Plant-Based Eating {What I’m Reading}

I’ve been reading my arse off about plant-based eating. So, here are some of the fabulous resources I’ve found so far.

You may have read this post about how I’m changing (again) how I eat. Heart disease? No thanks! Delicious food and simple recipes? Yes please! So, I’ve been reading my ever loving heart out. I’m sharing some of the highlights of that reading, as I’d still like us to be friends after the firehose of information I’ve been ingesting.

It’s been a tasty, tasty week.

It’s been a week of plant-based life, and overall, it’s been pretty darned tasty. With the exception of one night out with friends (I was doing a restaurant review, and took a small break to eat a few small things for happy hour, so settle down), Everything I’ve eaten has been vegan. Frankly I’m longing for some scrambled eggs, which I may have later on.

A small experiment not to be repeated.

One other thing I did last week that just absolutely CEMENTED the knowledge that gluten and I are wayyyyy over, was the spelt bread I ate last week. Um, yes, I do know it has gluten, and it’s a form of ancient wheat. I wanted to see if I reacted any differently. Um, let’s just say that the rash coming back with monsoon level fury was the least of my worries. Sweet rutabaga pie. NEVER again. Sometimes we have to try things to remember why we made choices in the first place. Ok, I have to try things. Cuz I’m dense like that.

So, here are the reading materials I’ve been inhaling over the last couple weeks. You might enjoy some of them.

Books on Plant-Based Eating:

The Starch Solution
A book that advocates heavy starch intake, and zero animal products. Some friends of ours subscribe to this, so I gave it a read. It was shortly after that I dropped dairy (again) like a bad habit. My choice, so research for yourself.

Whole
This book is making my brain hurt. Serious intellectual pain, people. But, it’s one of the best scientific books on nutrition, EVER. I understand so much more about research, how it happens, why it happens, who is paying, and how plant-based diets have gotten so little press in the grand scheme of things. This book is written by an “advanced age” researcher who has spent his life studying nutrition. Wow, I feel smarter, and so glad I have elected to go this direction. I’m completely fascinated by this book!

The Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps
Ok, the title alone is delightfully irreverent. The stuff inside is so super helpful. When you start eating new things, you just want someone to tell you what tastes good, and what tastes like rotted shoe leather. Also? I am so envious of her witty writing style, it’s not even right.

Pinning my ideas:

My Plant-Based Eatin’ Pinterest Board
I elected to start a Pinterest board so I could collect alllll kinds of things there. Take a look. Would you be interested in a group board? Hmmm… Leave your thoughts below.

Online articles:

This is a smattering (yes, I said that) of articles I’ve read online.

Leo from Zen Habits shares his thoughts on becoming a vegan, and how to get started.

Vegetarianism and Weight Loss – It may or may not work like that. Besides, french fries are vegetarian right??

But wait! All the soy! Is it bad? I dunno, but here’s a great read about it. I haven’t eliminated it personally. I’m saying all the centurian Asians over many, many, many generations can’t be wrong. Nuff said.

This whole page of guides on vegetarian eating and concerns is pretty extensive.

This guide is also pretty handy, and answers a lot of questions about eating a plant-based diet.

The Healthy Apple Blog – I met this delightful gal on a panel for Bob’s Red Mill a while back. She’s a doll, and I love looking through her recipes, since most of it is gluten-free friendly. Yay! Go check her out.