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Rewriting the book on vegan junk food

SIRI AGRELL

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 2:00 PM EDT 09/01/08

Publishing phenomenon Skinny Bitch has now spawned a cookbook, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch ...Read the full article

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  1. Hart Oldenburg from winnipeg, Canada writes: There still remains some solid, old fashioned nutritional advice, away from today's escape into fake food. I found it--- Abandon all pseudo food guides and diets! Return to historic eating, return to great grand mother's cooking. No sub-standard crap there. Greens and grains summer and fall. Meat and fat --dried, smoked, brined, the winter and spring staples.
    Vegans used to die off in cold latitudes, we were spared the green revolution pouring fourth from overheated lodgings.
    Think about it!
  2. web warlock from Toronto, Canada writes: There is no such thing as a vegan Eskimo.

    Dr. Weil, former vegetarian, now eats fish. The reason why is that vegetable sources of Omega 3 fatty acids come in the form of ALA Omega 3, which the body needs to process to DHA and EPA Omega 3s for use in the brain. Some people aren't as efficient at processing vegetable sources like walnut and flax. Men are less efficient than women. Find out more at www.drweil.com.

    No, I'm not paid to promote him or his website
  3. A. S from Canada writes: what's with those questions? sheesh...
    I think this book is written in a fun way and really makes veganism more appealing and maybe attainable to people who think maybe it's too restrictive? Even just eating vegan a few days a week or something...as a vegan I'll take what I can get :)
  4. tom h from Canada writes: AS, you're exactly right: All of us vegetarians/vegans know that the whole world isn't going to give up meat full time. But promoting the veggie menu, and having formerly-constant carnivores eat veggie a couple of times a week is undoubtedly a good thing.
  5. Jorly fuster from Canada writes: Most people look for excuses not to eat healthy. They hang on to any small piece of evidence to show that soy is bad for you or vegetables cause paralasis or whatever.

    The truth is simple. Cancer rates are skyrocketing because of the toxic environment we live in coupled with out of control animal protien intake.

    I've stopped preaching, it's your choice, be healthy or be right.
  6. Mark H from Columbus, IN, United States writes: 'The truth is simple. Cancer rates are skyrocketing because of the toxic environment we live in coupled with out of control animal protien intake.'

    Provide a little proof for your 'truth'. Oh wait, you can't.
  7. Robin Kohli from Toronto, Canada writes: Actually if DR Weil is saying the only source of EPA and DHA is fish than he is wrong. This a common misconception even amoung health professionals and I hear it all the time, I wish for a change people would actually do some research before reciting this tired line.

    It is easy to extract DHA and EPA from algae (which is where fish get it in the first place).
    You can already buy the products that contain it
    http://www.vegetarian-dha-epa.co.uk/

    Or this one which I use but it only contains DHA which is Udo's choice flax oil with algae and it has been around for awhile. http://www.udoerasmus.com/products/oilblendDHA_en.htm

    So even if you cannot convert any of the ALA in flax oil to EPA and DHA which is unliklely, you can still get both from algae.

    Anyway enjoy whatever you eat and try not to get too mad when other people make food choices that are different than yours.
    If someone is doing something they feel makes the world a better place (and are not obnoxious about it) then I say kudos!
  8. web warlock from Toronto, Canada writes: Robin Kohli,

    You are correct that you can get EPA/DHA from algae. However, I'm not sure that extracting it in pill form is quite the same as eating fish, which comes along with a host of other nutrients which may play a role in your ability to make proper use of these nutrients.

    The vast majority of doctors, nutritionists and dieticians recommend eating oily fish twice a week.

    Also, it's not as unlikely as you might think to have problems with this conversion. There is evidence that consuming too much Omega 6 from vegetable sources interferes with the bodies ability to process Omega 3s. So says the worlds leading researcher on fats Joseph Hibbeln here:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1924088,00.html

    Please let me know what you think of this article.

    I think it's great that people are making an effort to become informed. Enjoy your algae.
  9. Jim OKeefe from Toronto, Canada writes: Vegan junk food? Doesn't potato chips, soda of any stripe, pretzels and popcorn constitute vegan junk food? After all, no animal products used in these (although popcorn is pretty well disgusting without butter).
  10. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: My understanding is that one of the dangers of a vegan diet is lack of B12. The B12 supplement I take is the methylcobalamin form, in sublingual form (supposedly much betther absorbed by the body than the cyanocobalamin form of B12).

