Last Tuesday, I participated in a Twitter Chat with two other vegan health/nutrition writers: Michael Greger, M.D., who runs the fantastic (and useful) Nutrition Facts website, in addition to being the director of public health and animal agriculture for the Humane Society, and Julieanna Hever, R.D., who is the author of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition. We were to take 15 questions, all relayed via Twitter, and respond with short, to-the-point, tweets. Along the way, we took questions from Twitter followers who had tuned into the chat.

I had no idea that Twitter chats could be so fun! Not only was it great to address some of the major vegan health questions in one sitting, but it was also fun to connect with a new group of readers. I had a great time, and I hope this will be the first of many. For those of you who couldn’t tune in, I wanted to relay some of the highlights of the convo, which are also available in this transcript.

As you’ll see, everything came in the form of 15 short answer questions from VegNews. And each of us—Michael, Juileanna, and I—offered our best response:

@VegNews: Everyone talks about a whole-foods, plant-based diet. What does that mean to you?

Julieanna: To me, a whole food, plant-based diet = eating as close to nature as possible, relying on food as thy medicine.

Gena: To me, it means grains, legumes, and veggies w/ as little processing as you can manage.

Michael: Whole foods? Food as grown!

@VegNews: Q2: It’s so easy to be a “junk food” vegan, where do you draw the line with processed food?

Julieanna: If you’re healthy there’s nothing wrong w/ having treats once in a while as long as your diet is primarily whole foods

Gena: “Junk food” vegan? Some faux meats or cheeses or treats are fine on occasion, just not as the norm. That’s my line.

Michael: Junk foods: it’s the day to day stuff that matters.

@VegNews Q3: What are your 5 must-eat foods for optimal health?

Julieanna: I always say, “Let thy greens be thy medicine and thy medicine by thy greens”

Gena: Top 5 healthy foods? all greens, hemp seeds, legumes, berries, avocados

@VegNews: Q4: When working with clients, do you usually say “vegan” or “plant-based”?

Gena: I say “vegan,” personally. The word implies more than diet/health alone.

@VegNews: Q5 What vitamins and supplements do you recommend that vegans take daily?

Michael: B-12 is the biggie.

Gena: I say a multi w/ B-12, and cal + Vit D supplement for most women. EFA can be useful for some.

Julieanna: Definitely take vit B12! Test for vit D levels, ensure adequate Omega-3, iodine, and Vit C from food if possible.

@VegNews: Q6: OK experts, give us the inside scoop. What are the go-to, easy, cheap weeknight meals that you actually make and eat?

Michael: Green burrito: canned refried beans wrapped in steamed collard green with jarred salsa.

Julieanna: go-to dinners are: chili, stew, soup, lasagna, hummus, burritos, and always include salad w/ a good, oil-free dressing

@VegNews Q7: How about the most important meal of the day? What do you have for breakfast to get started right?

Gena: I usually do chia seed pudding w fruit, oats w berries + flax, or nutritious smoothie w vegan protein.

Julieanna: I love fresh fruit OR a green smoothie OR a green juice OR oatmeal and always tea

Michael: Best breakfast? Green smoothie!

@VegNews: Q8: for those of us who are new to eating veg, we must ask: What are the best sources of protein?

Gena: Hemp, legumes, grains, vegetables, tempeh

@VegNews Q9: What are some of the most common misconceptions about eating healthfully as a vegan, and what can we do to refute them?

Gena: That vegan diet is lacking in anything we can’t substitute! But on the flip side, idea that anything vegan is also healthy

Julieanna: Biggest healthy vegan myth = lack of delicious food and variety! Experiment and share awesome recipes!!

Michael: recipes like those in Julieanna’s books! Misconception? How about beans and gas?

@VegNews Q10: What’s the most inspirational story you know of someone turning their health around on a vegan diet?

Julieanna: I daily c ppl reversing heart disease, diabetes, obesity. Just met a young man who gout out of wheelchair and off MS meds

Gena: So many, but I just remember my own: healing from digestive problems and eating disorder history

@VegNews Q11: How about healthy recipes that you love? Are there cookbooks you go to again and again?

Julieanna: Love cookbooks by @dreenaburton @veganchefbev @globalvegan

@VegNews Q12: How much soy is too much?

Gena: Soy? I think moderate weekly amounts of non-GMO and organic soy is perfectly healthy and good. Constant processed = bad.

Julieanna: Seems that 3 servings is a good max for soy per day. Make sure it is from whole soy products too!

@VegNews Q13: For our experts, what are the questions that people should be asking their doctors? Essential tests to be taken?

Julieanna: Definitely as your Doc to test for Vit D deficiency & regular lipid panel (for cholesterol), Hgb/Hct (for iron)

@VegNews Q14: What are your favorite resources for planning balanced meals?

Julieanna: To plan meals, I listen to my body 1st and experiment with recipes that sound yummy. always include lots of veggies!

Gena (didn’t catch this question, but would have answered…): try to include a source of protein, healthy fat, and complex carb!

