Guide to Veganism

As friends of mine know, I have changed my diet to “near” vegan for about 6 months now, based on reading and review of data that I had not seen before (but actually has been around for a while).  Since so many people have asked me, and then want some place to go, I’m creating this post so I can refer people later.

Documentary:

“Forks over Knives”

This is available as a Netflix stream and plenty of places.  Kinda low budget but interviews and involves the real stalwarts/academics in this field Carl Esselstyn and Colin Campbell.

– there is also a book, which has recipes and a very rough summary of the documentary.  Personally I didn’t find it too worthwhile.  Does have a good set of recipes, though.

Books:

Engine 2 Diet –

http://engine2diet.com/

– A good place to get started, with recipes, shopping lists, and strategies in restaurants.  Particularly good place to start for people who are younger, reasonably healthy and do not have any major medical problems (yet).

Esselstyn’s book:

http://www.heartattackproof.com/

Has clinical experience of decades of controlling many of the heart attack and stroke risks in patient after their first heart attack.

Colin Campbell’s Book:

http://www.thechinastudy.com/

– A real review of the science of nutrition, and talks extensively about the association of Meat based proteins (particularly milk) and cancer.  This is probably the “bible” of nutrition, with some 400+ reference from peer reviewed journal articles.  I have heard that it is still very readable, but I can’t vouch for it since I have a background in epidemiology.  That said, I will say that the material is very well grounded.

What I do:

Based on data outlined in a number of the above books, I am, “mostly vegan,” which means I eat meat/dairy/fish in my meals once a week.  I also make a reasonable effort to avoid, but don’t sweat the small amount of non-vegan products found in most breads and baked goods.  (cakes and such are not healthy, whether vegan or not!).  This meets my goal of staying “less than 5%” animal protein.  I also take B12 vitamins on occasion (generally about once or twice a week when I remember), which I think should be more than enough since I am not strictly vegan anyway.

Hope this helps someone out in the interwebs!

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