based corporate interest.

4. Avoid animal products.

Well, duh! I’m trying to do that anyway, hence the whole VEGAN thing?

What I mean is, clear them out of your space. If you still have some eggs/butter/cheese in the kitchen – get rid. When you’ve been vegan a while, you’ll be fine those times you have to be around animal products, but until your taste buds adapt to your new diet, get temptation out of your face.

5. Whatever the word ‘treat’ means for you – make absolutely sure to have plenty of it around

The last thing you want to feel is treat-less. You’re gonna feel pretty damn hard-done-by if you see everyone else gorging on yummies and there’s nothing for you. This is the easiest way to give up. No matter what your ‘treat’ is, make sure you have plenty on hand in the first few weeks of going plant-based.

If your particular ‘treat’ food isn’t vegan – veganise it. Google ‘vegan (your yumminess here)’

For example, one of my treats is chocolate (I know, how pedestrian!), so I had to find amazing vegan chocolate. Luckily, it turns out the best chocolate is vegan anyway; I just had to steer clear of the milky, over-sweet stuff.

6. Plan for some kitchen time.

Yes, there are vegan ready meals and even vegan meal delivery services now (Cheers Beyonce!), but it’s a great idea to get into the kitchen and find a repertoire of new meals you enjoy, so you’re never at a loss for a great meal.

I’d say you need 6 dishes or so to start off with. After you’ve made each recipe a couple of times you’ll know it by heart and you’ll be able to whip it up in no time. It may take a bit of trial and error finding dishes that work and that you love, but once you’ve found a selection of meals you like, you’ll have a great foundation. After that, when you get a bit of free time, find another dish to add to the rotation.

Here are three of the dishes in MY rotation that are delicious and easy, but you’ll want to find some for yourself to suit your tastes.

Black bean and quinoa soup

Sweet potato chilli

Ethiopian red lentil soup

7. Have some ‘can’t be bothered’ meal ideas ready.

Sometimes you’ll need a quick solution.

You may have had to go late night shopping and there’s no time to cook. Or you’ll just have had ‘one of those days’ – you come home and you really CANNOT be arsed cooking a meal from scratch. You couldn’t focus on what you were doing anyhow.

It’s easy for new vegans to relapse on days like these and just dial a pizza.

Think baked/mashed potato and baked beans (mashed is quicker if you’re really short on time); or baked/mashed sweet potato, corn on the cob and a steamed green veg.

If even that would take too long – you’ll find vegan ready meals at your local supermarket. In the UK try Dee’s Wholefoods , and the Bol range – some of which are vegan. In the US, Whole Foods has several ranges of vegan ready meals, and bigger supermarkets stock some in their health sections.

Keep a couple in always, for when you really have no energy left to cook.

8. Set your intention.

Set your intention to become vegan (in whatever time frame you intend to do it), but be kind to yourself and KNOW that there may be mistakes or ‘cheats’ along the way.

Obviously you’re not willing these things to happen, it’s just that even with the best intentions, they often do – you may buy a product that seems vegan, then later realise it wasn’t.

I did this with falafel once. I was starving and bought some falafel to eat cold, then later realised they had egg in them. Now this is ridiculous. Falafel should NEVER contain egg, that’s why I didn’t take much notice of the list of ingredients when I bought them. But it turned out they did.

You may find yourself with a group of friends who are sampling a cheese board, and not be able to resist taking a piece of cheese.

These slip-ups do NOT negate your intention to be vegan. Be kind to yourself and move on. Tomorrow is another day. Hell, the next hour is a new hour!

You WILL get to a place where these incidents barely happen.