@VegNews Q15: What’s the single best piece of nutrition advice you can give?

Julieanna: My best advice: experiment w/ recipes/ingredients, maintain a variety of plants, show the world how awesome #vegan is!!!

Gena: What Julieanna said, and eat enough. Do not crash diet for pseudoscience or attaining a foolish ideal.

Other questions that came up:

What about a strictly raw diet?

Julieanna: Eat a diet that is high in raw foods. 100% is not necessary and can even backfire!

Gena: I think 100% raw is not optimal for most people, but high raw works beautifully for many people (incl me!)

Michael: Some veggies are actually healthier cooked (nutrient availability).

What about oils?

Gena: I’m def in favor of high quality flax, hemp, avocado oils in wise moderation.

Julieanna: As we started out chat: whole foods always preferable, nuts and seeds healthiest sources of fat.

80/10/10?

Gena: The low fat, high fruit thing is too restrictive IMHO.

Is fruit bad for you?

Julieanna: Fruit is fabulous! Fiber slows absorption of sugar and is chock full of nutrition! Don’t be afraid of fruit!

For more, check out the transcript.

Where do you guys stand on these issues? What do you think of our answers? Our subtle differences  as professionals? What questions would you have asked if you had been on the chat? Hit me!

xo

Happy Monday! Hope you all had good weekends and good game days. I was memorizing amino acid side chains as my home team secured a victory, and it wasn’t until a friend texted to tell me NY had won that I actually flipped on the TV. But I hear there were some pretty funny ads this year?

It’s relatively rare that I end up with whole grains that I don’t know what to do with. I prepare batches of millet, rice, quinoa and/or barley every weekend (sometimes I freeze the cooked grains, too), and they almost always get eaten promptly. This past weekend, however, I actually ended up with a bunch of cooked millet that was just about to go stale, and I had no immediate use for. Rather than forcing it down, which would have been a bummer, I decided to get innovative with my leftovers, and put them to good use in a new kind of granola: “soft granola,” as it were. This is just a fancy way of saying that I toasted cooked grains along with uncooked rolled oats to create a mixture that’s someplace in between regular porridge and crunchy, crispy, traditional granola.

And I liked it. A lot. If you the main thing you appreciate about granola is its characteristic crunch and clumpiness (wow, what a gross word to be using as a positive modifier), this granola may seem pretty foreign/off-putting to you. But if you’re open to something slightly less traditional—and let’s be honest, if you read my blog, you are probably open to something less traditional—I think you’ll enjoy this soft, sweet, and incredibly filling breakfast dish. Here’s how to make it happen:

Millet and Oat “Soft Granola” (vegan, gluten free if you use GF certified oats, soy free)

Makes About 5 cups, or 15 1/3 Cup Servings (topping) and 10 1/2 Cup Servings (cereal)

1 1/2 rolled oats
1 1/2 cups cooked millet (or rice, or quinoa)
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp flax meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup almond butter
1 tbsp melted coconut oil

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3) Whisk together the maple syrup, almond butter, and coconut oil, and pour over dry ingredients. Mix well.

4) Place all ingredients onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 25 minutes, stirring halfway through, or until grants are fragrant and oats are toasted. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Check out the texture—you can see flecks of soft millet mixed in with the crispy oats:

This granola is great for those mornings when you want something with the satisfaction of whole grains, but may not be craving something piping hot. I bet it’s a perfect “transition” meal between seasons.

I used the same”formula” in this recipe that I use for most granola: cinnamon, maple syrup, nut butter, sometimes a touch of coconut oil for crispiness and flavor. But you could definitely mix things up to suit your own tastes. And feel free to try it with barley, rice, spelt, kamut, or quinoa.

Normally, I force myself to eat leftovers even if my craving for them has passed, or I toss them, and then feel really stupid. This recipe reminded me that you can find inventive ways to “recycle” leftover food that has lost its appeal. A little imagination is all it takes!

What’s your favorite way to reinvent a leftover?

xo

Happy Saturday! I’m interrupting a day of studying to say, first of all, great comments on yesterday night’s continued discussion of diet, beauty, and health. Check the post out and share your thoughts!

And after you do that, you can feast your eyes on this little compendium of ten vegan recipes for Super Bowl Sunday! Below you’ll find finger food for every palate—from hot, gooey spinach artichoke dip to crispy, crunchy, salty yukon gold potato chips. I’m not much of a football fan (will be rooting for the Giants, though—hometown pride), but I do like to celebrate game day the way I’d celebrate anything: with delicious vegan food. Hope you all enjoy the game, and the recipes!

