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

I have a treat for you.

A few months ago, at Vida Vegan Con in Portland, I had the pleasure of sitting across a dinner table from Allison Rivers Samson (here she is with the lovely Jasmin).

Allison is vivacious, charming, and kind, and when I heard about her successful business—the renowned vegan bakery, Allison’s Gourmet—I was deeply impressed. I’d known Allison from her “Veganize It!” column in VegNews, but had no idea she was also the reigning maven of vegan desserts and confections (as Rory Freedman has called her).

Allison has been a vegan for 15 years. Her passion for animals, the environment, and health is obvious: nearly any photo you’ll find of her online will also include an animal friend:

After receiving chef’s training at the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder, Allison resolved to show the world that vegan baking is innovative, exciting, and delicious. Without eggs, dairy, milk, or the use and abuse of animals. She opened AllisonsCookies.com, which quickly expanded into a full blown bakery—Allison’s Gourmet. Today, the bakery sells brownies, caramels, toffee, and more. All with organic ingredients, and without the use of excessively processed foods. Allison’s cookies and brownies aren’t “pretty good, considering that they’re vegan.” They’re excellent, period, and can hold their own next to any dessert you’ve tried.

I should know. Every year, my friends at VegNews send their columnists a box from Allison as a holiday gift. I always look forward, and so it was with great delight that I came home to this package last week:

In it were packaged the most grown-up brownies I’ve ever had: dark chocolate and orange brownies. They are fragrant, elegant, and complex. And they’re stuffed with dark chocolate chips. Who could resist?

Do you guys remember my post on what it means to be an activist? I mentioned there that I think one of the more powerful forms of activism is culinary activism. This means helping people to find veganism through its rich and wonderful cuisine. As my friend Lisa pointed out when I wrote that post, people really mean it when they say “I could never live without cheese.” Our attachment to food is a deep and important part of our biology and culture, as is the pleasure we take in eating. The fear of having to “do without” favorite foods—from cookies to cakes to croissants—is natural, and it is a huge deterrent to people who haven’t been shown that vegan food is delicious in its own right, and demands little real sacrifice.

Allison does her part as an activist every single day, by showing consumers that it is possible both to stand up for animals and to eat a plentiful and pleasurable diet. Vegan chefs, bakers, and restaurant owners are big heroes of mine, because they show the world that veganism is not only ethically fulfilling, but sensually fulfilling, too.

You can be a culinary activist, too. This holiday season, give a loved one who is skeptical of your lifestyle choices—or anyone with a true love of food—some cookies, brownies, or confections from Allison’s gourmet. Show him or her that veganism is not a sacrifice of pleasure or taste. Share the beauty of vegan dining with people who wouldn’t otherwise get to experience it. Be an ambassador for plant-based cuisine.

And if you’d rather enjoy one of Allison’s creations yourself, you can do that, too. Just promise you’ll share.

Allison is offering one lucky Choosing Raw reader a $20 gift certificate to her online bakery. The winner of this giveaway will be announced on Friday, December 16th, which means that you will have time to place an order for holiday delivery (suggested deadline is Monday or Tuesday of next week). You can choose any selection of goodies you’d like. And you can enjoy them with the peace of mind that they were made without cruelty to animals.

To enter the giveaway, you can do any one of the six things below. Each counts as a separate entry, so please comment for each thing you do! You can enter in as many or as few ways you’d like.

1. Browse the Allison’s Gourmet website and tell me what you want to order most.
2. Tweet about this giveaway with a link (for example, enjoy some of @allisonsgourmet premium vegan treats with this giveaway from @choosingraw ! http://bit.ly/st6Ob9 )
3. Like Allison’s Gourmet on Facebook.
4. Follow Allison’s Gourmet on Twitter.
5. Mention this giveaway in a blog post.
6. Follow Choosing Raw on Twitter.

I’ll announce a winner this Friday. US residents only, por favor. Ready, set, go!

(And please, wish me luck on my Orgo final tomorrow. I’m gonna need it.)

xo

When I promise you a good giveaway, friends, I deliver a good giveaway!

