Books Over Movies

I finally gave in to the nagging of my Netflix queue and watched the movie Forks Over Knives.  I did so dutifully and at times enthusiastically.  I nodded in agreement with certain parts, offered my own commentary to the talking heads and gasped in awe at some of the statistics.  When it was over I expected to feel inspired.  What I felt instead was a little dismayed.  I kept thinking “I don’t want to be sick.  I want to be healthy!  Do I have to be vegan?”  I am not a vegan, though I do admire those who are.  If you are anything like me and these types of questions plague you too, let me cheerfully recommend the BOOK Forks Over Knives.

Foremost, it is a cookbook with over 100 mouth watering recipes.  There is a list of handy kitchen tools that make quick work of all the fruits and veggies you’ll be making into masterpieces.  There is even a conversion chart in the back.  The recipes range from the most basic like Steamed Veggies with Brown Rice (pg. 137) to the new and intriguing like Green Pea Guacamole (pg. 74).  Interspersed are short biographies of the doctors, their patients, and other folks who support this way of eating.  

Notice I didn’t call it a diet.  When I think of a diet, I think of all the things I can’t eat.  This is a way of eating that reminds me of the abundance and variety of all the things I can eat!  By and large the message is that we shouldn’t worry about eating a particular food to get enough of a particular nutrient.  If we focus on eating a variety of foods, and not using animal products as the foundation, we will be exposing ourselves to all the nutrients we need.  

So vegans, vegetarians and the rest of us can take heart - health is attainable and it tastes so good! 

  Looking for more plant-based culinary inspiration?  Check out Fields of Greens.  Based on recipes from the Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, it is a treasure trove of vegetarian dishes.