To read full article paste above address from Washington Post. begin quote below
Vegan Diets becoming more popular, more mainstream
SLIDESHOW
FILE- This Aug. 22, 2007 file photo shows Isa Chandra Moskowitz as she prepares her Vegan chocolate pie recipe at her apartment in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Moskowitz says it's easier being a vegan now because there is more local produce available and more interesting ways of cooking. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff, FILE) (Diane Bondareff - AP)
FILE- This file book cover released by Rodale Books shows "The Kind Diet" by actress Alicia Silverstone. Actress Alicia Silverstone added a dose of star power to the vegan cause recently with "The Kind Diet," a No. 1 best-seller. (AP Photo/Rodale Books) NO SALES (Anonymous - AP)
This book cover image courtesy of Running Press shows the cover of "Skinny Bitch," by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. The "Skinny Bitch" diet books provide vegan lifestyle tips in a blunt, girlfriend-on-the-phone style. (AP Photo/Running Press) NO SALES (AP)
This book cover image courtesy of Da Capo Press shows the cover of "Appetite for Reduction," by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Moskowitz says it's easier being a vegan now because there is more local produce available and more interesting ways of cooking. (AP Photo/Da Capo Press) NO SALES (AP)
By MICHAEL HILL
The Associated Press Wednesday, January 5, 2011; 2:47 PM
-- You've come a long way, vegan.
Once mocked as a fringe diet for sandal-wearing health food store workers, veganism is moving from marginal to mainstream in the United States.
The vegan "Skinny Bitch" diet books are best-sellers, vegan staples like tempeh and tofu can be purchased at just about any supermarket, and some chain restaurants eagerly promote their plant-only menu items. Today's vegans are urban hipsters, suburban moms, college students, even professional athletes.
"It's definitely more diverse. It's not what you would picture 20 years ago, which is kind of hippie, crunchy," said Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of vegan cookbooks like the new "Appetite for Reduction." She says it's easier being a vegan now because there is more local produce available and more interesting ways of cooking.
"It's not just steamed vegetables anymore and brown rice and lentils," she said.
Veganism is essentially hard-core vegetarianism. While a vegetarian might butter her bagel or eat a cake made with eggs, vegans shun all animal products: No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no honey, no mayonnaise. Ethical vegans have a moral aversion to harming animals for human consumption, be it for a flank steak or leather shoes, though the term often is used to describe people who follow the diet, not the larger philosophy.end quote from above online article. end quote.
Though I have known many successful Vegans (no animal products even milk and eggs or fish or bird) and many unsuccessful fruitarians as in eventually dead or ill especially in the 1960s and 1970s, when I tried it myself it didn't work for me. I had been raised a Lacto Ovo(milk and eggs) vegetarian from birth on. However, when I tried to eliminate milk and milk products from my diet I really noticed that I felt sort of mentally and emotionally unbalanced from the new diet at that time in the 1970s. So I went back to being a Lacto Ovo vegetarian which I had grown used to since birth.
When I started learning from Tibetan Lamas in the early 1980s in California, Oregon, India and Nepal I started to eat a little meat as they couldn't imagine at that time anyone being a vegetarian that lived above 8000 feet in altitude. So, now in my life I am still about 95% a lacto Ovo Vegetarian. And it is true being a vegan is more useful if you live in a more tropical or semitropical place like Hawaii, Florida or California where the temperatures stay mostly above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and if you live around sea level. Though I meet people who are vegans who live almost anywhere now because of forced air heating and air conditioning one can maintain body heat better even on this diet (at least in the more developed countries more easily now. However, if you are going to be out in the cold (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) or high altitude (above 2000 to 3000 feet) a lot being a Vegan might be counterproductive to keeping enough body heat during the cold in your body. However, being a vegan when it is warmer during the spring, summer and fall might still work.