Black bean and corn burgers:

Yukon Gold Potato Chips with Rosemary and Sea Salt

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Cool as a Cucumber Guacamole

Tangy Potato Salad with Basil Chiffonade

Ginger, Edamame, Lime, and Sweet Potato Burgers

Pesto Pasta Salad

Sweet and Spicy Candied Nuts

Smoky Southwestern Hummus

Mushroom, Lentil, and Quinoa Croquettes

xo

As usual, you guys blow me away. Thanks for the intelligent and very brave comments on yesterday’s post. Big thanks, too, to the many women who emailed privately to say that the image had made them feel nervous about their looks, their age, or their diet. As JL pointed out, the very purpose of that image is to capitalize on some womens’ worst fears—getting older, or not being perceived as “beautiful,”—and use those fears to deter them from plant based eating. I hope that you all feel a little more empowered to resist that kind of messaging.

So, if you’re not caught up, I posted yesterday about a  meme that’s been going around. It compares photos of Nigella Lawson and Gillian McKeith; the former looks splendid, while McKeith simply looks caught off guard, and perhaps a little tired. The point of the meme is to say that McKeith, who advocates a mostly plant diet, detoxification, and exercise, looks older than Lawson, who loves some butter, meat and cheese. Slow clap.

If you want a recap of my thoughts and those of my readers, you can check out the post here. Today, I wanted to specifically address the conflation of health and beauty, which is of course the theme that this meme (oops, I rhymed) evokes. In this case, the creator of that meme is arguing either a) that health and beauty are not one in the same, or b) that what is “healthy” is not what popular health gurus claim (plant based food and exercise) but rather a good, old-fashioned, meat n’ potatoes diet. I think he or she—I couldn’t confirm who created it—is saying b), but no matter: the point is that the visual is intended to complicate the idea that eating a healthy diet, full of vegetables, will impart glowing complexion and youthful radiance.

Oddly, I kind of agree. Or rather, I agree that it’s unfair to make presumptions about how a healthy diet will affect one’s appearance. Do I think there’s some truth to the idea that healthy lifestyle habits can help to keep one looking trim and youthful? Sure. Do I think there’s any sort of guarantee? No, not really. I’ve met incredibly healthy women and men who did not necessarily emanate youth, and I’ve met many more women and men who have lifestyle habits I’d call pretty unhealthy (processed food, no exercise, alcohol/nicotine/drug addictions) who appear to be the picture of youthful beauty. Healthy habits may offer some promise of youthfulness and beauty (whatever “beauty” means), but there’s certainly no direct cause and effect relationship.

And it gets more complicated. One of my favorite comments yesterday was from my friend Bitt, who lives with an autoimmune disease and chronic pain. She wrote:

“I think it’s unfair to judge someone on how they look. I have had people say to me “you look awful” when I felt fine, and have other people think I look “great” when I feel absolutely terrible. It’s part of the trouble with an invisible illness. A little make up and some sun exposure can make someone look a lot better but does not heal the inside.”

Very true. Some health conditions manifest themselves outwardly, but a good many don’t. And until you walk in somebody’s proverbial shoes, you truly have no idea how he or she feels from day to day. Remarking upon beauty/appearance as a sign of good health can be very frustrating to those who suffer from silent illnesses.

Finally, my friend Sarah, who used to work at a holistic treatment center, had this to say:

“I saw firsthand the intense pressure for holistic health folks to look a certain way so that people would follow their advice and/or buy their products and supplements. The raw vegan medical doctor with whom I worked for several years frequently got weekly facials, acid peels, and other regular “holistic” aesthetic work done. His argument for doing this (according to my spa friend who administered said peels and facials) was that people would judge his work based on his appearance. When my friend let me in on this, I felt kind of sorry for him, a well-intentioned doctor in his silver years constantly walking around with a puffy red face while he was waiting for his weekly acid peel effects to subside, and a nagging fear that if he got wrinkles or looked less than Hollywood-esque people would be less likely to follow his advice. The doctor encouraged his staff to “stay on point” with their diets, as guests would see us as ‘models of the lifestyle’.”

Sarah, I can relate to this well. When I first got into raw foods, I was a part of several communities of women who were very wrapped up in the notion of “detox.” There was always talk of glowing skin and better hair, tiny waistlines and taught physiques, comments about one’s jean size. Ostensibly, these were seen as marks of good health, but I often felt that the health talk was really there to validate an incredible strain of vanity. Beyond that, I found the very notion that skin, hair, or weight are the measures of good health to be disturbing. Good diet will not necessarily eliminate every pimple or set of crow’s feet, and even if they did, who cares? Good complexion and bright eyes are nice, but they are hardly the most important benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

There is a ton of pressure for people who eat healthy to also look “the part.” It is assumed that healthy vegans and vegetarians will be slim, clear-skinned, and energetic at all times. The truth is that we come in every shape and size, and that we, just like everyone else, have our token dark circles when we’re tired, pimples when we PMS, and wrinkles as we get older. I’ll admit, I’ve been approached by readers when I was particularly exhausted before, and gotten worried: did I look pale? Did I have bags under my eyes? Obviously, those things indicate nothing more than the fact that I’m a full time pre-med student and blogger who doesn’t sleep enough. But the fear is that people will assume my healthy lifestyle habits are ineffectual, or a hoax.

