Virginia Messina - Vegan for Her: The Womans Guide to Being Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet

PRAISE FOR VEGAN FOR HER

Vegan for Her provides sensible guidance for women of all ages. Whether your focus is sports nutrition, eating to prevent cancer or heart disease, or simply understanding how a plant-based diet can meet your unique needs, this book is for you.

REED MANGELS, PhD, RD, author of The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book and coauthor of Simply Vegan

This is an exceptional book for vegan and not-yet-vegan women everywhere. Ginny Messina has outdone herself when she created this ultimate go-to guide for women during all aspects of their lives and has made being healthy cool and easy.

ANNIE SHANNON, coauthor of Betty Goes Vegan

Vegan for Her is an excellent and articulate resource for every woman who wants to eat with compassion while protecting and enhancing her health.

CAROL J. ADAMS, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat and Living Among Meat Eaters

A fantastic science-based resource by one of the giants in plant-based nutrition.

MICHAEL GREGER, MD, founder of NutritionFacts.org

PRAISE FOR VEGAN FOR LIFE

Jack Norris and Ginny Messina have produced a highly readable, information-packed book about vegan nutrition.... I highly recommend Vegan for Lifefor new vegans, established vegans, people curious about vegan diets.... Its essential reading!

Vegetarian Journal

Packed with science yet never boring, Norris and Messinaboth long-time vegans themselvesput their wealth of knowledge at your fingertips while putting to rest any nutritional issues that concern those aspiring to a plant based-diet.... No vegan myth goes unbusted. Overflowing with charts, meal and menu plans, interesting factoids, and separate chapters devoted to specific issues (pregnancy, children, athletes, etc.), Vegan for Life is a complete reference guide that deserves a spot in your library or kitchen.

VegNews

Armed with this compendium and a vegan cookbook, novices will make an easy, healthy transition to meat, egg, and dairy-free meals, while practicing vegans can use it as a guide to the best food choices.

Publishers Weekly

Vegan for Life is one of those books that youll pull off the shelf for inspiration and consultation time after time.

Curled Up with a Good Book

Simply amazing... displaces Becoming Vegan as the definitive vegan nutrition book.

Reno Gazette-Journal

The most authoritative vegan nutrition book on the planet.

Vegan.com

If youre an animal lover, this book may be helpful in helping you find a more compassionate way to eat.

Portland Book Review

An interesting, easy-to-read, and extremely informative resource... Vegan for Life is a fantastic educational guide and resource for new or seasoned vegans alike. In addition, its a great resource for dieticians who wish to promote aspects of a plant-based diet to clients, whether vegans or omnivores.

Todays Dietitian

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Da Capo Press was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters.

Copyright 2013 by Virginia Messina and JL Fields

Plant Plate copyright 2013 by Virginia Messina and Ari Evergreen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information, address Da Capo Press, 44 Farnsworth Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02210.

Designed by Linda Mark

Set in 10.5 point Guardi LT Std by the Perseus Books Group

Cataloging-in-Publication data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

First Da Capo Press edition 2013

ISBN 978-0-7382-1672-0 (e-book)

Published by Da Capo Press

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

www.dacapopress.com

Note: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own physician. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your doctor. We strongly recommend you follow his or her advice. Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the authors or Da Capo Press. The authors and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. The names and identifying details of people associated with events described in this book have been changed. Any similarity to actual persons is coincidental.

Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

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To a goat in Africa, to a calf on his way to the slaughterhousefor starting us on this journey toward a life of compassion.

T rading in animal foods for plant-based meals is one of the most powerful decisions you can make. For starters, a menu built around plant foods is very likely to put you on the road toward better health. Plant-based diets can lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. This way of eating has a lot of history behind it, too. The healthiest diet patterns in the worldlike traditional Mediterranean and Japanese dietsare plant-based, including only small amounts of meat, fish, and poultry. Those who opt for vegetarian diets, which include no meat, poultry, or fish, may reap even greater benefits.

But being vegan is a little bit different. It takes choices beyond health and, in fact, beyond food. When you go vegan, you embrace a way of eating and living that brings big-picture kinds of benefits. Its a chance to take care of yourself and, in the process, give a little bit of care to the rest of the world. There is truly no other lifestyle choice that delivers as many benefits or makes the same kind of impact.

The word vegan was coined nearly seventy years ago in England by Donald Watson, who said it was a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose. Although he wasnt the first to address the choice to forgo animal products, he was the first to give it a name. The Vegan Society, which he founded with a small group of like-minded individuals in 1944, is still active in England, and people all over the world are choosing a vegan lifestyle for their health, for the environment, and for the animals.

I wrote this book for vegan women because womens nutrient requirements and health concerns are unique.

Vegan for Her provides specific guidance about food choices that work against a range of health concerns and that address the distinctive nutrition needs of women. Its all from a vegan perspective, of course, highlighting areas where a vegan diet gives you a definite edge, and directing you to vegan-specific solutions to nutrition problems. Ill talk about how to eat to lower your risk for breast cancer, diabetes, and heart disease; manage hunger and eat intuitively; protect your skin and brain as you get older; boost your mood; and deal with PMS, cramps, infertility, and painful conditions like arthritis and migraine headaches. Some of these conditions are obviously unique to women; others are more common among women or they affect women in unique ways.