Amy Cramer - The Vegan Cheat Sheet: Your Take-Everywhere Guide to Plant-based Eating

AMY CRAMER
and LISA McCOMSEY A PERIGEE BOOK A PERIGEE BOOKPublished by the Penguin GroupPenguin Group (USA) Inc.375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia
New Zealand | India | South Africa | China Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com. THE VEGAN CHEAT SHEET Copyright 2013 by Amy Cramer and Lisa McComsey All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned,
or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials
in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions. PERIGEE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. The P design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-101-61280-4 An application to catalog this book has been submitted
to the Library of Congress. First edition: July 2013 Text design by Tiffany Estreicher PUBLISHERS NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book. While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Most Perigee books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write: Special.Markets@us.penguingroup.com. To my parents, Stanley and Barbara Amelkin,
who gave me a love for cooking, family, and life. A MY C RAMER To my parents, Ed and Alicia McComsey,
who instilled in me a passion for health, fitness, good food, and great adventures. L ISA McC OMSEY

T he United States is spiraling downward into debtors prison faster than any of us can imaginebut nobody seems able to do anything. There is general agreement that the biggest drags on our economy are the entitlements: Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. The greatest burden by far is Medicare, and projections indicate that these rising costs will soon be financially unsustainable.

Almost half of Medicare expenses derive from a benign food-borne illnessheart disease. In 1998, Chicago economists Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel estimated that halting heart-disease deaths would save the nation $48 trillion. For several years, I have been telling audiences that our country is potentially at the cusp of what could become a seismic revolution in health. This revolution will not come about by inventing another pill or building another cardiac cathedral; nor will it arise from a new procedure or operation.

Rather, the revolution will come about when we in the medical profession share with the public the lifestyle transition and nutritional literacy that will enable them to avoid developing 75 to 80 percent of the common chronic killing diseases. Take, for example, coronary artery heart disease, which has been the leading killer of both women and men in the United States for more than fifty years. We know from an epidemiological basis that this disease is virtually nonexistent in cultures whose nutritionthrough heritage and traditionis plant based. Studies of wartime deprivation of animal foods reveal a decline in deaths from heart disease and stroke. In addition, research shows that providing coronary-disease patients with strictly plant-based foods results in the halting, prevention, and even reversal of cardiovascular disease. Positive side effects of a plant-based regime include resolving obesity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, dementia, and erectile dysfunction.

The challenge is how to educate and persuade the publicwhich is so steeped in traditional Western diseaseproducing nutritionto make the transition to plant based. Enter Amy Cramer and Lisa McComsey with The Vegan Cheat Sheet. These women have artfully and painstakingly crafted a masterpiece, which defines and simplifies the treasured recipes and tastes of plant-based foods. Whether it is the newly initiated or the experienced plant-based devotee, all will find the cuisine creation in this book an epic must-read. Cramer and McComsey deal with the delicate challenge of eating at friends houses as well as the daunting task of finding acceptable restaurant nutrition. They have scoured the menus of a multitude of national food chains to identify acceptable choices.

Most important, their unique capability of blending produces a host of original, delicious recipes and menus. The authors have accomplished what many doubters of plant food felt impossible: why not exchange that delicious meal of animal food that sequentially injures you with every mouthful for a delicious plant-based meal that enhances your health with every mouthful? Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., MD, author of
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Grab Your Fork and Prepare to
Eat Your Heart Out, Vegan-Style J ust to set the record straight: Were not masochists. Willpower is not our forte. We hate diets. So noware you ready for your vegan adventure? For the uninitiated, that means ditching the animal products: no beef, no chicken, no fish, no eggs, no milk, no mayo, no baked Brie, and (saddest of all), no ice cream.

Sounds like a fringe diet for weirdos and deprivation junkies, right? Wrong. The vegan diet is more than lettuce wraps and tofu. As this guide reveals, veganism is not even a dietits a way of life that is super easy, fun, and gratifying. Go ahead: eat your lasagna, your blueberry pancakes, and your Caesar salad. Indulge in family pizza night at Dominos (check our restaurant-ordering secrets for this and other popular chains on three-step recipes. And, by the way, get your daily dose of nutrients (all that talk about protein-deficient vegans is a bunch of baloney).

Whats really cool? You can go vegan in just twenty-one daysbecause we make the vegan transformation a snap. Weboth former omnivoreshad to muddle through dozens of books, websites, and magazines to learn the ropes; so now, weve done all the legwork for you. Here are your menus, your shopping lists, your restaurant guides, your nutrition guide, your travel tips, and more. Everything is packed into one go-everywhere, user-friendly manual that fits in your purse, a pocket, or the glove compartment for quick reference in the restaurant, grocery store, or on the road. Theres no preaching and no tedious data to digest. What resonates is our passion for veganism and our desire to make it accessible to everyone.