Let’s all do ourselves a favor, and focus on our lifestyle choices not as a way to reverse aging or “get the glow,” but as a means of feeling vibrant, satisfied, and complete. As Carrie wrote,”

“I’ve had so many compliments on my appearance since I became a healthy vegan, but I always try to communicate to people how much better I feel on the inside. True health to me means feeling energetic, vibrant and balanced. What we see on the outside is only one part of the story.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

On that uplifting and sane note, I have two winners of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food Detox! They—randomly generated—are #232, Aimee, and #256, Jackie!! I’ll email you both to get your mailing addresses.

Happy Friday to you all!

xo

Image courtesy of Wendy

About a week ago, I received the following email from a reader:

“…I felt compelled to message because of an image in circulation. It’s aimed at a British audience, as it consists of two British TV personalities and is targeted at women who are considering vegetarianism/veganism. It depicts a juxtaposition of an image of Gillian McKeith (vegetarian health guru) and another with Nigella Lawson. The former looks ravaged…the latter is shown looking radiant with youthful skin. The caption is long but says something to the effect of: both are 51, one is a vegetarian and looks like this, one eats copious amounts of butter and meat and looks like that. It sounds trivial but it is a powerful and disturbing image and sums up the reason why I’m still shy about my veganism despite the fact that it has saved me from a life of disordered eating.”

I quickly went to find the image in question (there are now several iterations of it), and understood precisely why it is so potent and disturbing. And then I spent a week deciding out whether or not I ought to write a post about it, as I’m loathe to give attention/hits/publicity to the image, or to participate in its circulation. Ultimately, I decided that remaining silent was probably less helpful than offering my readers a perspective on how to confront these kinds of messages without getting depressed or angry. So that’s why I’m posting today.

I will not actually paste the images into this post, because some of my readers might prefer not to look. Instead, I’ll direct you to the two I’ve found. In the first, here, the caption reads,

This woman is 51. She is TV health guru Gillian McKeith, advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and health, promoting exercise, a vegetarian diet high in organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox diets, colonic irrigation and supplements.

This woman is also 51. She is Nigella Lawson a TV cook, who eats meat, butter and desserts. I rest my case.

As my reader said, Lawson looks radiant.

The other image, visible here, reads

This woman is 51 years old. She’s Gillian McKeith, the health guru who talks about a holistic approach between health and food with lots of exercise and a diet rich in fruits and organic vegetables. She recommends a vegetarian diet and colon cleansing.

This woman is 51 years old. She’s Nigella Lawson, a chef who smokes, drinks, eats meat and butter and desserts considered to be “unhealthy.”

Before I begin, let me say that this post is not an endorsement of McKeith’s work. I think it’s chock full of dubious theories, which wouldn’t bother me so much if McKeith didn’t frequently posture as a doctor or scientist, posing in lab coats and with test tubes. In fact, she is a nutritionist just like I am, and whether her degree is holistic (as mine is), or not, it seems to me that the expertise she assumes is out of keeping with the level of scientific research she’s actually conducting or studying. (Ben Goldacre presents a rather scathing, if compelling criticism of her work in his book Bad Science.)

Nor, for the record, do I have anything against the charming Nigella Lawson, except of course that the food she creates is not the food I’d recommend to my readers from either a health or ethical standpoint. I’ve watched Nigella’s show and have been thoroughly entertained by her passion for food. So this post is not about pitting one woman’s approach against the other’s, because the image I’m referencing isn’t really about either McKeith or Lawson as individuals. Rather, it uses their appearances to make a point about “healthy” living versus “unhealthy” living, and tries to poke holes in the idea that a vigilant and plant-based diet is really connected to vibrant health or beauty.

The first thing I noticed about the image is that I’m not so sure that McKeith looks either haggard or gaunt. I think she looks as though she’s not wearing any makeup, and has been caught in a candid photo. Lawson, on the other hand, is wearing an evening gown, and is posing in makeup for a camera. In the second image, McKeith is dressed up too, and the only difference between the relatively “health” of these two women, insofar as it can be judged from a photo, is that McKeith might arguably look a little older than the dewy Lawson, who appears unusually young for her age.

So what’s really going on here? A camera-ready Lawson is juxtaposed with a candid, perhaps unflattering photo of McKeith. McKeith doesn’t look sick or unwell or frighteningly thin; rather, she looks less manicured and stunningly youthful than Lawson. What the picture is really doing is not making claims about how healthy these women are, but rather making statements about who is better and younger looking.

The construct of this image is to publically compare these women’s good looks, and ridicule one of them as the less attractive and older. It is misogynistic, and even it weren’t meant to make fun of vegans, it would offend me because its intention is to shame and insult one woman for not being as “good looking”—at least in the creator’s eyes—as another one. And the image dooms McKeith from the very start, because few women who are caught off guard in a candid snapshot can manage to look as manicured as women who have been dressed up, made up, and asked to smile for a camera.

