Marni Wasserman - Plant-Based Diet For Dummies

Simply said, Marni Wassermans life is rooted in healthy eating. As a culinary nutritionist, health strategist, and owner of Torontos first plant-based food studio, Marni uses passion and experience to educate individuals on how to adopt a realistic plant-based diet that is both simple and delicious. She is dedicated to providing individuals with balanced, nutritious choices through organic, fresh, whole, and natural plant-based foods and other natural lifestyle modalities.

Marni is a graduate of the Institute of Holistic Nutrition in Toronto (where she is now on the faculty) and the Natural Gourmet Culinary School in New York, and she is the founder of Marni Wassermans Food Studio & Lifestyle Shop in Midtown Toronto. This is where she teaches her signature cooking classes and offers collaborative workshops and urban retreats. Her food studio is also a place where people can purchase sustainable superfoods and lifestyle products. It was recognized as one of Torontos top ten cooking schools in 2008.

As a prominent expert on health and nutrition, Marni writes a column called Nourish in Tonic Toronto magazine. She is also a contributor to the Huffington Post and Chatelaine Magazine and has made several TV appearances. Shes consulted with one of Torontos prominent hotels the Windsor Arms Hotel for vegan and vegetarian menus and participates in several speaking and cooking demonstrations throughout the year.

Marni is also the co-author of Fermenting For Dummies and several well-received e-books.

You can learn more about Marni by visiting her on Facebook ( marnisfoodstudio ), following her on Twitter ( @marniwasserman ), checking out her Pinterest page ( www.pinterest.com/fullynourished ), or visiting her website ( www.marniwasserman.com ).

This book is dedicated to anyone who wants to adopt a healthier way of eating and living. This book is also for all those people who are looking to support and inspire themselves, friends, or family members to take on a plant-based diet.

I would like to express thanks to the team at Wiley for asking me to be the author of Plant-Based Diet For Dummies. The core team with which Ive been working closely to make this book come to life includes Sarah Sypniewski, Dummifier; Vicki Adang, senior project editor; and Tracy Boggier, senior acquisitions editor. You have helped keep me going at every step along the way. In addition, I would like to acknowledge Ashley Petry, copy editor; Emily Nolan, recipe tester; and Tracey Eakin, technical editor, for making sure everything I wrote makes sense and looks and tastes good!

Publishers Acknowledgments

Contributor: Sarah Sypniewski

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Tracy Boggier

Senior Project Editor: Victoria M. Adang

Copy Editor: Ashley Petry

Technical Editor: Tracey A. Eakin ( www.traceyeakin.com )

Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

Project Coordinator: Lauren Buroker

Illustrator: Elizabeth Kurtzman

Cover Image: iStockphoto.com/Albuquerque

Chapter 1

In This Chapter

Getting familiar with the core of a plant-based diet

Understanding that this is more than a diet; its a lifestyle

Using simple ideas to start your plant-based diet today

The goal of a plant-based diet is to eat more plants. Sounds simple enough or maybe it doesnt. Eating nothing but plant-based foods is intimidating for a lot of people. Most of us are comfortable with our current way of eating and are unsure about what to do with plants: Which ones should you eat and when? Can you get full on plants alone? All kinds of questions and concerns come up, and I address some of the common questions in this chapter.

In this chapter, I also give you an overview of life on a plant-based diet. I outline what you will and wont eat. I explain how eating this way can benefit so many aspects of your life mainly your health. At the end of the day, its all about feeling better, looking better, and just being better, and this way of eating can do just that.

Eating a plant-based diet simply means eating more plants. No matter where you are, or what you eat right now, you can eat more plants (everyone can). Of course, my goal and the goal of this book is to get you to eat predominantly (and, ideally, exclusively) plant-based all the time, but youll likely have a transitional phase, and it starts with eating more of the stuff that the Earth has so deliciously and naturally provided us.