Because U.S. News & World Report has never met a ranked list they didn’t like, they recently put together a massive review/ranking of popular diets commonly used for weight loss. They gathered a large panel of nutrition experts and established that their rankings would be based on whether a diet was “relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe and effective for weight loss and against diabetes and heart disease.” Quite the tall order, but as you and I know, doable.

In addition to the usual suspects, the Mediterranean diet, Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc., they also analyzed the vegan diet. They ended up ranking the diet pretty low for a variety of different reasons, some fair, some not. Their analysis seemed to follow that general pattern, getting a lot right and a lot wrong.

Rather than try to refute the conclusions of professional nutritionists or regurgitate what has already been said on the subject elsewhere, I’m going to defer to vegan, Registered Dietician, Ginny Messina, who wrote an excellent post on the topic.

Her final paragraph sort of gets at the heart of why she thinks the vegan diet got such a bum wrap from U.S. News, and I agree:

I’m sure that they were primarily concerned that people who adopt a vegan diet for weight management and who aren’t familiar with this way of eating could fall short on nutrient intake. And that is certainly a valid issue. Vegans do need to understand how to obtain sufficient calcium, zinc, iodine, omega-3s, and vitamin B12 (and, along with the rest of the world, sufficient vitamin D). It’s not true that it requires a lot of work to do this; it is true, though, that it requires a little bit of knowledge. That’s why spreading the word about how to plan healthy vegan diets is crucial activism. Helping nutrition professionals gain a better understanding of vegan diet planning is important, too.

Cereal is easily my favorite food. I can actually point directly to this particular food as a reason I resisted veganism for so long. I hadn’t yet discovered the wonders of almond milk and I thought there would never be a milk substitute that could support my habit.

Anyway, here I am, happily eating cereal on a near daily basis when it occurs to me last week that the front of the box of Trader Joe’s Multigrain O’s I’ve been hitting pretty hard lately says it is a good source of B12 and there is no “V” anywhere on the box. Although, I know that not all of the vegan products at TJ’s are marked as such, I’ve read the ingredients list and I figure that a staple food like this should probably be marked. Also knowing that most sources of B12 are not vegan, I decide to go check out the actual list of vegan products Trader Joe’s keeps on their site (and updates frequently) just to be sure.

Multigrain O’s? Not on the list.

Boy, am I a dummy. I don’t know how it’s possible that I never considered how fortified foods could pose a problem, especially since I am fully aware that a lot of vitamins and minerals are sourced from animals in one way or another (see my post on vegan vitamins for proof of my idiocy). For whatever reason though, I’ve been walking around with a total blind spot on this.

I believe my only real problem is cereals, but other foods that are commonly fortified include cooking oils, tea, juice and other beverages and bread. It’s also common for all kinds of processed foods to have been fortified.

So, the lesson is: it’s not always enough just to read ingredients lists. If a food has been fortified (and if it has, it will almost always be bragging about it somewhere on the front of the package), and it isn’t a purposely vegan product or brand (something that is also usually touted somewhere on the package), then consider it non-vegan.

I must confess: when I first started out, I was a junk food vegetarian. What does that mean? Well, for me and a lot of people it meant that I basically just replaced meat in my diet with cheese. I was also seriously lacking in the variety of foods I ate and relied a lot on processed meat substitutes. You can imagine how all of this turned out for my waistline.

I strongly suspect that my experience is extremely common among newbie vegetarians and probably has a lot to do with why so many people eventually go back to an omni diet, often citing poor health as a reason. I mean yeah, if you’re piling on the processed food, eating tons of high-fat, high-calorie stuff and depending on various forms of potatoes as your main source of veggie exposure, then you’re probably not going to look or feel too awesome – regardless of whether you’re including meat in your diet.

Thankfully, I was able to pull it together before frustration/temptation got the better of me and became a healthy vegetarian who obviously eventually took it to the next level with veganism. Interestingly enough, even though my switch to veganism was much more thoughtful and carefully planned than my headfirst dive into vegetarianism (I didn’t even eat beans – of any kind – when I first when veg for cripe’s sake!), I still experienced a minor weight gain when I first transitioned.

The reason for that was similar to the challenge I faced when going vegetarian. Though I ate a much wider variety of foods, I had been using the lowest calorie/fat versions of dairy available and still wasn’t stepping too far outside the box when it came to experimenting with less common protein sources and veggies. Once again, this restricted my options way too much to achieve a good balance of calories, protein and fats. When coupled with the bump in calorie and/or fat intake from my new dairy substitutes (almond milk, Daiya cheese, etc.) this resulted in a few very unwelcome and frustrating extra pounds.

However, just as I did with vegetarianism, I quickly figured out how to re-balance my diet and get back to a completely healthy routine. For vegans, this often means incorporating a lot more whole food into the mix and sometimes learning new ways to cook and flavor foods. The cookbooks I’ve collected have gone a long way in helping me to achieve both of those objectives -as well as an important third step, which is experimenting with new, less common foods. There are so many things I love about being vegan, but having become a (way) better cook and developing a taste for new things are right up there at the top of the list.