But let’s get to the vegan thing. This image is the same old tired song vegan-bashing we’re all used to: vegans are sickly. Vegans are unwell. Vegans aren’t as “supple” or “robust” as their omni counterparts. There’s really nothing to say about this, except that it’s a stupid generalization that is becoming increasingly outdated. Vegan athletes like Brendan are proving that vegans have strength and endurance in droves, while any number of fabulous vegan personalities, leaders, and celebs are showing the world just how rich, vibrant, and health-generating the lifestyle is.

The idea that vegans are a sickly breed is simply incorrect: there is as much variance in health among vegans as there is among any lifestyle group, except that vegetarians and vegans are on average more slender and less likely to develop heart disease or high blood pressure. If I wanted to deal in insulting and unfair generalizations about eating habits, I might post a photo of Alicia Silverstone, Ellen DeGeneres, Rory Freedman, and juxtapose it with a photo of a person in a hospital bed, being treated for any number of diseases of affluence, and suggest that the latter’s appearance is caused specifically by consumption of meat and cheese.

This photo, however, doesn’t only take a jab at veganism as a health choice. It also conflates vegetarianism with theories about cleansing and detox diets, which isn’t fair: maybe McKeith recommends them, but a good many plant based eaters have no illusions about the idea of “detox.” And if this conflation of one person’s more extreme theories with the viewpoints of an entire population isn’t troublesome enough, I should point out that McKeith is not a dedicated advocate of vegetarianism; she is herself a pescatarian, and recommends fish to her readers.

What this image really does is channel the age old idea that fastidious attention to health and diet is a waste of time. People love to laugh off “healthy eating” as a fool’s errand, remind you that their great grandfather lived to 100 with bacon and cigarettes and scotch every day. What they don’t tell you is that a good many other relatives probably died young because of strokes or heart diseases, that the meat our great-grandparents ate was infinitely more moderate than what most Americans eat now, and that the unfortunate victims of our carnivorous habits are the billions of farm animals who die or live in captivity every year. So please, let’s not get swept up into thinking that our attachment to animal foods is somehow more “sane” than eating plant-based. Industries that breed sentient beings to be raised in captivity and killed by the billions, while also destroying our ecosystem and promoting diseases of affluence? That’s insane. And if you need more proof that the logic behind this image is whack, just look at the second one, in which cigarette smoking is defended.

There will always be people who insist that a diet without animal products must be a weak and disadvantaged one; it’s visible everywhere from the psuedoscience of the Weston Price Foundation to your opinionated Aunt Sally’s assertion that all vegans eat is “rabbit food.” Ignore it. While vegan diet may pose some challenges—the procurement of B-12, for example—we live in a day and age in which those challenges can be gotten around with a simple supplement. It’s easier than ever to plan and enjoy a rich, healthy, and nourishing diet that is 100% plant-based. And this diet has never been more ethically and ecologically urgent than it is right now.

Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or simply a conscious eater, use images like this as an opportunity to set an example. Do your best to openly decry and privately disregard these visuals, which set out to ridicule people who prioritize healthy lifestyle choices, and to make women feel ugly, devalued, and vulnerable about their age. If you hear the image mentioned in conversation, do your best to point out how false it is.

More importantly, never let these kinds of stereotypes and insults make you feel ashamed of the way you eat. I say this to the reader who emailed me about the image, but I also say it to all of my readers who are trying to make healthy, compassionate, and/or eco-conscious food choices. Small minded people always have and always will mock lifestyle choices and viewpoints that challenge their own. You have chosen a lifestyle that can be as healthy as it is compassionate. Embrace that choice with confidence, pride, and a sense of communion with everyone here in the CR community who is making those choices with you.

xo

Happy humpday! Having just spent a solid two hours working on impossible dilution problems with my fellow post-baccs, I can officially say that I’m glad the week is drawing to a close.

Today’s recipe—a scrumptious and filling brown rice salad with edamame, broccoli, and a citrus miso dressing—was mostly an accident. I made rice this weekend, as is my custom: every Saturday or Sunday, I use my rice cooker to whip up a few batches of whole grain, which I then go on to use in salads, grain salads, or on their own throughout the week. As the rice was cooking, I also made some freshly squeezed OJ for a salad dressing that I had been thinking about:

As soon as I had the dressing in hand, it occurred to me that it might be good with the rice. And since no meal in my home is complete without a preposterous number of vegetables, I began rummaging through my fridge for some color and crunch.

By the time this salad was done, it occurred to me that the best and easiest vegan dinners come together precisely this way: make a whole grain. Add flavor in the form of dressing or seasoning. Consider a protein source—in this case, edamame. Add vegetables. Lots of them. It’s really that simple. I’ve been cooking vegan for so long that I forget how hard it is to for people who are accustomed to structuring dinners around animal proteins to begin constructing vegan meals instead. If you’re in that boat, consider the steps above my super-speedy primer!

And consider this meal as a contender for your next dinner.

