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I’m counting the days with lots of excitement (and sometimes a little apprehension) to June 18, 2013—the release date for my new book Vegan for Her. I’ve been working on it for more than a year with my friend and co-author JL Fields, and it’s hard to believe that in a few short months, this labor of love will be a real live book!

Right now, JL and I are in the process of creating a community around the ideas and concepts that we talk about in our book. We’ll be launching veganforher.com at the end of May, a site dedicated to sharing information and encouraging dialog among vegan and vegan-curious women. We’re going to talk about everything under the sun—food, nutrition, clothes, body image ... Read More >

I was honored to be interviewed—along with Jack—by Paul Appleby for the Spring 2013 issue of Vegan Views magazine in the U.S.

Paul is the senior statistician on the EPIC-Oxford research project—an investigation that has provided some of the most important current information about vegan and vegetarian nutrition—and he is widely known and respected in the nutrition research world.

You can read the interview here.

If you read the comments on this blog, then you know that not everyone in the vegan world is happy with some of the perspectives presented here. The two criticisms I hear most frequently are these: First, that my recommendations, which focus on areas where vegans may fall short, make it seem “too hard” to be healthy on a vegan diet. And second that, because I’m an animal advocate, I care only about making it easy to be vegan—refusing to condemn foods like vegetable oils, nuts and veggie burgers—with little regard for human health.

Obviously, both of these things can’t be true. In fact, I know that the second one isn’t, and I don’t think the first one is, either. My recommendations for staying healthy ... Read More >

It’s one of the most frequent questions I get from blog readers: How do we respond to people who insist that they require meat in their diets?

I know very well that some vegans struggle with their health, because I hear frequently from those who are looking for help. Most who contact me are animal advocates who are experiencing nutrient deficiencies (diagnosed through blood work) or they simply don’t feel well.

These are not people who are eating junk-food vegan diets. Anyone who gets sick from eating a diet based on potato chips and cookies will usually have a fairly good idea of why they got sick, and they also know how to take some steps to fix that. Instead, those who write to me ... Read More >

I spent 3 days at the 6^th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition this past week in Loma Linda, CA. Held every five years or so, the event is hosted by the School of Public Health of Loma Linda University and is considered the premiere conference on plant-based nutrition. It brings experts and researchers together from all over the world and its proceedings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the most prestigious of all nutrition journals. I was honored this year (and a bit terrified, since I felt very much out of my league) to be a speaker.

Material presented at the conference included reviews of earlier research as well as new findings from the most current studies. Even where the information was ... Read More >

Going “vegan for a week” seems to be a popular thing. Lately, quite a few blog posts and news articles on this phenomenon have been turning up in my google “vegan” search. These are usually written by people who want to see what it’s like to be vegan, even for just a few weeks.

My impression is that most of these temporary vegans have had reasonably good experiences with finding satisfying food. Most have also run up against challenges, usually due in part to a lack of preparation or knowledge.

I haven’t seen any of these experiments morph into an actual embrace of veganism. But some have said they will eat more vegan meals after their experience—which is good. And I suspect that in writing ... Read More >

Way back in time, when my husband was working on his PhD at Michigan State University, I thought I might get a PhD, too. I applied, was accepted, and enrolled.

One of the things that presented a little barrier for me right from the start, though, was that my advisor wanted me to begin my doctoral career with a “small animal research project” just to get a quick publication and a little bit of research experience. It was a conversation that took place just after I had adopted a shelter kitten who turned out to have feline distemper and appeared to be dying.  I was distraught as I tried to explain to my advisor why I wasn’t going to do a “small animal research project,” ... Read More >

We all know that it’s easy to meet the protein RDA on a vegan diet. But what constitutes “enough protein” remains a topic of some debate among experts.

Among its other functions, protein protects bone health which may in part be due to its effects on muscle mass. Unfortunately, a decline in muscle mass over the years is more common than not. It’s driven to some extent by hormones, but diet and lifestyle clearly have an impact on this, too.

Although weight-training is the most important way to build and preserve muscle, it gets a little bit harder to bulk up as the years pass–probably because protein is used less efficiently to rebuild muscle after exercise when you’re older. A new report from the International ... Read More >

No doubt you’ve heard all the buzz about the recent study suggesting that overweight people have a longevity advantage. The researchers performed a meta-analysis of 97 studies, which included nearly 3 million subjects. They looked at body mass index (BMI) and mortality and found that those in the overweight category—BMI of 25 to 35—had a 5 to 6 percent lower mortality rate. Only at a BMI of 35 or above did mortality risk start to rise.

While it’s not the final word on the relationship between weight and health (no single study, no matter how large and well-conducted, is the final word on anything) it’s one more piece of data that helps to broaden perspective on this issue. An editorial accompanying the study noted that ... Read More >

Happy 2013! There is nothing like a brand new year to inspire health-related resolutions. And while it’s tempting to resolve to make all kinds of big changes, sometimes a few little tweaks here and there are all we vegans really need.  Here are ten ideas for vegans—mostly easy ways to fine-tune your diet and lifestyle. One of two of them might help to make your new year a little bit healthier.

1. Give some attention to calcium. It’s simple enough to get enough calcium from plant foods, but many vegans fall short because they just aren’t paying attention. Make sure you are consuming at least three cups per day of some combination of calcium-set tofu, fortified plant milks or juices, or calcium-rich leafy greens like ... Read More >