Vegan for Life - Jack Norris [51]
It’s not true. For one thing, we are always detoxing. Normal everyday metabolism produces toxic compounds. The body has extensive systems in place—mostly involving the liver, kidneys, and lungs—that detoxify and/or excrete these compounds. It’s true that a healthy lifestyle keeps these systems operating at optimal levels. But going vegan—even if you do it suddenly—does not produce a massive cleansing of toxins.
Likewise, there is no evidence that omnivores have physical addictions to animal foods. It may feel difficult to give up favorite foods like cheese and ice cream, but you won’t suffer any physical withdrawal symptoms, unless you don’t get enough protein or calories.
WHAT VEGANS EAT
Vegans love to say that giving up animal foods didn’t shrink their food horizons; it expanded them. Is it true? We asked seventeen friends—health professionals, activists, athletes, cookbook authors, and a few teens—to tell us their favorite dinner that they cook at home. Their answers are proof positive that nobody knows good food like a vegan!
ERICA MEIER
Executive Director, Compassion Over Killing
▶ Quinoa topped with stir-fried vegetables, chick peas, and tempeh or veggie meats, like Field Roast or Gardein
“If I’m really feeling up for it, and have the ingredients, I might go all out and make the recipe for Pineapple Cashew Quinoa stir-fry from the cookbook Veganomicon. (We love quinoa, what can I say?)”
INGRID NEWKIRK
President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
▶ English Stew
“This lasts for days and changes in that time. I used to use beef bones in the old days, which makes me feel so sick to think of them clanging around in the bottom of the pot. I instantly weaned from that rich, bloody flavor by adding a couple of tablespoons of Marmite or Vegemite but now love to add a small can of medium-hot Mexican green chili peppers and tomatoes at the end.
I use a base of Manischewitz dry minestrone soup mix and just shove in any fresh and/or frozen veggies, usually potatoes, broccoli, a bag of mixed peas, carrots, tomatoes, or cauliflower, but really any vegetables, some garlic or not, some onion for sure, and bring it to the boil and then let it simmer. I am Phyllis Diller in the kitchen—shouldn’t be there. But I love this, can thermos it to work, take it on the train, pour it over rice, leave the Mex spice bits out, and add lentils or more peas or corn, and then before it all disappears, spice it up. Love it with a warm baguette, with crackers or croutons, on toast or rice. And my old dog, Ms. Bea, worshipped it. It’s dirt cheap too.”
LOUISE HAGLER
The Soybean Queen, cookbook author and soybean pioneer
Louise, who works with the hunger relief organization Plenty International, says that this menu is a hit in her nutrition classes in Mexico.
▶ Chewy Tofu Nuggets (from the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Tofu Cookery) rolled up in corn tortillas with sautéed Swiss chard and caramelized onions
REED MANGELS, PHD, RD
Co-author of the American Dietetic Association’s Position on
Vegetarian Diets; Lecturer, Nutrition Department,
University of Massachusetts; and Nutrition Advisor
to the Vegetarian Resource Group
Reed says that sushi is a meal she doesn’t make very often, because it’s time-consuming, but both of her teenage daughters, Leah and Sarah, choose it as a favorite.
“I cook the rice (using the Nori-Maki Sushi recipe and instructions in Nava Atlas’s Vegetarian Celebrations) and prepare bowls of fillings. Everyone makes his or her favorite filling combination, rolls the sushi, and we slice it. Here are some favorite fillings:
• Baked tofu
• Avocado strips
• Cucumber strips
• Carrot strips
• Peas
• Red pepper strips
• Steamed zucchini strips
• Asparagus
“We often have peanut sauce and soy sauce for dipping the sushi. I usually make a stir-fry using whatever vegetables are around. Watermelon slices in summer or chocolate chip cookies from Joy of Vegan Baking