A long time ago, I discovered Alo clothing through Melissa’s review. It sounded like a fantastic company to me: eco-conscious, hip, dynamic, and versatile. This is a thoughtful company, and a passionate one. I loved reading their mission statement online:

To create high performance, stylish lifestyle wear with outstanding function, designed and produced with minimal impact on the environmental elements Alo stands for: Air. Land. Ocean. We provide customers with a choice that is respectful of the environment without sacrificing fashion.

Through the use of recycled and minimal impact materials, Alo creates high performance active wear that delivers superb function, fit and style. With environmentally mindful design and production processes, our men’s and women’s collections utilize eco-friendly performance fabrics that provide outstanding comfort and results…At Alo headquarters in Los Angeles, California, our employees utilize reclaimed and recycled corporate materials on a daily basis, maintain a sustainable office environment by powering the building with solar panels that line the roof, and, although we are not yet carbon neutral, daily strides are made in that direction. We pass our knowledge on to consumers in hopes that they, too, will make strides towards a lower impact lifestyle.

Admirable stuff! In the last few years, I’ve become very good at veganizing my wardrobe (check out last year’s post on shopping for a vegan parka), but I’m the first to admit that my general eco-consciousness as a consumer lacks something to be desired. By supporting companies like Alo, I feel that I’m taking small strides in the right direction. When that also means sampling some of the best and cooles yoga wear I’ve ever seen, it’s the very definition of a “win-win”!

The folks at Alo could not have been more enthusiastic or gracious when I got in touch. They offered to send me not one, but five different pieces. The first of these were hot yoga shorts. I’m including a photo from the Alo website because I stupidly left them in NYC over Thanksgiving. They are short shorts to be sure, but very cute, and ideal for Bikram or heated Vinyasa (the latter is what I practice):

My shorts looked exactly like these, but came in black and gray, rather than light and dark pink.

I was also sent the coolest sports bra I’ve ever owned:

Confession time! I wear sports bras almost every day. Not the super supportive, sweaty ones I work out in, but soft, cotton ones—bandeau bras with straps, I guess, which isn’t the same as a sports bra, but is in the same family. As much as I ought to embrace sexy lingerie because I’m worth it, and so on, I’ve just never had the energy. Sports bras are near and dear to my heart—both the ones I sweat in, and the ones I wear around.

This is my fave workout bra yet—supportive and functional, but also cute enough for me to wear on its own in a REALLY sweaty Down Dog Yoga class. (And believe me, that room can get hot enough for me to suspend my modesty.)

Next up? Mesh insert capri pants. AKA, a chance for me to treat you all to some close ups of my thighs. Sorry guys.

I love these—possibly my favorite Alo item. What makes them so great are the slim fitting leg, coupled with the high waist! I’m getting to a stage in life where low rise just doesn’t always feel right. It’s great to workout with a little more comfort and support from a higher rise pant, but still feel that the material is clingy and form-fitting.

Next, the cutest track jacket I have ever owned:

Light, bright, and adorable. Plus, cute little thumb holes, so that you can keep your hands warm if you go for a run in it.

Last, but certainly not least! This super comfortable cotton top:

I love my spandex yoga wear, but sometimes it’s nice to bend and stretch and flow in a breathable, simple cotton shirt. And as an added bonus, this tank is cute enough to wear with jeans or shorts in the summer, too.

Now that you’ve fallen in love with Alo, here’s the good news: you can enter to win a selection of Alo clothing for yourself here on CR! One of my lucky US readers will have the chance to win a sampling of Alo items, much like the package I received. As a reminder, that was:

• Mesh insert capris
• Athletic short short
• Scoop neck bra
• Response Track Jacket
• Cotton tank

Your winning selection may vary slightly in accordance with what’s on seasonal offering at Alo, but no matter what, you will be guaranteed a new collection of hip, flattering, and eco-conscious clothing that is cute enough to wear outside of the studio. I should know—I wear my Alo garments to class constantly!