    I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish (tuna, salmon, mahi-mahi), so I guess I'm okay re the Omega 3 issue.

    Aside from health issues, other reasons to go veggie are the amount of land used to maintain livestock, and the pollution caused by the meat industry - look what happens when there is flooding around hog farms.
  11. Matthew McGarvey from Ottawa, Canada writes: People who decry the supposed health problems of a vegan diet miss a couple of points. One, you have to know what you are comparing - vegan vs. the usual meat, fat, salt diet seen in most houses is far superior. Is it easier to get balanced nutrition by including fish? I am not certain; what I do know is it is possible to get complete nutrition without animal products, with a little effort.

    And let's just suppose my uptake of some omega was slightly worse than it would be if I ate fish - does that mean I should eat fish? No, it means I can choose to make something else suffer to enhance my health, or not, and I choose not.

    I went vegan about 3.5 years ago, and have noticed no significant change in my health. Even the processed vegan foods are much better than most fatty animal products, carb products and dairy in terms of nutritional balance. Yeah, you can do as well with very carefully selected non-vegan choices, but it's no easier and not significantly healthier.
  12. Ben Morris from Victoria, Canada writes: If you love meat but care about animals, buy from reputable local producers. Yes, the animals still die for your tasting pleasure, but you can at least verify they had natural, pain-free lives before being killed. Healthily-raised animals also taste better than the feedlot kind. Finally, if you think such high-quality meat is prohibitively expensive, you probably eat too much in the first place.
  13. Matthew McGarvey from Ottawa, Canada writes: Ben Morris, what's wrong with "If you love meat, but care about animals, eat the available substitutes, just as the cookbook author did. If you absolutely insist on eating meat, get it from reputable local producers who have verified decent living conditions for their animals, but don't lose sight of the fact that the processing of animals will cause distress leading up to their death."?
  14. Noone Anywhere from Canada writes: I don't think eating vegetarian or vegan precludes the pain and suffering of animals, or pollution for that matter. You think field-dwelling animals aren't killed by planting and harvesting machines, or ground-nesting birds don't lose habitat because of agricultural expansion? You think machines that plant, harvest, process and package grains and vegetables don't pollute? Or that buying your California-grown squash or Peruvian quinoa hasn't resulted in a fair amount of carbon being spewed into the atmosphere? Let's keep it to a choice about what to ingest -- which is what it ultimately boils down to -- and leave the rhetoric about animal suffering and pollution out of it.
  15. Alistair McLaughlin from Canada writes: Jorly Fuster, cancer rates are NOT sky-rocketing. Only breast cancer and colon cancer have increased once the aging population has been factored in. Colon cancer seems to be related to our new-found aversion to the sun, which has created a vitamin D shortage in many people. The increase in breast cancer rates is somewhat more mystifying, with everything from the pill to environmental endocrine disruptors being to blame. But the belief that cancer rates in general are "skyrocketing" is simply paranoia sold to us by the environmental lobby.
  16. Robin Kohli from Toronto, Canada writes: The worlds leading researcher on fats? I always laugh when I see statements like that. Most scientific fields are incredibly complex, to say or call someone the worlds leading researcher on a topic as encompassing and broad as "fats" is a joke. More often it is a vain attempt to say your research is better than mine. I usually do most of my research on Pub med and if you are interested in widening your knowledge on this issue you may want to begin there instead of quoting news articles. I agree that usually a whole food is better than an extract, however it is much easier to extract the oil from algae than eat pounds of it. What was interesting was that the first two studies in the the link you pointed to talked about the remarkable effects from using extracts or just fish oil, not the whole fish. Many studies have shown the benfiets from isolated epa and dha. Since the original source is algae oil than maybe you are missing out on some vital component. Algae is also less likely to be containimated with heavy metals than salmon oil. Notice all the claims on salmon oil supplments that say mercury free? They use some complex processes to achieve this. The further down the food chain the less likely this will be a problem so sardines are better than salmon. If you are trying to argue that the EPA and dha extracted from algae which is where the fish are getting it, is somehow inferior than the epa and dha in fish oil you would need some studies to backup that claim. The population does get to much omega 6, that's why we need to eat more flax lwhich as you are likely aware is mostly omega 3. Of course there is an optimal ratio of omega 3-6 and too much 3 is also dangerous Anyway I believe both types are healthy for humans as long as it's mercury free. You have not presented anything to make me think the omega 3s in algae or flax are inferior to fish, both types are great additions to the respective diets of the consumer. Enjoy your fish
  17. Chris H from Canada writes: I wish it was legal to sell deer meat, then I wouldn't have to buy crummy, hormone-laden meat from far away... Ah, game...

