The Vegan Movement is Hot, Hot, Hot..Jump on board!

It seems everywhere I turn these days that Veganism is being touted by celebs, firefighters, triathletes, scientists and more. There are books flying off the shelves about how to eat more of a plant-based diet and how to live longer, lower you cholesterol, get off drugs and be the healthiest you can be by doing so. You know what I say??? Halleluah! It's about time...And this is not only because I am a Vegan chef and believe in eating clean, but because of the amazing opportunity for America and many other countries to live longer, healthier and happier lives, not to mention saving our dear animal friends.

This is truly a very important time in history where we can turn our obese, fat-ridden, cholesterol ridden, heart-disease ridden society around and really make a difference with our health and the planet. And, I'm sure it's no secret anymore that the animal/meat/dairy industry is responsible for the most pollution on the earth right now, not to mention the unethical treatment that happens to our fellow animal friends. If you haven't read the chapter on meat in Rory Freedman's, "Skinny Bitch" book, I highly recommend it. I don't have to give you all the statistics. You can pretty much look anywhere on the internet and find that grim and sobering information.

So on a lighter note, I want to share a glimpse of my day today and how this all ties in together.
I had such a synergistic and life-changing experience. I went to meet a dear friend and fellow vegan (BTW, we were friends before I knew she was a vegan) at a tea house today in Hollywood, called T Salon. I rolled up upon this amazing new tea house when I was on my way to an event and trepsing through Hollywood looking for a parking spot, which all of us So-Cal residents know is not easy to do. I was so ecstatic when I saw that this beautifully painted tea house with it's smart and simple stainless sign, had opened up right next to one of my favorite Veg restaurants, M Cafe. I had visited this same tea house in NYC many years back and LOVED IT! And now, here it is right in my very own town!

Anyway, to get back to the synergistic part of the story, I recommended to my friend that we meet at this funky, cool, new spot because they have vegan food, desserts and amazing tea. 250 different types of tea to be exact. I arrived a bit early and ordered my tea while I talked to the lovely woman at the register who took my order. This woman is so friendly and lively and shows interest in other people's lives, and I mean GENUINE interest. Not the usual half-assed, laxadasical customer service you get here in LA, but true and heartfelt. The reason I know this is because I told with her that I was a Vegan chef, after she asked and then she proceeded to ask me many more questions about my business and what I do. I talked to her about the many vegan desserts they offer there at the tea house, that all look amazing, but in my book, are not the healthiest because even though they are vegan, they are still made with white flour and white sugar. Yes, you can be vegan and still be somewhat unhealthy, but I'll save that for another blog post. After our conversation, she prompted that I should meet the owner of the tea house and drop off some of my very own gluten free, refined sugar free goodies for the Salon to try and possibly sell. I told her I would be honored and I went about my business of catching up with my friend and sipping some delicious Dark Roast Yerba Mate tea with almond milk and a bit of Agave nectar.

Ten minutes later, the friendly T salon lady introduced me to another fellow vegan customer in the Salon who happened to be a writer for the Huffington Post. We shared our stories about becoming Vegans and how it has changed our lives and how amazing we feel. Ms. Huffington post told me she has only been Vegan for 5 months after partaking in a cleanse and decided she felt better off the meat, than on it. She also expressed that she hasn't told her father and that in her culture, it's taboo NOT to eat meat and she was fearful of her father's reaction, even though she is doing something good for herself and the planet. Kind of ironic isn't it??

Shortly after that, Ms T Salon came back to our table and handed me the phone saying she was talking to the owner of the Tea house and she wanted to talk to me about making Vegan desserts and soups for their lovely tea house. I was ecstatic. I set up a time to bring in some samples of my healthy fare and felt blessed for being in the "right" place at the "right" time.

Afterward, again, my dear friend and I went about our business talking about how ecstatic we are to live in LA, own our own businesses and are able to spend a Friday morning sipping tea and meeting fellow vegans, randomly.

Another 10 minutes passes and Ms T Salon brings a gentleman over to meet us, who is, guess what? a fellow vegan. I know at this point you might think I was getting annoyed, but to me it was a sign that we all attract who we are, what we do and how we act, so I went with the flow and knew that these people were in front of me out of divine guidance. We chatted up with the gentleman and I asked him if he knew some of the other vegans in our circle and he did. He looked familiar to me and I realized that I had seen his photo on Facebook, as he is a friend of one of my friends, who is an amazing Macrobiotic Chef here in LA as well, Christy Morgan, The Blissful Chef.

The point of this story is that, not only is Veganism becoming more recognized in the public eye, I mean even Oprah recently had book author, Michael Pollan on her show (Ominvore's Dilemma & In Defense of Food) along with Vegan Celeb, Alicia Silverstone, whose new book "the Kind Diet" is all the rage these days, but there is a whole community available to us in this day and age to change the way we eat, get healthier and change the state of the planet.