In order to win this giveaway, you can do any one of the following five things. Each will count as a separate entry, so leave me a comment for each of them.

1. Peruse the Alo website, and let me know what items look coolest to you.
2. Tweet about this giveaway, including the URL to my post (example: @choosingraw is giving away a collection of yoga clothes from @aloclothing! http://bit.ly/tS3mmd)
3. Like Alo on Facebook
4. Follow Alo on Twitter
5. Follow Choosing Raw on Twitter

I will pick a winner by 8:00 pm (EST) next Wednesday, the 14th of December. I will also be hosting a killer giveaway on Tuesday—this time, for a special vegan sweet treat. Happy Holidays, indeed.

Good luck!

xo

“Role model” is not an expression I throw around lightly. In a nutrition community full of self-proclaimed “gurus,” I tend to believe that we’re each the best judge of what does and doesn’t work for our bodies; in a community full of “experts,” I don’t believe that any single book or opinion is the final word on nutrition science. The closest thing I have to “role models” are the men and women—cookbook writers, mostly—who made me fall in love with vegan food, and taught me to live compassionately.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is one of those women. The Vegan Table is one of my favorite cookbooks, and in spite of the fact that it is dog-eared, splattered, and generally worn down by my kitchen, I never cease to make and remake its recipes. Colleen’s food is simple, wholesome, and bursting with flavor. Her recipes are designed to satisfy the tastes of omnivores (or new vegans) without sacrificing health or relying upon a pantry full of faux-meats. Her perspective is balanced: healthy and whole foods oriented, but also appreciative of the sweeter indulgences in life (after all, she did write The Joy of Vegan Baking).

Colleen’s power as a figure in our community, however, goes far beyond her talents as a chef. If you know Colleen’s work, it’s probably because you know her famous podcasts, which have inspired countless men and women to take the vegan plunge. Having seen Colleen speak twice now (once at Vida Vegan Con, and once recently at Poplar Springs), I can tell you that she is simply one of the best public speakers around. She’s passionate, yet even-tempered; humorous, but capable of relaying the importance of animal rights issues. Most of all, Colleen exudes confidence and strength. It’s this confidence, and the fact that Colleen (an English lit major) is a superb writer, that make me admire her so deeply. Veganism tends to demand a little confidence building, and no one sets a better example than Colleen.

Colleen’s newest book is the 30-Day Vegan Challenge. When I first received a copy to review, my heart dipped: most “challenges” treat plant based eating like it’s the Zone Diet. This challenge is different. Colleen’s mission is twofold:

1. To help prove to people that eating and living vegan for 30 days is within reach
2. To help guide her readers through the challenges and difficulties of being vegan

The word “challenge” was chosen with more care than I initially realized. This is one of the first books that openly addresses the fact that veganism can be hard. There’s nothing more discouraging for new vegans than the slew of books that insist that veganism is “so much easier” than you’d think. Yes, for some people, veganism is surprisingly doable, and I was one of those lucky people. But I hadn’t eaten red meat in a long time, and I didn’t like cheese. For most people, the vegan transition is actually pretty tough, full of speed bumps, backsliding, and little mini-battles with cravings for old favorites.

These difficulties don’t mean that veganism isn’t worth it. It is unbelievably, amazingly worth it. It’s just like most worthwhile things in that it’s not a piece of cake. The best way of dealing with the challenges of a vegan lifestyle is to talk about them openly, so that we can deal with them efficiently; this is exactly where Colleen shines. From dining out to talking to family and friends about your lifestyle, Colleen is a fountain of insight and strength. I can’t recommend her words highly enough to anyone who’s facing this major lifestyle change with a little anxiety.

Of course, the book goes beyond all that, into recipes and lifestyle tips and all sorts of brilliant tutorials (“Tofu: It’s Just a Bean”). The book is worth it for the food alone. But recipes are not what makes this book invaluable: the food and practical guidance draws you in, but it’s the wisdom and strength that will keep you referring back, time and time again, as you embrace a compassionate lifestyle. And if you’re an animal lover, you’ll smile at the acknowledgments:

“My hope is that we can learn from the animals what we need to become better people.”