    In Australia, we could buy kangaroo at the grocers. Just better meat than farmed beef. Sigh.
  18. Hornsworth Portswiler from adanac, Canada writes: I decided to go vegan about 7 years ago, but it was too difficult for lazy me, so I eat fish and dairy products. Now I get flack from both sides, the hardcore vegans who turn their nose up and the non vegetarians who insist on saying brilliant things like "I'm going to eat extra meat on your behalf." Whatever. People don't need to eat so much meat, and I applaud anyone for eating less, vegetarian or not. There is, believe it or not, a difference between zero and one, between having meat (including fish) a couple of times a week and three times a day. It adds up fast, 90kg a year vs 8, and it's just a bad habit that's hard on the environment and thoughtlessly cruel to animals.
  19. Ben Morris from Victoria, Canada writes: Matthew: the meat substitutes are generally overprocessed junk (I used to be mostly vegetarian, and have tried many of them). I think you're absolutely right, though, that carnivores should make themselves fully aware of what happens to the animals they eat. After watching slaughterhouse videos, I swore off the mass-produced stuff forever.
  20. web warlock from Toronto, Canada writes: Robin,

    I've already read many of the articles on PubMed. I didn't say that the algae source Omega 3 is inferior. I'm saying that as a rule of thumb I believe that eating a diet composed of whole foods is superior to trying to replace individual components of that diet with supplements. You appear to agree with this.

    I should have qualified my statement: Dr. Hibbeln may not be THE leading researcher, but he is an internationally recognized authority on the link between essential fatty acids and depression.

    I've consulted a wide range of doctors, nutritions, dieticians, and it would appear that in their opinion, eating fish is superior to supplementation. Are you also a certified professional in the health industry?

    Also, you suggest that by not eating algae, we may be missing out on some vital component of Omega 3 fatty acids. Here, I would suggest that humans historically ate fish; I'm not so sure about algae. Do you really think it's logical to make this suggestion?

    I'm not sure we agree on the mechanism by which Omega 3's are processed. Eating more flax, which I thought was ALA and thus requires additional processing by the body, would not be as efficient a method of obtaining EPA/DHA as eating fish, especially for someone whose ability to convert ALA to EPA/DHA may already be compromised by a diet high in Omega 6.
  21. Chris Kempan from writes: How do you know Algae doesn't have feelings?
    Why do vegans feel it is ok to eat plants but not animals? Ahh, because they recognize a hierarchy of living things, where animals are placed above plants. I also have a hierarchy, which places humans above animals...so get those steaks on the BBQ.
  22. J V M from Canada writes: Hornsworth Portswiler - thank-you for being a voice of moderation! Meanwhile, I am curious about this cookbook, isn't anybody else? It sounds like it might have some fun recipes if you're in a sort of retro-comfort-food mood. Time to check the library catalogue...
  23. stand up mimi from Canada writes: Noone Anywhere - You said exactly what I was thinking.

    What's worse - purposely killing a humanely raised chicken or pig, or accidentally killing a few hundred animals with pesticides and machinery for a soybean crop? Just make the best choices: If you eat meat, eat less of it, and eat animals that have had a good life. If you're vegetarian or vegan and are concerned about the environment, make sure you know the conditions your plants have been grown under. It's hard to tell with processed foods, including fake meat. Eat locally - that's the best way to know for sure how things are grown or raised, and it cuts down on C02. Besides, it tastes way better.
  24. bill williams from whitehorse,yukon, Canada writes: Vegan..old native word for lousey hunter.
  25. John Williams from Ajax, Canada writes: Quackery!

    Humans EVOLVED for millions of years to EAT MEAT. Humans need meat.
    Eat some meat, not too much, that's all.

    Vegan "pizza" should only be used to trigger vomitting.
  26. Jorly fuster from Canada writes: Mark H from Columbus, IN, United States: Your stupidity can only be traced to your insatiable hunger for flesh.
  27. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: John Williams: anatomy would suggest humans did not evolve to eat meat. Our lengthy digestive tract (as compared to the shorter gut of animals that did evolve to eat meat - e.g., the big cats) results in meat reaching some degree of putrefaction in us during the digestive process. Think, too, how we react to food as a visual and olfactory stimulus; a bowl of fresh fruit makes the mouth water, but the sight and smell of fresh road-kill is an appetite suppressant.