Will Tuttle, former monk and long-time Vegan's book, The World Peace Diet touts that we have been disconnected from our food since we were children and we never really understood how the meat we eat got from farm to our plate and what happens in between. As children, we weren't really given the choice, we just had hot dogs cut up and thrown on our high-chair trays without even KNOWING what we were eating. Again, I don't need to share all the gory details, and unless you have your head buried in the sand, I'm sure you have heard faint whisperings of the unethical treatment of animals and how the meat industry pollutes our earth and the consumption of meat and dairy can cause all kinds of dis-ease in the body.

Yes, I know, you think I am preaching...well, maybe I am. But the bottom line is that now is the time for us to wake up! Now is the time to take charge of our health. Things are changing, but WE - YOU need to be a part of that change. It's not enough to sit back anymore and pretend we don't know what's happening to these animals and the damage that is being done to the earth, on top of what damage we do to ourselves and our health.

If we continue to go the way we are going, our life span is going to get shorter, not longer. Studies are now showing that with the obesity epidemic rising the way it is, that we are going to die much sooner than we think, not to mention what is happening to the planet with all the pollution from the meat industry.

Who really thinks that all this natural disaster is just Mother Nature doing her thing? Or does anyone think that the HUMAN RACE has anything to do with it??? Hmm...I wonder.

So, what will you do to make a difference? Give up meat 1 day a week..or maybe two? Check out Meatless Mondays. Fill your plate with 80% veggies instead of 80% meat ad 20% veggies?? What will you do? Or will you just sit back and hope it gets better??? And if you are one of those people who think you need Animal protein to build muscle, get energy and stay alive, I highly suggest you read T. Colin Campbell's latest book, The China Study or Vegan Triathlete, Brendan Brazier's book, Thrive. You might just change the way you think..and that's a start!

The Benefits of a Vegan Diet

Veganism is a word that often scares people and why wouldn't it? Most people think a vegan diet is bland, lacking flavor, variety and most importantly, PROTEIN!

But these thoughts couldn't be further from the truth.

Being a vegetarian myself for many, many years, and a vegan off and on, my diet consists of a multitude of foods. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds & healthy fats. If you think about it, meat is one type of food, all the other food out there is vegetarian in a sense, as long as it's in it's whole state. So you ask, where do I get my protein from on a vegetarian/vegan diet?

And I answer, plenty of places. One, whole grains, especially quinoa, amaranth and millet are high in protein, perfect protein in fact, as well as loads of vitamins and minerals. They are a nutrient-dense food and easy to digest. Secondly, veggies are a great source of protein. Protein is made up of amino-acids and when you ingest amino acids, they turn to protein in the body and there are tons of aminos in veggies. Legumes, nuts and seeds are all sources of high levels of protein.

Numerous studies have shown that animal protein & products, in fact, are a large contributor to cancer, more specifically, liver cancer. T. Colin Campbell's book, The China Study proves this enormous and sobering fact through 20 years of food and nutritional studies conducted using people and rats. Campbell also proved that active cancer cells can be made dormant by changing from a diet consisting of animal products to a plant-based diet.

Brendan Brazier, Professional Ironman Triathelete and author of Thrive, The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports & Life, touts a vegan diet for highest & quickest recovery rate after long and grueling workouts. Brendan ate every kind of diet under the sun, but after 20 years of experimenting with food, he concluded that eating a diet free of animal products resulted in a phenomeonal boost in energy, reduction in stress, quickest recovery after workouts and unending vitality.

Yes it is true that we need protein to survive, but Americans especially, have taken protein to an unhealthy level. We are eating above and beyond what our bodies need to survive, grow and heal, which can lead to an acidic environment, arthritis, digestive problems and a whole slew of other ailments. Studies have proven that plant protein allows for the slow-yet-steady synthesis of new proteins in the body, which is the healthiest way to acquire protein. To read another article on the vegetarian diet and protein, check out Veg News.

This is not meant to make meat eaters feel badly. This is to an bring awareness that anyone can get sufficient amounts of protein by following a vegan/vegetarian diet. It does take some planning and level of commitment, but it's worth it and I promise you will feel healthier, look better and maybe even live longer!! Remember your body is like a bank account, you are making an investment in your health! SO give it a try, give up meat maybe once or twice a week. How about on Mondays? Check out Meatless Monday's for some amazing Veg recipes!

All We Do is Talk About Food

Yesterday actually proved to be quite a challenging day, craving-wise. I really wanted coffee for some reason, and I don't even normally drink coffee. Yerba Mate' is my "cup of tea". But the thought of a yummy, creamy latte with Almond Milk was swirling through my brain and on my tastebuds. Did you know that coffee is one of my favorite smells in the world, along with the smell of the sea? Coffee has always been the hardest thing for me not to indulge in. I can give up sugar (except for fruit) any day of the week, but coffee has been a life-long battle. The aroma just gets me..and I just think about sittting at a coffee shop, people watching and letting the day cruise by while I sip on my Agave-sweetened, Almond Milk latte. Yes, you can get an agave sweetened latte here in LA. How cool is that?