Brown Rice, Edamame, and Broccoli Salad with Citrus Miso Dressing (vegan, gluten free)

Serves 4 generously

For the dressing:

2/3 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed if you can)
3 T mellow white miso (or any miso)
2 T seasoned rice vinegar
1 T agave or maple syrup
1 T tahini

For the salad:

1 cup brown rice (dry)
1 1/2 cups edamame, frozen and shelled
2 cups broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup red cabbage, chopped
Orange slices (optional)

1) Cook the rice according to stovetop or rice cooker instructions. Fluff and set aside.

2) While rice cooks, blend all dressing ingredients together till smooth.

3) Put a steamer insert into a medium pot of water, and bring to a boil. Steam the edamame till tender, then add broccoli and cabbage. Steam just until crisp-tender.

4) Add steamed vegetables to the rice. Pour at least 1/2 cup dressing over salad, and more to taste (I used most of it). Mix well. Serve warm or cold, and garnish with fresh orange pieces!

Check out the fantastic, bright colors of this dish!

A dinner bowl to savor. Along with a little fresh salad, of course!

This meal is quick, easy, and full of vibrant flavor, color, and nutrition. Rice provides hearty whole grain sustenance, while edamame delivers a protein boost. The cabbage and broccoli both provide vitamin C, along with powerful antioxidants.

Before I go, a HUGE thanks to all who participated in last night’s fabulous VegNews twitter chat. It was inspiring and a lot of fun. The transcript, for those of you who couldn’t join in, will be up soon, and I’ll share the link so that you can see what you missed!

xo

Thanks for getting so excited about yesterday’s juice post! Before I tell you all about the fantastic raw “beet ball” recipe I recently made from recycled juice pulp and almond pulp, I wanted to pause to answer a couple of questions that popped up about juicing. If I don’t answer your particular question in this list, feel free to ask away in the comments section!

Isn’t it true that juicing makes your blood sugar “spike,” because you’re not eating the juice with enough fiber and protein to slow sugar absorption into your bloodstream?

It’s true that fruit juices raise blood sugar, which is why they may not be suitable for diabetes or people who are sensitive to sugar. But for individuals who respond normally to fruits and sweeter vegetables, juicing in moderation should not be a problem, especially if juice is consumed in proximity to a properly balanced meal. I often drink juice *with* a meal, or I drink it as a snack not long before another meal, which means that the sugar is digested more slowly than it would be if I were to use juice as a meal replacement, which I do not recommend. This way, the many nutritional benefits are delivered without too much blood sugar variance.

Additionally, be aware that you can create many tasty, all vegetable blends, and that you can adjust the sweetness of your juices as you wish! I often do straight greens with only a little carrot. On days when I need more simple sugar as fuel (right before a workout, for example), I do more fruit. Balance is key.

Why can’t I just blend vegetables up in a Vita-Mix to make juice? I don’t have a juicer.

For more detail on this question, I could refer you back to this post, straight up from the CR archives! But in short, I’ll say: the point of juicing is to flood your body with nutrients without activating digestion through the absorption of fiber. This is not to say that fiber is bad; fiber is great! But to ingest the amount of vitamins and minerals one has access to in a juice, one would have to eat or blend a lot of vegetables. For people with sensitive digestive systems, juicing is a relief: it allows for maximum vegetable consumption with minimal irritation from enormous amounts of dietary fiber.

I do not personally subscribe to the popular theory that digestion is a horrible, taxing process from which we must intermittently offer our bodies period of “rest” in the form of fasting or juicing. I believe our digestive systems are meant to process ample food, several times daily. But I do have moments when I want to perk up with a ton of vitamins and some simple sugars, and I’m not in the mood to digest a giant bowl o’ vegetable, or to fill up completely (for example, if I want a really nutrient dense but light afternoon snack in preparation for a full dinner). This is where juicing can be really helpful.

It’s also a tool to simply increase the nutritional power of your lunch or dinner without adding too much heft!

Blending is great, too: it allows for rich nutrition with the addition of fiber, which helps to create satiety and is generally good for bowel and heart health. But it’s a different creature altogether from juicing; more filling, more of a “meal” experience, and not always as likely to provide quite the same amount of vitamins with as little fuss.

Now, if you want to create regular fruit and vegetable juices with your Vitamix, you can most certainly blend them and then strain them, reserving the pulp (as I always do) for recipes. Check out Sarah’s helpful tutorial! This is a perfectly acceptable means of juicing without a juicer!

What kind of juicer do you recommend?

I use a Breville Juice Fountain Plus. It’s hardly the fanciest juicer, but it’s very decent, it was a good price for me, it has stood the test of time, and the pulp is "wet” enough that I can use it in many fun recipes (super dry pulp can be impossible to work with).

Hope this is helpful!

So: almond pulp. I promised you guys a recipe on Sunday, and now I’m here to deliver. Most of you requested cookies, and I’m sorry to say that I’m not sharing a recipe for those: rather, this is a savory dinner/lunch recipe. But I promise I’ll come up with some incredible cookie recipes, too!