Do you want to take the 30-Day Vegan Challenge? You’re in luck, because I’m giving one lucky CR reader a free copy. To enter, you can do any of the following things; each will count as a separate entry, but you have to leave a comment letting me know you did it!:

1. Leave me a comment telling me why you’d like to take OR read the 30-Day Vegan Challenge.
2. Tweet about this giveaway, using the tweet: “@choosingraw is giving away a copy of @patrickgoudreau ‘s 30 DAY CHALLENGE! http://bit.ly/puqhyA” Then leave a comment letting me know you did.
   
3. Like Colleen on Facebook.
4. Follow @PatrickGoudreau on Twitter.
5. Follow me on Twitter.
6. Check out one of Colleen’s podcasts and tell me what you learned.

Winner will be announced next Friday. I hate to do this, but US residents only, please—I’ve had some trouble with shipping copies internationally. Good luck, and get typing!!!

Happy Weekend!

xo

Hey all!

Remember May, when I was all stressed out about moving, but took comfort in dinner with my friend Sarah (aka Mama Pea)? You may remember how our friendship inspired me to bake these vegan fig bars, which remain among my proudest baking accomplishments:

Now Sarah’s inspiring me again, with the triumphant and fun-filled publication of her cookbook, Peas and Thank You. It’s a fantastic resource for Moms who are trying to help their families transition into more heavily plant based diets, and it’s filled with fun tips for the home cook (pea points) as well as the intimate stories and images of family life that make Sarah’s blog so touching and fun to read.

The book is also full of mouth-watering photos, which happen to have been taken by another dear friend: Ms. Ashley.

Sarah’s food is accessible, healthy, and 100% family-friendly. If you’d like a chance to discover her recipes for yourself, look no further! At Sarah’s generous behest, I’m offering one lucky Choosing Raw reader a copy of the Peas and Thank You Cookbook. To enter, you can do any or all of the following. They count as separate entries, so please leave a comment on this post for each:

1) Follow Choosing Raw on Twitter.

2) Like Choosing Raw on Facebook.

3) Tweet the following: @choosingraw is giving away a free copy of the @Mama_Pea cookbook. Enter here! http://bit.ly/qsTouL

4) Like Peas and Thank You on Facebook

5) Leave me a comment telling me why you’re excited to own this book.

I’ll announce the winner precisely 1 week from today, on August 23rd.

Tomorrow, expect another Choosing Raw baking venture that’s pea-worthy. And goes really nicely with raw whipped cream.

xo

Well, guys, here we are. The day after. For me, summer starts today, now that my Gen Chem II final has come and gone. (Grades arrive tomorrow.) Do I feel terrible about it? No. Do I feel the way I hoped I’d feel after this class ended—that is, confident and proud? No. Those are sentiments I rarely feel in my post-bacc life. With any luck, I’ll do decently enough to enter my two and a half week break with a clear conscience, and that will just have to be enough.

Next Thursday, I’ll head to NYC for a week, where I’ll naturally be blogging about my daily meals, adventures, and impressions of the city. You can expect a ton of dining out, because this blogger is aching for NYC restaurants! After that, it’s off to Portland, OR, which some might call the vegan capitol of the world, for the exciting Vida Vegan Bloggers’ Conference! The conference features an all star line up of some of the brightest and most talented vegan bloggers in the business, including many friends I’ve yet to meet in “real life.” It will be a blast to send you live dispatches from the road! For the next week, though, it’s all about rest: reading, relaxing, catching up on lost sleep, and cooking.

And it all begins with a smoothie.

For the last five weeks, I’ve been smoothie disabled. Each morning, I went straight from the gym to class, and so portable chia seed puddings were my reliable mainstay. On weekends, I was running hither and yon, and rarely able to enjoy breakfast at home. The upshot was that my smoothies—an early morning staple for me—were put on hold for over a month. Today, as I woke up and settled into the peculiar sensation of having time on my hands, I decided to celebrate with a creamy, nutrient dense morning beverage: my strawberry and pumpkin seed smoothie.

