Whatcha Reading? The case for going vegan

The idea of going vegan is very intriguing to me. I don’t think I would ever do it, but recently I read a couple books that made a very compelling case:



Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself by Alejandro Junger


The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet by Alicia Silverstone

The Kind Diet begins with a very strong case for going vegan both from the environmental/animal rights and health standpoints. The tone is persuasive. Preach Alicia Preach! The book succeeded in getting me to think about the food choices I make. The cookbook aspect of the book I found more challenging. This is not a lean into veganism cookbook. The ingredients are very specific to vegan cooking and may be difficult to locate in a local supermarket. The recipes also take quite a bit of prep. It would be a great cookbook for someone who had been vegan for years and was looking to take their meal preparations up a notch.



Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself
I picked up this book at the library after reading that it is the new fad cleanse program a la the Master Cleanse and the Martha Vineyard diet. This book actually made a lot of sense. The early chapters focus on the “science” of why the body needs to detoxify. I put “science” in quotations because I don’t have the inclination to figure out if what the authors claim is true. True or not – some of the claims make sense. For instance, the author explains how our cells aren’t meant to deal with all these toxins from our food - toxins like pesticides, steroids, chemically created foods. The process that cells go through to rid the body of these toxins creates byproducts like mucus and that creates inflammation. There have been links between people with increased inflammation and cancer. Logically that makes sense to me. The rest of the book discusses prepping for a cleanse and the actual clean diet regime. Of all the books I have read on detoxification – this was by far the best and seemed the safest. I am even considering purchasing it as a reference guide to which foods are more suited to decreasing inflammation. If the cleanse movement is something that has caught your attention, I would definitely pick up this book to educate yourself on one method of doing. Obviously, don’t make any major changes to your diet or exercise regime without consulting your physician. (Apparently, webmd.com does not count as a physician – so keep that in mind.)