However, being a vegan can eliminate unwanted fat quite easily from one's body as long as one watches how one feels during the transition and monitors psychological changes during the transition from one diet (meat) or (Lacto Ovo) to the new diet. Emotional, psychological changes coupled with physical changes one should monitor so one doesn't (go over the edge physically and psychologically into dangerous territory for that individual). Like anything in life when one makes extreme changes one has to gradually adjust to the changes to make sure it will work for them on all levels.
However, once a successful transition is acheived likely a longer healthier life can be obtained. The only danger I have found in friends once they achieved balance was some couldn't return to being meat eaters or (lacto ovo vegetarians) after they were vegans because their bodies couldn't handle the other diets anymore. And sometimes, also people get unhealthily thin as well. It seems to depend upon each persons genetics and metabolism and therefore one must be vigilant in watching the changes as one adapts to the new diet to achieve a desirable outcome long term.
The vegan "Skinny Bitch" diet books are best-sellers, vegan staples like tempeh and tofu can be purchased at just about any supermarket, and some chain restaurants eagerly promote their plant-only menu items. Today's vegans are urban hipsters, suburban moms, college students, even professional athletes.
"It's definitely more diverse. It's not what you would picture 20 years ago, which is kind of hippie, crunchy," said Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of vegan cookbooks like the new "Appetite for Reduction." She says it's easier being a vegan now because there is more local produce available and more interesting ways of cooking.
"It's not just steamed vegetables anymore and brown rice and lentils," she said.
Veganism is essentially hard-core vegetarianism. While a vegetarian might butter her bagel or eat a cake made with eggs, vegans shun all animal products: No meat, no cheese, no eggs, no honey, no mayonnaise. Ethical vegans have a moral aversion to harming animals for human consumption, be it for a flank steak or leather shoes, though the term often is used to describe people who follow the diet, not the larger philosophy.end quote from above online article. end quote.
Though I have known many successful Vegans (no animal products even milk and eggs or fish or bird) and many unsuccessful fruitarians as in eventually dead or ill especially in the 1960s and 1970s, when I tried it myself it didn't work for me. I had been raised a Lacto Ovo(milk and eggs) vegetarian from birth on. However, when I tried to eliminate milk and milk products from my diet I really noticed that I felt sort of mentally and emotionally unbalanced from the new diet at that time in the 1970s. So I went back to being a Lacto Ovo vegetarian which I had grown used to since birth.
When I started learning from Tibetan Lamas in the early 1980s in California, Oregon, India and Nepal I started to eat a little meat as they couldn't imagine at that time anyone being a vegetarian that lived above 8000 feet in altitude. So, now in my life I am still about 95% a lacto Ovo Vegetarian. And it is true being a vegan is more useful if you live in a more tropical or semitropical place like Hawaii, Florida or California where the temperatures stay mostly above 40 degrees Fahrenheit and if you live around sea level. Though I meet people who are vegans who live almost anywhere now because of forced air heating and air conditioning one can maintain body heat better even on this diet (at least in the more developed countries more easily now. However, if you are going to be out in the cold (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit) or high altitude (above 2000 to 3000 feet) a lot being a Vegan might be counterproductive to keeping enough body heat during the cold in your body. However, being a vegan when it is warmer during the spring, summer and fall might still work.
However, being a vegan can eliminate unwanted fat quite easily from one's body as long as one watches how one feels during the transition and monitors psychological changes during the transition from one diet (meat) or (Lacto Ovo) to the new diet. Emotional, psychological changes coupled with physical changes one should monitor so one doesn't (go over the edge physically and psychologically into dangerous territory for that individual). Like anything in life when one makes extreme changes one has to gradually adjust to the changes to make sure it will work for them on all levels.
However, once a successful transition is acheived likely a longer healthier life can be obtained. The only danger I have found in friends once they achieved balance was some couldn't return to being meat eaters or (lacto ovo vegetarians) after they were vegans because their bodies couldn't handle the other diets anymore. And sometimes, also people get unhealthily thin as well. It seems to depend upon each persons genetics and metabolism and therefore one must be vigilant in watching the changes as one adapts to the new diet to achieve a desirable outcome long term.
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