My friend Brendan is very candid about the fact that—in spite of what his success with Vega would suggest—his first shot at veganism was a bust. He was tired, weak, and missing key micro and macronutrients. Among these were iron and essential fatty acids, and one of the small changes he made to remedy his oversights was to add pumpkin seeds, which are good sources of both, to his morning smoothies. I often do the same: pumpkin seeds inexpensive, tasty, and add creaminess to smoothies in a totally whole food form. They’re a nice break from nuts and nut butters, and they’re quite a bit easier to make work in a student budget. Combined with summer strawberries and this:

…which is one of my favorite new vegan proteins, it made for a delicious, vanilla flavored treat.

Strawberry Pumpkin Seed Smoothie (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)

Serves 1

1 frozen banana
1 cup frozen strawberries
3/4 cup almond milk
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
1 scoop vegan protein powder of choice
1 handful greens (I used baby spinach)
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend all ingredients on high till rich and creamy. You may need to add a bit more milk if you don’t have a high speed blender! Top with fresh strawberries, and serve.

My smoothies are most definitely meal-sized, and always go in a breakfast bowl:

Heaven.

And now, it’s back to clients and reading for me. But first, a winner of my “super giveaway!!” I got a total of 502 comments on this awesome giveaway, and am happy to announce a winner, generated by random.org.

The winner is…#347, the lovely Veronica of Happy By Nature!! When asked what she thinks about superfoods, Veronica said, “I am uberly in love with superfoods – healthy and wholesome, there is nothing better! My current superfood obsessions include chia seeds, hemp powder, and the classic quinoa. They are staples in nearly every meal I eat!”

Veronica, I’m thrilled to help you deepen your superfoods love affair!! Please email me so that I can send your grand prize

xo

Have you heard of Julie Morris? If you haven’t yet, you should make a point of getting to know her. She’s one of the most talented, innovative, and charming personalities in the business, and by “business,” I mean the world of men and women who love to talk about—and to prepare—whole, plant-based, semi-raw food. Julie’s recipes epitomize everything I love about food: they’re healthy, flavorful, and simple. The flavors are vibrant, but light and bright. And they combine an intense interest in health science with an epicurean’s love of the sensual pleasures of eating.

I got to know Julie about a year ago, all via email, and we quickly established that, if we weren’t separated by the US mainland (she’s LA-based) we’d probably be spending a lot of our time together. As it is, she’s one of my funniest and most effusive penpals. When I learned that Julie was at work on a book about superfoods, I was both excited and conflicted. On the one hand, I’d read anything this woman wrote. On the other, I spend a lot of time debunking the idea of an elite and magical class of food labeled as “super.” (See this post for a summary of my thoughts on the idea of a “superfood.”)

Additionally, it’s hard to spend any time in raw circles without growing weary of the obsession with exotic South American berries and mysterious powdered blends of…stuff. Because the term “superfood” is unregulated, it’s hard to know which claims are bogus and which aren’t, how subjective the criteria of food manufacturers are, and whether these foods are really “super” at all. To me, it’s always seemed as though most superfoods are simply food that are on the healthier side, dressed up and priced as if they’re poised to perform miracles.

Julie Morris has singlehandedly changed my mind. Her new book, Superfood Cuisine, is probably the single best resource out there for anyone who’s curious about superfoods, but also allergic, as I am, to unscrupulous scientific claims. She’s researched the benefits of superfoods meticulously, and she writes about them with the enthusiasm of a nutrition nerd (which I’m guessing all of us here at CR are) and the rationality of an educated consumer. Her approach to superfoods, in the end, isn’t the typical raw foodist extremist’s position that, if we reduce our food intake to these foods and these foods only, we’ll live to be 219, but rather that adding superfoods in small quantities to our everyday cooking can only enhance the health benefits of what we make. That’s Superfood Cuisine in a nutshell: use superfoods not as a replacement for regular food, but rather as supplementary parts of an already sumptuous and flavorful diet.