Anyway, after I got past the coffee cravings...well, they didn't really pass, but I set my mind right, I decided to have some Tuna for lunch with a homemade coleslaw that I made dressed with Raw Almond Mayo! It was a great lunch, but man, the Tuna did not agree with me. OK, I am a vegetarian. I have been one for years, but I figured that I had to try and eat some fish on this cleanse to get my protein, since I can't eat beans. Well, I am DONE with the Tuna. I had serious heartburn all day long and I haven't had heartburn in years. I combined my food properly. No animal protein and grains together, so I ate vegetables and animal protein...proper food combining. I thought I would be fine, but I was tortured all day long by a deep nagging pain in my belly and chest.

When Daniel got home from work I started to make some soup for us to have for the week. Yes, I made the Cauliflower soup again with Dill and carrots. It's a good staple to have around. I also made Parsnip "Fries", which were really tasty, yet interesting. I drizzled some olive oil on them and added sea salt and a Chili powder blend. I cooked them on a pan in the oven and they came out just like fries..sans crispiness, but they were still good!

Daniel helped cut up all the brussel sprouts and shallots for the next dish. Lemony Roasted Brussel Sprouts. He's so helpful in the kitchen, and I love that he wants to help me cook. It's so fun to do together and it takes an enormous amount of pressure off of me. There was a time when I wouldn't allow anyone in the kitchen to help me, but I am over that!!!

So here is what we had for dinner last night:
Quinoa
Roasted Lemony Brussel Sprouts with Shallots
Parsnip Fries
&
Huge Green Salad w/ Cucumber, Avocado and Rosemary vinaigrette.

It was divine, and I was stuffed. I still felt full from that Damn tuna I ate earlier in the day, but I knew I needed to eat dinner or I would wake up at 3am with Hunger Pangs from you know where! Anyway, after we ate dinner we were just relaxing and talking about food and what we have been craving as well as what we want to eat when we are done cleansing. Both of us realize that we can't jump right back in to eating Gluten Free/Dairy Free pizza or Brown Rice Pasta or even our favorite Tempeh Tacos from Native Foods, but we were daydreaming and talking about all the things we want and miss from doing this cleanse.

Daniel has been craving donuts, Gyro's (those middle eastern type wraps made with Lamb), See's Candies, the Ceasar croutons from Leaf ( a delectable raw food restaurant here in LA), red bulls, coffee, his mom's cream cheese clam dip (YUCK!), cream cheese & salsa with chips, hot sauce...those are just a few! I have been craving those Damn protein bars and missing my daily dark chocolate fix, which most of the time is RAW Chocolate and not so bad for you. I also miss the coconut ice cream topped with grain sweetened chocolate chips. I have been eating "clean" for so long that I am craving the "healthy" versions of the "bad" stuff. I remember the first time I did the cleanse, I wanted to eat everything in sight; cupcakes, cake, cookies, anything loaded with sugar, which I never normally ate anyway. It's funny what the mind can do to you and if all the tastes of the tongue aren't satisfied, we will crave that taste until we get it.

As we discussed food, we wrote a list of all the healthier restaurants we will go to after our cleanse. I must say it's detrimental to our well-being to go out to dinner while on a cleanse...there are just too many temptations. Leaf will be our first stop. I really miss the Ceasar Salad there, not just the croutons. Daniel wants to check out this Persian place down the street and I want to hit up Akasha in Culver City, which actually has Quinoa on the menu! I feel so blessed that we live in LA and have so many great options for healthy food!

Nonetheless, all we do is think and talk about food. It runs our lives right now..but it runs our lives always. I used to hate thinking about food and it was just something that I "had" to do...eat! But that was part of my eating disorder and not wanting to eat because I might get fat. And now, I am a vegetarian chef and I educate others how to eat healthy and change their lives. So, yes, food is my main focus and I love it! I love being creative and figuring out new ways to cook healthier versions of their less healthy counterparts.

So, we ended the day with my bright idea of making whipped cream from RAW cream, which is allowed in moderation on this cleanse. Raw dairy products are much more nutritious for the body and do not wreak havoc on the system like processed, pasteurized dairy products do. So, I managed to whip up the most delectable whipped cream sweetend with Chocolate Stevia and we ate a cup full. After that I was so sick...I couldn't even stand up. I realized that my body does not like Animal products and that I can get crazy with my cravings and trying to figure out what I can eat that is sweet & creamy on this cleanse. I just end up feeling remorseful and sick! So, I learned a big lesson last night and I know I don't need to indulge like that and that my body feels so much better and healthier when I put simple, plant-based foods into it!

By the way, i just started reading "The China Study" and it's an amazing book about thousands of studies that have been done on protein and the plant-based diet. I highly recommend reading it! It will change the way you think about food, meat and being/becoming a vegetarian.

Check out my blog tomorrow for the Almond Mayo recipe!!! it's great as a dip or to use in salads!!!

Most dedicatedly yours,
the Ambivalent Cleanser