If you suspect you might be a junk food vegan or vegetarian, I strongly suggest picking up a handful of vegan cookbooks – starting with The Kind Diet from Alicia Silverstone. In addition to tons of great recipes, Alicia’s book is also a fantastic primer on a healthy and varied vegan diet. The entire first half of the book is packed with really valuable educational info that was extremely helpful to me. I think you’ll agree.

Another great tactic for breaking out of the junk food rut, start reading as many vegan blogs as you can find. I know that sounds like self-serving advice, but it’s inadvertent, I swear! Keeping myself in the loop and exposed to an endless stream of new and inventive recipes and meal ideas is really vital to helping me stay healthy and excited about being vegan. If you’re reading this, you’re probably already doing a good job on that front, but here’s a good sampling of some of the great vegan blogs out there just waiting to fill you in and fill you up!

One last thing that is super important to keep in mind: being a “junk food” vegan or vegetarian is almost always associated with being a new kid on the block, so if you’re dealing with this challenge, go easy on yourself! Making small changes, one step at a time, is way better for you, animals and the environment than getting frustrated and quitting because you got in over your head. Stick with it and you’ll get there!

I seriously love my cookbooks. I’d have been completely lost without them when I first started eating vegan. I’m a decent cook (much better since I went vegan, actually) but I really don’t have the time or the talent for ground-up, recipe development. And honestly, with these books at my disposal, I don’t really need to.

As you can see, the books I’m talking about are:

• The Kind Diet, Alicia Silverstone
• Veganomicon, Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
• Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook, Kim Barnouin
• Skinny Bitch in the Kitch, Rory Freedman & Kim Barnouin

I know that four cookbooks doesn’t a library make but I also supplement with recipes I discover online at least as often as I reference one of these books for meal ideas. Additionally, the style of each of these titles (with the exception of the Skinny Bitch books, of course) is pretty different. Even the more traditional recipes in The Kind Diet have a strong “health” focus and tend to be fairly simple. Veganomicon is so huge as to encompass all kinds of foods and influences, but tends to concentrate on traditional, made-from-scratch recipes. The Skinny Bitch books (especially Bitch in the Kitch) often take more liberties with culinary shortcuts and the occasional use of prepared foods.

Veganomicon and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch were the first two books I bought when I went vegan. The Kind Diet came next, followed later by Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: I love all my cookbooks equally but if I had to choose a fave, I’d give it to Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook.

True to its title, this book is best suited to everyday use, meaning you don’t necessarily need to spend a ton of time preparing these recipes and they’re all fairly simple to follow. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some showstoppers here (because there definitely are) but I find it best for day to day use.

I’m certain I’ll add to my collection gradually, but for the time being, these four books (and the internet!) are all I need to keep my kitchen vegan. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a more in-depth review of each book, including a few of my favorite recipes from each.

So tell me, are there any books I’m missing that you couldn’t live without?

As you probably know by now, this week the USDA unveiled their newest dietary guidelines in the form of a simplified graphic. Meant as a replacement for the food pyramid, “My Plate” breaks down the daily recommendations into the basic idea that at every meal, the food on your plate should consist of items from each of the categories pictured in the illustrated amount. That means that the USDA thinks that about half your plate should be produce (with a greater emphasis on vegetables than fruit), a quarter should be protein and a quarter should be grains.

Without a doubt, I think this new icon is a vast improvement over the food pyramid. Indeed, it is much simpler to understand and gets it right with the emphasis on vegetables. I’m also psyched to see the “protein” section labeled as such. As we all know, meat isn’t the only good source of protein, or even the best, so it’s nice to see beans, nuts, seeds and other rich sources get some well-earned recognition.

However, there is something else about the “My Plate” graphic that I have less enthusiasm for.  As you can probably guess from my awesome Photoshop skills, I’m talkin’ bout the side order of dairy. The super-prominent inclusion of dairy as its own special sub-category on “My Plate” is an example of two things:

1. The fact that no one is better at their job than the dairy lobby
2. The first priority of the USDA is not your health

Seriously, I don’t even want to think about what dairy lobbyists must do to achieve the kind of career success they enjoy (and have enjoyed consistently over the past several decades), but I’d be willing to bet that if a movie was made about their tactics, it would be rated X.

Milk (and flavored milk, at that!) in schools and the whole “3-A-Day™” for weight loss nonsense aside, the “My Plate” thing is the most solid evidence to date of how powerful the dairy industry is and that the USDA can be bought. Registered Dietitian, Andy Bellatti, summarizes it best:

My first order of business — that proverbial dairy group on the side of My Plate; science lobbying at its finest.  Since the plate differentiates between fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains, it begs the question — why aren’t dairy products included with the “protein” group?  After all, a serving of dairy has as much protein as a serving of meat, chicken, fish, beans, nuts, and seeds.

The fact that dairy has calcium is irrelevant; some green vegetables offer just as much calcium as milk — and in a more absorbable form — yet they are contained within the vegetable group.  If the USDA were truly concerned with calcium intake (rather than returning the financial favor to the dairy industry), it would make a “calcium-rich food” group and include a wide variety of calcium-rich foods with equal prominence (milk, cheese, and yogurt along with kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and fortified dairy alternatives).

Word.