Del Sroufe - Better Than Vegan: 101 Favorite Low-Fat, Plant-Based Recipes That Helped Me Lose Over 200 Pounds

Better Than Vegan is the Holy Grail of human diets. Read, learn, and thrive.

Howard Lyman, author,
Mad Cowboy and No More Bull!

Chef Del has battled his own dietary demons and emerged triumphant. His deliciously healthy recipes are victories for all of us who care about eating well.

Rory Freedman, coauthor, Skinny Bitch

Chef Del has just expanded your repertoire of healthy hearty delicious dishes. His creative instructions on cooking without animals or oils will move you quickly along to a better life.

Dr. John McDougall, MD, and Mary McDougall,
creators of the McDougall Program, and
bestselling authors of The Starch Solution

The key to achieving optimum health is getting the right food onto your plate. Better Than Vegan could help you do that!

Alona Pulde, MD, and Matthew Lederman, MD

After Chef Del offers his very relatable, fascinating story of struggle with his weight, he valiantly swoops in with the ultimate solutiona low fat, whole food, plant-based diet. I highly recommend this book as you will fall in love both with the magnificent and healthy recipes as well as their charming creator.

Julieanna Hever, MS, RD, CPT, author of
The Complete Idiots Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition
and host of What Would Julieanna Do?

As Chef Del Sroufe points out, health doesnt come from a vegan diet, it comes from a whole food, plant-based diet. The recipes are simple enough, and yet a collection of delicious yet truly healthful options. This is a vegan cookbook that I can wholeheartedly endorse for my patients.

Dr. Heather Shenkman, cardiologist

Copyright 2013 by Del Sroufe and Glen Merzer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Nothing written in this book should be viewed as a substitute for competent medical care. Also, you should not undertake any changes in diet or exercise patterns without first consulting with your physician, especially if you are currently being treated for any risk factor related to heart disease, high blood pressure, or adult-onset diabetes.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

eISBN: 978-1-939529-43-5

Editing by Vy Tran

Copyediting by Shannon Kelly and Nicole Schlosser

Proofreading by Jennifer Greenstein and Lisa Story

Indexing by Marilyn Flaig

Recipe and author photographs by Robert Metzger

Process and ingredient photographs by Adam Koch

Cover design by Ty Nowicki

Text design and composition by Ralph Fowler / rlfdesign

Printed by Versa Press, Inc.

Distributed by Perseus Distribution

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To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

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Significant discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact Glenn Yeffeth at or (214) 750-3628.

I met Del at a vegan chili-off in Texas. We were both celebrity judges and bonded over the fact that neither of us actually liked chili. Oops. (Side note: You know the winner truly won because Del and I had three helpings each of the winning chili!)

Before meeting Del in person, however, Id long heard about his work at the Wellness Forum. Although there is no shortage of chefs in the culinary world, there arent many who cook like I do: using plant-based, whole foods and no oil. But Del does!

Del understands that you dont need fat and frying for flavor and that wholesome, healthy food can be delicious. His recipes also show how sophisticated plant-based cooking can be. Gourmet doesnt have to be synonymous with unhealthy. Eating well can be both elegant and part of your everyday meals, not just special occasions.

Perhaps Del understands this better than anyone. Unlike me, Dels culinary career didnt start when he adopted a healthier diet. Rather, his career has been shaped by it. Del began cooking in a vegetarian kitchen, but the food was your average restaurant fare, full of oil. Then he opened a vegan bakery with vegan treats that rivaled their non-vegan counterparts in taste, but were not necessarily healthier.

Eventually, Del found himself in a bit of a health-care crisis and he changed his lifestyleincluding the way he cooked and baked. Out went the oils and in came even more fresh foodsvegetables, grains, legumes, fruits, and limited nuts and seeds. Del found new ways to ramp up flavor and satisfaction but with health in mind. As a result, Del and his customers were happier and healthierand with his help, you can be, too!

Dels personal story, which is also shared in this book, is awe-inspiring. All of us can find a bit of ourselves in Dels story and his continued journey to health.

Lindsay S. Nixon

I may be the luckiest guy I ever met.

A decade ago, I ate myself to 475 poundson a vegan diet. Thats one heck of a lot of vegan pizzas, French fries, guacamole, fried vegetables, fried tofu, salads loaded with oily dressings, Thai coconut-curry stews, peanut butter, bread, muffins, pastries, donuts, pretzels, potato chips, cookies, oil-popped popcorn topped with melted margarine, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate bars, soy ice cream, coconut macaroons, and all kinds of cake, washed down with beer, wine, soda, and fruit juice.

While all of these foods can conform to a vegan diet, theyre highly caloric. Eating them regularly can make almost anyone fat, even if it takes the rare individual like me, with the right combination of genes, compulsiveness, and appetite, to eat enough to reach 475 pounds.

The reason I consider myself so lucky is that I managed to attain such a massive weight without developing any form of heart disease or any chronic illnesses. I survived my decades-long descent into the abyss of morbid obesity and came out on the other side. I now weigh 230 pounds, still a little above my ideal weight but getting close to the proper weight for my six-foot-three frame.

The weight that I gained on a vegan diet I also lost on a vegan dietneedless to say, a much better vegan diet. There are plenty of good reasons to adopt the vegan lifestyle, ranging from spiritual beliefs to concerns about personal health and the well-being of the planet, but Im living proof that, at least as far as health goes, simply avoiding animal products isnt good enough if youre eating the wrong foods. Its not enough just to be vegan. Youve got to be better than that. You wont improve your health unless your diet is low in fat and high in whole, nutritious foods.