These raw, vegan “beet” balls use flax and almond pulp as a base. The addition of beet pulp, left over (of course) from my juice, makes this meal rich in ingenious conservation skills: juicing is not necessarily the most cost-effective health habit, so I like to counter the volume of vegetables that go in my juicer by always using the pulp in bread, crackers, burgers, and more. Ditto for homemade almond milk, when I make it. Nothing in my kitchen goes to waste.

Can this recipe be modified for non-juicer, non-dehydrator, non-blender homes? It’s a little tough, but you can experiment with grated beets, almond meal, and an oven. I know I’ve been throwing you guys a ton of “appliance-heavy” recipes lately, and I’m sorry for that: it’s just that pre-med/blogger life really means planning ahead, and my dehydrator helps me to preserve things for later enjoyment. Tomorrow’s recipe will be gloriously appliance free!!!!

Raw, Vegan Spaghetti and Beet Balls (vegan, raw, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 10

1 1/4 cup beet pulp OR grated beet, squeezed well to remove moisture
3/4 cup almond pulp, as dry as possible
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp flax meal
2 tsp Italian seasoning or oregano
1 tbsp dried basil or 2 tbsp pesto
1/4 – 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
Black pepper to taste

1 large zucchini

1 recipe of my raw marinara sauce

1) Mix all ingredients by hand or in a food processor. Add as much water as necessary to get a sticky, firm dough.

2) Shape mixture into 10-12 “balls.” Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 6 hours, rolling around for even dehydration. You may also bake these at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

3) Spiralize 1 zucchini, or use a grater to grate the zucchini, and top it with half the beet balls. Add a heap of raw marinara sauce, and dig in!

Hope you enjoy these delicious, vegan “balls.” I suspect I’ll get to work on a cooked version for you guys soon, too. And keep in mind that they make great, savory snacks!

Anyway, it’s back to studying for me! Don’t forget to tune into tonight’s VegNews Twitter Chat with me and other plant-based health professionals! 9 pm EST. Be there.

xo

Happy Monday, all!

Before I get to juice, thanks for all of the enthusiasm over my cashew vanilla milk. Since a few of you emailed me to ask if store-bought almond milk is OK, I just wanted to be clear: yes! store-bought almond milk is just fine, and in fact, it carries the advantage of calcium and B-12 fortification. I’ve always preferred the taste of Blue Diamond, but in the organic realm, the Pacific brand is great. I’m also partial to Silk Pure Almond. These brands are very high-quality, and the cost difference between them and making your own is not, as some readers noted, very big (in fact, purchasing premade may be cheaper).

With that said, I really do love the taste of the homemade stuff, and making my own allows me to adjust sugar and salt as I like (it’s hard to find an unsweetened, store-bought variety that doesn’t contain at least 150 mg sodium per serving, which isn’t insignificant). So my typical policy is to purchase almond milk regularly to save time, and when I know I’ll have time to make some of my customized CR blend, I grab the opportunity!

Speaking of DIY projects, I have an article over at One Green Planet on how to get started with fruit and vegetable juicing at home. Specifically, it details why fresh fruit and vegetable juices are so helpful and beneficial within busy lifestyles, and it offers up five of my all-time favorite juice recipes. While the process of juicing and cleaning a juicer may seem to have no place in a conversation about time-management, trust me, it does: if you happen to be a student or a busy person on the go, making only 1 vegetable daily can help you to enhance your diet, and ensure that you’re getting an added boost of vitamins and minerals if you’ve been cutting corners with vegetable intake. Check the article out!

Finally, a head’s up that I’ll be doing a VegNews Twitter Chat tomorrow, January 31st, at 6 PM PST (that’s 9 PM, east coasters). Julianna Hever (the Plant Based Dietician) and personal hero Michael Greger, M.D. and I will be speaking about healthy vegan eating. If you’d like to join us and ask us questions about health-related topics, please use the instructions here to log into the chat and participate! It should be a lot of fun. Hope to see some CR readers there! And if you’d like to mute the chat (ie, you don’t want 10308239 tweets from me for in an hour) you can use this link to do that.

Till tomorrow,

xo

One of my most popular posts to date is my DIY tutorial for making raw almond milk. In spite of the dinky photos and bad lighting, this post embodies what I always wanted Choosing Raw to be: an easy and practical resource for eating (and living) vegan and raw. I will never forget how astounded I was the first time I figured out that I could actually make the same almond milk that I was spending three or five dollars on in health food stores. And not only make, but make easily and economically! It was the first of many lessons that raw foodism taught me about what it means to live off of nature’s raw materials, as it were: to make astonishingly tasty food from only the simplest ingredients.

As it turns out, almond milk is within everybody’s reach. And so too is the creamy vanilla cashew milk I’m about to share.

My second revelation about making homemade almond milk was that I didn’t actually have to use almonds. Hemp seed, pumpkin seed, cashews, pecans, and sesame seeds all make wonderful bases for nut/seed milk. If you’re not convinced, check out my tahini milk or hemp milk. Or simply drink a glass of this sweet, creamy, dreamy cashew milk, which is my nut milk favorite du jour. The ingredient list is short, the procedure is simple, and you absolutely don’t need a high speed blender for this to work: soaked cashews are a lot more blendable (?) than are soaked almonds. No matter how old your blender is, it’s time to dust it off!