To help you along, Julie has teamed up with Navitas Naturals—my own personal favorite source of cacao nibs, chia seeds, hemp seeds, lucuma, and cacao powder—to make an entire book’s worth of delicious soups, spreads, grain bowls, salads, desserts, and mouth-watering photos to match. And I’m giving a copy away to one of my readers.

Along with a bag of my favorite Navitas trail mix: goji berries, cacao, and raw cashews:

I’ll go ahead and call this an essential giveaway for anyone who’s curious about the health properties of such things as maca, mesquite, or mulberries, all of which I tried for the first time (and loved!) thanks to Julie:

Am I a little biased here? Sure. I helped to edit the book. But I wouldn’t have helped out with it had not read it and loved it. I don’t change my mind easily about things, and it says a lot about the power of Julie’s voice (and food!) that I have totally reconsidered how I feel about superfood.

In her acknowledgments, Julie says: “To Gena Hamshaw, for all the articulate feedback and premium supply of sass.”

Sass? Moi? Anytime, Julie. Anytime.

To win 1 free copy of Superfood Cuisine by Julie Morris, you can:

1) Comment on this post, telling me how you feel about the idea of “superfoods,” and why!

2) Tweet the following: @choosingraw is giving away a free snack & superfood cookbook by @greenjules! Enter to win: http://bit.ly/qbPyvT

3) Like Superfood Cuisine on Facebook.

4) Like Navitas Naturals on Facebook

5) Follow me on Twitter

Please leave a comment for each entry (so if you tweet, comment back to say you did; each of these four entries counts separately).

I’ll announce the winner on Friday, August 12th!

In light of this super giveaway, I’ll be posting my first ever self-entitled “superfood recipe” tomorrow!

xo

Hello friends!

I can’t believe that by tomorrow night, I’ll be in NYC. As I try not to burst with excitement, I’m here to offer one lucky CR reader a chance to attend a health and wellness conference here in Washington D.C. on October 22nd and 23rd. It’s called The Take Back Your Health Conference, and it’ll feature such health and wellness experts as Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live. Other speakers include Andrea Beaman (a non-vegan but plant-strong chef), Caroline Alexander, a colon hydrotherapist, and Jason Wrobel, a raw, vegan chef.

And, oh yeah: I’ll be attending, too.

It’s worth noting out of fairness to fellow vegans that the agenda is not an entirely vegan one. As one of the organizers respectfully noted to me, the majority of the speakers encourage a plant based diet, but one member of the Weston Price Foundation will be speaking. I have no qualms about saying that that organization’s posture is drastically opposed to everything I believe and try to share on CR, but I will also say that the raw, vegan community here in DC is not vast, and I feel that it’s important for me to support the raw vegan chefs and speakers who’ll be at the event. And there will be a bunch of them! Plus, Andrea Beaman will forever have my love for having been the first Top Chef contestant to try to make plant-based entrees of her own volition, and not because the challenge demanded it.

If you’re a local reader (or like to travel), please enter today’s contest to join me at Take Back Your Health. There are a couple of ways you can do this, each worth 1 entry:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me why this conference interests you.

2) Tweet the following: @choosingraw is giving away a free ticket to a health and wellness conference in DC in Oct: enter here! http://bit.ly/mZJT29

3) Start following me on Twitter

4) Like Choosing Raw on Facebook

I look forward to meeting you at the event!

On that note, it’s a jam packed day, and still going, so I’m signing off for the eve. Only one day more till I blog to you from the Great Apple!

xo

I can’t thank you all enough for the generous and humorous responses to yesterday’s post on managing bad days. I’m especially grateful to my readers in the health care professions for assuring me that failure to finish physics lab won’t ultimately doom my career in medicine. That’s heartening, and sort of what I suspected. But I needed to hear it.

A few weeks ago, when I attended Brendan’s speaking event at the James Beard Foundation, I was gifted with a copy of THE CHINA STUDY as a party favor. I was happy to get it, of course, but also an unworthy recipient: I own the book already, and I, like many vegans, have read it more than once. It’s responsible for single-handedly making more vegan converts than almost any book I can think of—except, maybe, for ANIMAL LIBERATION.

