Recommendations...

I've always been a reader, an avid one. I enjoy curling up in my big comfy bed and reading till my eyelids cannot stay open any more. When I began the research process of my diet and lifestyle change I inhaled lots of books. It was comforting to read all the proven scientific research, tips, recipes and other information that made me feel like I'd made the right choice.


Here's a list of books that I recommend. Some are cookbooks, some are for information, I may even add a documentary or two. I hope that even one person reads one of these and makes a positive change for themselves, it will make the time I spend on this that much more worth it.

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins



I read this book when I was experimenting with being a vegetarian. I attended a cooking class at a local vegan restaurant and the instructor recommended this book. It hadn't occurred to me that John Robbins also wrote Diet For A New America until after I got home with my new book. It was strange because I distinctly remember reading Diet For A New America (the book preceeding this one) several years ago and I remember reading about pigs at slaughter and I just couldn't stomach reading anymore and I never did finish that book. I just wasn't ready to face the truth, yet. The Food Revolution changed my life because as I was reading it I made the choice to become a vegan. I highly recommend EVERYONE read this book. When you are ready, it will change your life. The majority of people think of their food as just that, their food. They don't think of the suffering, the filth and the toll it takes.

Raising Vegetarian Children : A Guide to Good Health and Family Harmony by Joanne Stepaniak

Since I had made the choice to become a vegan I knew that I wanted my youngest son, Jackson, to be one also. (I'd like my oldest son to make a change also, but he's 14 so I think he can make his own choices.) It just made sense to alter Jackson's diet at the same time. When Jackson gets older and can make his own, informed, choices then I will allow him to make his own decisions. Until then I knew I needed to research this diet choice for kids and do it properly. I talked with his pediatrician and then bought this book. It's my favorite book for easy, tasty recipes and excellent knowledge about kids and a balanced vegan diet. It's touted as a vegetarian book but it's really geared more toward vegans which was perfect for me. We've like all the recipes and I often refer to this book when I want to boost a certain vitamin or mineral for Jackson. If you have children or are planning on having them or just have a few nieces and nephews, I recommend this book. 4 stars, seriously.

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell

One of my good friends, Jennie, works for the publishing company that publishes this book. She was so kind to get me a copy for my birthday last year and WHOA BUDDY, this book is crazy. It's chock full of scientific information that will blow your mind. Honestly, it was a bit like reading a medical dictionary but I found it simply fascinating and kept wondering WHY ARE PEOPLE STILL EATING ANIMAL PRODUCTS?!?!?!?!?!? This book is known, well known, in the vegan community as it should be. If you are interested in hard, scientific facts you'll enjoy this book.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser


This really isn't an inherently vegan or vegetarian book, but it's fascinating. I used to be part of the fast food patrons. I ate at a Chick Fil A sometimes three and four times a week. I still get an order of fries and a salad on occasion, but my consumption of fast food has dropped by probably 98%. I was so intrigued by the relationship of crime and fast food and how our food has been taken over by big corporations to feed people "Happy" meals. Those meals are the antithesis of happy. When you are over your fast food addiction, please read this book.



Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World's Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples by John Robbins

I thoroughly enjoyed the other John Robbins book so much that I picked this one up also. Basically it's a combination of all the previous books rolled into one package. It's a fairly long book that basically says if you want to live to be 100 and in good health, quite eating crap. Our bodies deserve better and if we treat them well we likely won't have the diseases of affluence that we in the US think are normal. Dementia? Diabetes? Heart disease? High cholesterol? Cancer? All diseases of affluence, for most people. It's SO EASY TO LIVE LONGER AND LIVE IN GOOD HEALTH. That's the message I took from this book. If you need a boost to stop eating bad, read this book, it might help you see that taking care of our bodies is the most important thing we do. It's not just about food either, this book delves into personal relationships as a way to be healthy too, which I think is just as important as what we eat.

The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food by Jeffrey Masson


I haven't had seafood in over a year and I know now that I never will again. There is a section in this book about sea life and it opened my eyes. I don't know if sea creatures like shrimp and eel have feelings or can feel pain but it doesn't matter to me. The way they are raised and killed are just appalling and disgraceful and such a shock to mother nature. It's a miracle that our planet puts up with how we treat the sea life. I found this book a little wonky to read, there's not a very good flow to it, but it was so interesting. When we stop thinking of burgers as food and start remembering that those patties are an animal that used to breathe and had a family then I think we will make real changes. You are what you eat, as they say, and I don't want to be anything other than a plant-eating compassionate vegan.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero


On to more lighthearted things! This cookbook is awesome. Every cupcake I've made from it got smashing reviews for vegans and non vegans alike. Just yesterday I made a sort of German chocolate cupcake except I used a vanilla batter. There were 12 and now there are zero. They were a total hit. One of my non vegan friends borrowed this cookbooks and I think she may have cried a tear or two when I asked for it back. Get this book if you love cupcakes.



V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking by Angeline Linardis


The cover of this book deceived me, I thought it was going to be a super fancy, "uppity" kind of cookbook but it's really not. There are some really great, family friendly recipes that my family really enjoys. I've made the Coleslaw Divine many times and my toddler inhales RAW CABBAGE. This fact alone makes this cookbook a winner in my book. I have approximately 80% of the pages dog-earred to make all the different, delicious sounding recipes.




The Future Of Food

This is a documentary all about our food and it's riveting, to say the least. The food we buy isn't as pure as we think it is. It's altered and sprayed and so far from it's original state that I'm amazed that our country allows this to take place on such a basic thing we consume on a daily basis. This video is the reason I buy non-GMO (genetically modified) and organic foods more often than I used to. Please watch this video if you eat food. That means you!





VegNews Magazine

I enjoy this magazine and all the useful information it brings me in my mailbox every other month. I can find tons of food recommendations, a few recipes and stories about people, like me, who are just trying to be healthier and more aware of what they do and how it affects our planet. It's a great little magazine that I adore. I hope that as more and more people subscribe and there's more interest that the magazine will grow and have more and more content. Also, the website is pretty awesome too, check it out. Plus, who doesn't love a picture of a cute, innocent baby cow?

If you have any recommendations for books, magazine, cookbooks or anything you think is interesting, I'd love to hear about. I inhale this stuff as if it's the air I need to breathe and the water I need to drink.