Creamy Vanilla Cashew Milk (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes about 3 cups

1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
4 cups filtered water
4 pitted dates
1 vanilla bean, scraped into the blender, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

1) Blend all ingredients together till very, very smooth. This will be a few minutes in a normal blender, or 1-2 in a high speed variety.

2) Optional step! Affix some cheesecloth over the mouth of a large container using a rubber band. I actually use my VitaMix most of the time. You can see how it ought to be set up below.

3) Pour the cashew milk over the cloth in batches, till you’re able to pour it all out. Allow the milk to strain for a couple of hours; you can leave it in the fridge if you like, but I’ve never had a problem with leaving it out as it strains. If you’d prefer to have a creamier and thicker cashew milk, skip this step!

4) Save the cashew milk pulp for use in raw treats (see: tomorrow’s recipe). Pour cashew milk into an airtight container (I like to use glass jars):

Keep in the fridge for about 2-3 days (if it’s at all sour, it’s gone off). Serve over cereal, graw-nola, in smoothies, or simply as a rich afternoon snack.

See how smooth and creamy it is? Now this is the kind of thing that actually does a body good.

Here on CR, you’re used to seeing 1001 recipes that call for juice pulp. What can I say: I juice a lot, and I don’t like to throw the pulp out. But many of you have also requested recipes for almond milk pulp, and as of now, I have yet to oblige you. Stay tuned, then, for a recipe tomorrow that features one of the many ways I put my almond (or cashew) mush to good use.

In other news, I found out on Friday that I made the Greatist list of 60 Must-Read Health and Fitness Blogs, along with such talented friends as Ashley, Sarah, and Kath. What an honor! Look for CR in the “special interest food” category.

Finally, many of you have emailed me to ask about my blog design, and how-to questions about getting set up with blogs of your own. I’m happy to share the news that my blog designer, Cory, has now gone full time with his Zesty Blog Consulting services. Cory is the best: over the years, he has not only helped to make CR what it is aesthetically, but he’s also been a source of insight about marketing and growth, and he’s done a wonderful job of helping me to keep my blog current. I really recommend him if you’re looking to have someone help you with tech and design. Congrats on the new chapter, Cory!

With that, another weekend slips by. It’s back to molecular orbitals for me—later!

xo

Happy Friday! Nice responses to yesterday’s Vitamin-rich juice. I am so glad you all enjoyed the recipe. Today, I’m switching gears to offer you a Friday giveaway for two copies of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food “Detox” (quotations mine).

I was offered copies of this book by Adam Graham, a wildly talented raw foods chef. I immediately said yes, please—a copy for me and one for one of my readers. Adam generously obliged, and made me the recipient of two copies of the book.

I was a little trepidatious when I first heard this book’s title: though I was once as influenced by the concept of “detox” as are most newbie raw foodists (including the years in which I started this blog), I gradually came to believe that the expression is overused and often misunderstood. People talk about “detox” without specifying the precise biological pathways by which they think it’s happening. Rather than defining the process biologically, they treat it as a mystical, unknowable, mysterious phenomenon that is specifically tied to raw food. For this reason—and because I have yet to fully explore and gather evidence for the idea of “detox” as it relates to what we eat—I’m incredibly wary of the word, and try not to use it sloppily.

When I received The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food Detox, I was immediately impressed with the awesome recipes. These include many useful recipes for blended smoothies and juices, which are a mainstay of mine during busy student days. The desserts and snacks are likewise delicious and often very ingenious. So I recommend the book heartily for its food! Note, however (it’s clear in the photo below) that bee pollen and honey appear in the book. So, if you’re vegan, you’ll want to modify with agave or maple syrup in those places.

I will confess that I was less impressed by some of the health writing, which emphasizes “cleansing,” “detox,” and acid/alkaline balance without enough scientific support for my liking. It’s a great compendium of many of the theories about health that abound in the raw community, but they simply aren’t theories that speak to me any longer (of course, a lot of the information does speak to me—for instance, the parts about nutrient density, freshness, non-GMO foods, organic produce, and so on). Ultimately, I’d recommend the guide first as a resource for great raw recipes, and second as a good primer in raw foods theory. But since I’ve read up on the theory a lot already, I am going to offer both copies to two lucky Choosing Raw readers, and encourage them to draw their own conclusions about the health info therein.

To enter this giveaway to win one copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food Detox, you can do any of the below. Each action counts as a separate entry, so please leave a comment for each action you complete!

1. Leave a comment, telling me what you hope to get out of this reading experience.
2. Tweet about this giveaway, being sure to include a link to the giveaway post.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Like Choosing Raw on Facebook.
5. Like The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food Detox on Facebook.
6. Mention this giveaway in a blog post.

You have until next Friday to enter the giveaway. Good luck!!!

What are you all up to this weekend? Good things, I hope.

xo