What makes it different from ANIMAL LIBERATION, however—and other books about veganism—is that it appeals to readers on a purely scientific level: the book doesn’t set out to illustrate the cruelties of meat or dairy production (though sometimes I wish it did more of that), but rather to prove that animal foods are inherently deleterious to human health, at least when eaten more than occasionally. It doesn’t discourage animal foods primarily on the familiar grounds of cholesterol or fat—though the author, Colin Campbell, does analyze those things—but rather with the claim that casein, or animal protein, promotes tumor growth when eaten in excess. So, grass fed, skim, or organic, it doesn’t matter: eat enough animal protein, and you may be increasing your cancer risk.

Campbell came to these findings by studying more than 350 variables of health and nutrition with surveys from 6,500 adults in more than 2,500 counties across China and Taiwan (hence, THE CHINA STUDY). For that reason, the book’s claim to be “the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted” isn’t without validity. It also illustrates how the so called “diseases of affluence”—heart disease, cancer, diabetes—are largely attributable to eating animal foods in excess, and studies how Eastern diets, which are lower in animal foods, don’t encourage those same conditions.

Campbell, a practicing doctor on faculty at Cornell when he did this study, risked his reputation and his university security to publish his findings; the sheer volume of his data and research is exhaustive. I appreciate this book because, unlike so many books on nutrition, it’s not packed with hazy generalizations. It’s chock full of charts and footnotes, and it’s not always a lark to read, but it’s very authoritative:

I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they began reading THE CHINA STUDY, and by the time they were finished, they’d committed to veganism for good. Interestingly, it seems to have a bigger impact on male readers than female—I’m still not sure why that is! Whatever the case, the book does what others don’t, which is to persuade skeptics that veganism is not only safe, but preferable to traditional, omnivorous diets. For that reason, I’m also a huge fan of THE CHINA STUDY, and I often recommend it to people who are interested in the health benefits of veganism.

It’s also worth coming clean and saying that I don’t always like how THE CHINA STUDY has been embraced by the vegan community. A lot of vegans treat the book like the holy grail, holding it up as incontrovertible proof not only that veganism is good, but that all omnivorous diets will kill you. The problem is, this is just one book, and using it as a gospel is mighty dangerous. Nutrition is a complex field, and no matter how responsible a researcher Campbell is, I don’t believe we should ever use one scientific study as proof of anything. We need a wealth of research to call something fact, or even likely. (To put this in the context of another example, the Framingham Nurse’s Study was once hailed as unilaterally authoritative, but now some researchers suggest that some of the correlations were overstated.) Big, important studies like these are enormous achievements, and they help us to become aware of things we didn’t know before (like the major link between casein and tumor growth) but we have to be careful when we begin to consider them proofs.

And that’s what many vegans do with this book: perhaps because they need to feel that their lifestyle choices are legit, or perhaps in order to persuade skeptical friends and family, they treat THE CHINA STUDY as gospel. That’s fine, but I simply don’t agree: I think the book is one of many highly persuasive and illuminating books about the benefits of plant-based diets, and the dangers of high-animal protein diets. Vegans are exposing themselves to a lot of valid rebuttal if they pin their arguments to one source, and indeed a lot of the methods Campbell used have been persuasively critiqued—mostly by anti-vegans and fanatical paleo eaters, who get no love from me, but also by reasonable doctors and nutritionists.

I believe that veganism is the only ethical choice in the world in which we live, and I wish that, to underscore my beliefs, I could also tell everyone that it’s the only healthy choice. I have a hard time understanding how anyone could ignore the suffering caused by the food they eat, and care only about a diet’s health benefits, or how likely it is to help you lose five pounds, or run a faster mile, or fit into a little black dress. But the sad fact is that a lot of people really only think about what they eat in terms of personal gain. Do I respect that? No. But if someone asks me if veganism is the only healthy lifestyle, I’ve got to be honest and say no: I believe that a vegan diet is one very reliable way to be healthy, but not the only way. A person can thrive so long as he or she eats animal food in strict moderation, avoids processed junk, and eats an abundance of plant foods.