    "Bill Williams" - modern phrase for lousy speller.
  28. Kay Ay from Canada writes: And here I thought the idea of adding a meatless meal or two to the weekly menu was OLD news.
    My kids will eat black beans, chick peas, lentils with no questions asked.
    No hiding the veggies in a puree at our house.
    I'm not much of a fan of "fake" anything especially when it pertains to food.
  29. common SENSE from Toronto, Canada writes: Jorly fuster: Age adjusted cancer rates are not increasing. If you would like to verify this, please refer to the Canadian Cancer Statistics 2007 (www.cancer.ca), as well as the Cancer Surveillance On-Line from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

    And to those that are discussing the negative environmental impact of agricultural of farming (Noone Anywhere and Stand up Mimi), have you considered how much grain products actually go toward feed for factory farmed animals?
  30. John Williams from Ajax, Canada writes: Kim Philby: we evolved to eat cooked meat...did you ever hear of that thing called "fire"??? The cooking helped with digestion and also killed parasites, etc.

    Even monkeys LOVE EATING MEAT. They can't wait to murder smaller monkeys and eat them. Yummy.
  31. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: John Williams: we "evolved to eat cooked meat"? Oh, right...I forgot about the "campfire gene". I think that's the one located next to your "baseless statements" gene.
  32. rad fem from Toronto, Canada writes: So the cookbook author says salt is only bad when you're using prepared foods high in sodium, and then we see a sample recipe that calls for prepared stock cubes that are uniformly -you guessed it- high in sodium. I'll likely skip this one, thanks.

    Jim Okeefe, butter on popcorn is a magical thing, but the alternatives don't have to be gross. Popping some kernels on the stove and drizzling them with a little olive oil can be delicious, especially if you grate a little parmigiano reggiano on top (not vegan, but mighty good).
  33. Thumb Sucker from Toronto, Canada writes: Hello vegans, question: is it unethical to feed your cat or dog animal products?
  34. web warlock from Toronto, Canada writes: Jorly fuster from Canada writes: Mark H from Columbus, IN, United States: Your stupidity can only be traced to your insatiable hunger for flesh.
    -------------
    Nice one, Jorly. I find that vegetarians tend to cite a study in the British Medical Journal from 1970 finding a relation between vegetarian diet and higher intelligence. The same people tend to ignore the part of the study where they talk about vegan intelligence.

    The study is here

    http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1790759
  35. stand up mimi from Canada writes: common SENSE from Toronto, Canada writes: "And to those that are discussing the negative environmental impact of agricultural of farming (Noone Anywhere and Stand up Mimi), have you considered how much grain products actually go toward feed for factory farmed animals?"

    Yes, but maybe I didn't make myself clear. Humanely raised animals are not stuffed into feedlots or crammed into dark barns and force fed grain like factory farmed animals are. Cattle especially are not grain-eaters, and the vast acres of crops grown to fatten them in feedlots are unnecessary and inappropriate, in my view. Land unsuitable to growing crops (and there is a lot of it) can be used to graze cattle and other ruminants. Crop land should be used for humans. Even chickens like to wander around and forage in land that is unsuitalbe for crops. Cramming grain down their throats in a dark, nasty warehouse where they can't move is unnatural and cruel. That's the real cruelty here, not the fact that we eat them.

    Kim Philby - We are not carnivores, like cats. We're omnivores.
  36. P Scott from Canada writes: "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
    --Albert Einstein

    Sure, but what did he know?

    And for all those religious types (not me), how much beef did Jesus eat?
  37. John Williams from Ajax, Canada writes: Yo, the taming of FIRE by humans was probably the #1 influence on human evolution, for warmth, keeping away animals, and cooking meat and foods. Its gene-environment co-evolution, its not about a "gene".

    Lean MEAT = GOOD.
    Fish = good.
    Bird = good.
    Even juicy rats would be delicious when cooked I bet. Humans have always eaten whatever protein they could catch. Even bugs are good for you, worms, etc.

    Just look at Chimps when they eat little monkeys they catch, they go berserk with joy.

    But Vegan's are too protein starved to think clearly either.
  38. Jennifer Smith from Saskatoon, Canada writes: John Williams from Ajax, Canada writes: But Vegan's are too protein starved to think clearly either.

    Do alittle research next time you try to make a witty comment

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