Blog

On any given day I’m well prepared to be quarantined. I have stacks and stacks of books waiting to be read on my bookshelves and kindle, plus supplies for all kinds of craft projects, and plenty of work. I’m the ultimate homebody anyway and am never bored. Also, I have sort of an odd penchant for dystopian literature, and it inspires me to be prepared for the worst. I’m not a prepper by any means, but I do get a little anxious if there is less than a six-week reserve of food in my pantry.

Even so, I’ve been reassessing my supplies as I follow the news about COVID-19. Given all the uncertainty over the coronavirus, it seems like a good idea to be ready ... Read More >

According to social media, Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar acceptance speech has a lot of people asking whether it might be a good idea to ditch dairy. The answer is yes. In the name of compassion and justice, dropping dairy foods from your menus is a very good idea.

Farmers insist that dairy cows live happy, protected lives. They share photos and videos that certainly make it look like the cows on small farms are content. But every single one of those cows and every single one of their calves eventually goes to slaughter. Some are sick and weak when they are loaded onto trucks. They might travel through several livestock auctions before they reach the slaughterhouse. They may travel for long distances without food or water ... Read More >

November 1 is World Vegan Day marking 75 years since the word vegan was coined. Even though the concept of veganism has been around for a while, there are plenty of misconceptions about it. Here are five things to know about veganism.

1. For most people, going vegan is a process, not an overnight transformation. Staying focused on that process, making one choice at a time, can make the endeavor seem way less daunting. That is, instead of worrying about whether you can ever be vegan, just start making more vegan choices and see where you end up.

2. Veganism is not a diet. According to the Vegan Society, it is “a way of living which seeks to exclude, as ... Read More >

Lately it seems that every restaurant chain is scrambling to add some type of vegan meat to their menu. And these new products are so excellent that they appeal to vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Is this good news for vegans, or are we all going to suddenly keel over and die now that we can eat fast food just like the rest of America? Detractors, including some plant-based diet advocates, are quick to point out the processed nature of the new burgers. They say people are being led astray if they believe that these are healthy alternatives. Some even suggest that the health of vegans is suffering because of all the new vegan products on the market.

But, it’s not like there have never been ... Read More >

A couple of weeks ago, I took myself to the pharmacy for the first of two doses of the shingles vaccine. I didn’t want to do it at all. For one thing, I’m highly needle-phobic. (I don’t even have pierced ears.) Also, I was working toward a major deadline and didn’t have time to be sick. Headache, fatigue, and low-grade fever are common side effects of this vaccine, according to the CDC, and they can last for several days.

But I had recently heard from two people who have had shingles in the past few months (one is a family member, the other an animal activist) and their experiences were way worse than the usual mild side effects of the ... Read More >

Despite media pieces aimed at discrediting vegan diets for kids, vegan children clearly can thrive when they have appropriate diets. For a project I’m working on, I’m hoping to learn more about the experiences of people who are raising vegan children or are in the process of transitioning their family to a vegan diet.

What kind of challenges have you faced as a vegan parent regarding nutrition and food choices? Which foods are especially important in your family meals to help your kids meet nutrient needs. Have there been any issues regarding school or social situations? How do you talk to your kids about why the family is vegan, and what is their response? What are their favorite foods?

Anything ... Read More >

Whether you are diving head first into a vegan lifestyle for the new year, or beginning a transition to veganism over the next months, here are seven tips to increase your chances of success.

Learn About Nutrition

You don’t have to know a lot, but you need to know something. The idea that simply eating a variety of whole plant foods will magically meet your needs for protein, calcium, iron and other nutrients is not true and it is dangerous advice. For quick overviews on the basics, see my Plant Plate, my Vegan 101 series on this website, these Tips for New Vegans,  and this more comprehensive article on vegan nutrition.

Moderate Your Expectations.

You will not “detox,” when you go vegan and ... Read More >

I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel with Andy Tabar of Compassion Company and JL Fields of JL Goes Vegan at Vegfest Colorado in late July. We spoke about body shaming and food shaming in the vegan community.

Although this is admittedly an unusual topic for a vegfest, it’s an important one. Not just for those who are already active in vegan and animal activism, but also for newcomers who might wonder if there is a place for them in this community.

Andy posted a live recording of our presentations on his Bearded Vegans podcast, and you can view the slides from my presentation here. I looked at some of the potential consequences of over-hyping the health benefits of a vegan diet and ... Read More >

In our new book, Protest Kitchen: Fight Injustice, Save the Planet, and Fuel Your Resistance One Meal at a Time, Carol J. Adams and I suggest that your food choices offer a way to challenge the rise of repressive and regressive values. That is, a vegan diet offers opportunities not just to confront factory farms and environmental destruction, but also to impact misogyny, racism, and injustice.

Our book is headed to the printer this week and is due to arrive in bookstores in the fall, but it’s available for preorder on Amazon and Barnes and Noble now. (It will be available as an audio book in addition to print and e-reader formats.)

Carol and I started talking about this book shortly after the presidential election, ... Read More >

Is there such a thing as the one and only healthy way to eat? Best-selling authors like Dr. Mark Hyman would like you to think so.

Recently, he’s become a proponent of an eating style that he calls “pegan,” which as you might guess is a portmanteau of Paleo and vegan. In designing this diet, Dr. Hyman says that he “synthesized the best aspects of each and integrated them with the anti-inflammatory and detoxification principles of functional medicine to create a balanced, inclusive dietary plan that changed my life and my patients’ lives, too.”

Uh oh –“detoxification principles” plus anecdotal evidence pretty much raises red flags all over the place for me.

But Dr. Hyman is correct in saying that his diet is a ... Read More >