But I understand why people get so excited about THE CHINA STUDY: it’s a big, exciting, and important book that lends so much credence to the very real benefits of veganism. I would just caution any vegan against pinning all of his or her reasoning to one single study. And the good news is that none of us have to: there are so many great reasons to be vegan, and so many books and movies and dialogues to prove it, that we needn’t get overly zealous about one of them.

With that said, everyone should read THE CHINA STUDY: if only to make up their own minds! So I’m giving away my extra copy of Colin Campbell’s famous opus. There are three ways to enter:

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me why you’d like to read THE CHINA STUDY.

2) Tweet the following: @choosingraw is giving away a free copy of THE CHINA STUDY. Click here to enter: http://bit.ly/gl8jnA

3) Mention the giveaway on your blog

Leave a comment on my blog for each of your entries! I’ll announce the winner on Friday, February 18th.

And now, for those of you who have read THE CHINA STUDY: what are your thoughts on it? Like? Dislike? Do you agree with me that some vegans tend to get a little…religious about it? Why do you think that is?

xo

Yesterday, I was so excited talking about my mellow green smoothie that I overlooked something big. That post was my 365th: that’s a year’s worth of CR.

Back when CR was just an idea, I used to come up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t start a blog: my writing wouldn’t be good enough, no one would care, my friends and colleagues would think I was even more of a wackadoo than they already do, I’d get attacked for my veganism, etc. Most of all, I worried that I would run out of content. How much could I possibly have to say about vegan food?

The past year and a half has proven me dead wrong. If any of you happen to be aspiring bloggers (foodie or otherwise), and you’re thinking that you won’t have enough content to fill a blog, let me put those fears to rest. If you write a blog about things you love—anything you love—you’ll have more content than you know what to do with. Trust me on this. No matter how many posts I write, I find myself constantly struggling to get everything I’d like to say on paper. And as I grow, so too does CR. It’s a fun part of blogging: as you evolve, your blog evolves with you. How could that not be an endless source of material?

In honor of a year’s worth of the mind-numbing sound of my own voice blogging, I thought I’d do an extra special CR giveaway. No, this isn’t raw treats or an appliance. It isn’t even raw food DVDs. It’s a free CR nutritional consultation with yours truly. In other words, if you haven’t yet gotten sick of me, you can talk to me about food and health for an hour on the phone. Free.

An initial CR consult will include:

• Discussion of your history with food, including your feelings about your body and your own self worth
• Discussion of what you eat day in and day out, and whether or not there are gaps in your diet that need filling
• Discussion of any health complaints that might respond well to plant-based nutrition
• How-to for some fundamentals of raw un-cooking
• Recipe ideas based on personal taste and preference

Before we start, I’ll be sending you a questionnaire that will help me get to know you and your goals.

In the last year, I’ve had to scale back my counseling practice dramatically to accommodate other professional projects, but I hope to expand it once again very early in 2011. Until then, nothing could make me happier than to give one of you a chance to sound off a bit about plant based food, body image, and health—and to give you encouraging feedback as you do. The deepest reward of being a blogger is to connect with likeminded men and women via the magic of keystrokes. What could be a more fitting celebration of a year’s worth of posts than the chance to connect with you outside of my blog—and offer some helpful feedback about nutrition while I do it?

There are a bunch of ways to enter. Each of these is worth one entry, so just use a new comment to tell me if you’ve done it:

1) Leave a comment telling me what sort of post you’d like to see more of within the next year of CR. Recipes? Nutrition talk? Body image/ED musings? Vegan rants discussions?

2) Tweet this giveaway, by copying and pasting the following text: @choosingraw is giving away a free plant-based health and diet consultation! http://bit.ly/aRSONk (Or at least include my twitter handle in your tweet.)

3) Like me, please like me, on Facebook.

I’ll announce the winner in exactly ten days: on Sunday, November 14th.

Good luck!!!!

xo