Vegetarianism Books

Medical studies and the personal experiences of hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated that plant-based diets can prevent or improve the conditions of high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. Moreover, plant-based diets avoid such meat-borne diseases as E. coli infections and outbreaks that seem to be constantly in the news today. Additionally, turning to plant-based diets has a positive effect on such environmental issues as global warming, rainforest depletion, animal abuse, and world-wide hunger. "The Vegetarian Solution" by Stewart Rose (vice president of the non-profit Vegetarians of Washington, the largest regional vegetarian organization in the United States) provides up-to-date information documenting the nutritional benefits of a plant-based diet for children, athletes, and senior citizens; preventing and improving a wide variety of medical illnesses; how plant-based diets require fewer natural resources than meat-based diets; and a wealth of advice and suggestions on making a transition to a plant-based diet. An informed and informative, inspired and inspiring read for anyone contemplating changing over to a plant-based diet which entails giving up meat and meat products in their meals, "The Vegetarian Solution" is highly recommended and thoroughly 'user friendly' read.

A very browsable brook, well-written, with interesting and easily understandable graphics that support key points. I'm not a vegetarian, but this book sure is valuable in encouraging me to incorporate even more whole, fresh produce into my diet. In every chapter, I learned something new about physiology and nutrition and the benefits of a plant-based diet. This book is good for anyone interested in improving their health and the health of our society and environment as a whole.

I have been a lifelong vegetarian, and this is by far the best collection of the relevant information I have seen. It is comprehensive in its scope, including practical tips on moving toward a plant-based diet as well as facts about how food choices impact health, world hunger, animals, and the environment. It is attractive and well-organized, easy to read. All information presented has been backed up by scientific research. No sensational claims are made (I appreciate that). One fun feature includes a list of famous people, past and present who are vegetarian, and in general I would say it has a light-hearted feel.

One of the easiest, quickest to read, very informative books on vegetarian facts. I love this book and have given dozens away during the years, to interested people searching for information about not eating animals, (meat). A very enriching reading experience.

This book is a jewel! It is a simple and interesting read. As the name indicates, it is loaded with facts about why eating meat is bad and it explains why simply and logically. I recommend this book to all of my friends who express interest in learning about vegetarianism and why I am such a firm believer in this way of life. I wish more people would read this book to learn about the health and humanitarian reasons to not eat meat.

This is a book I have given to friends for years when they ask why I am a vegetarian. It explains why vegetarianism is the healthy (and natural way) for humans to eat. A must read for anyone interested in, curious about or skeptical of vegetarianism.

I ordered this book because I am very interested in how the body heals itself.

Through reading the book, I learned more about how to get out of way of the body and let it heal itself than I did about how the body actually heals itself. But if it's better health you are seeking, this is much more important than theories anyway.

As the first reviewer mentioned the book is packed full of information. Art Baker knows what he is writing about; you can see it has been an integral part of his life for a long time.

The section on the history of the Natural Hygiene movement is excellent, and is alone worth the price of the book.

If you are thinking about alternatives to Western medicine, frustrated with the standard approaches to health or wondering what you can do to promote your own well-being, this book is for you.

If you are want the answers to the mysteries of health and healing, then read this book. This book is jammed pack with interesting, valuable, and important information on health, healing, and disease everyone should know, but few do. Even I, who have studied natural healing for 30 years, learned a ton in this book and enjoyed every word of it. This book summarizes the history of health care evolution in this country, informs us on the dangers of the treating disease, and provides a healthy alternative based on the Science of Natural Hygiene, which Baker summarizes better than I've ever seen done before. We need more authors who dare to speak the truth like Baker does. This book is a classic in its own time and deserves be on every family's book shelf. Get it while you can.

I LOVE this book. I purchased "Become a Vegetarian in Five Easy Step" and I was meat-free b4 I complete Step two. Christine Beard's book is VERY informative. If u or anyone u know will like to pursue a meat-free diet, buy this book. When I saw the book's title, I thought to myself that I will not be a Vegetarian when I completed the book, and I suprised myself. Once again, I LOVE this book for saving my life b/c I changed my diet.

This book showed me how to assess my diet and has given me a lot of ideas for my new vegetarian diet. The writing is really clear and easy to understand, and the steps are easy to follow. I like the non-judgemental approach because it takes real human behavior into account and encourages me to keep going when I slip up.

A Boy, A Chicken and The Lion of Judah
How Ari Became A Vegetarian

By Roberta Kalechofsky
Micah Publications (micahbooks@earthlink.net)
Young People's Fiction with illustrations, ages 7-14
Softcover 50 pages

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

"The problem had begun for him when he was about four and he had asked Ima where the chicken on his plate came from."

Ima, the young boy's mother, said that it came from the chickens living in the barn. Her reply marks the beginning of a deep personal resistance movement for nine-year-old Ari, who lives in the Negev Highlands, in Israel, with his parents.

Ari's parents are active conservationists who farm organically and work to protect the environment and wildlife, while showing no concern for the animals they eat. Ari wonders why they attend protest demonstrations to save the earth, yet never protest the cruel chicken house or the treatment of geese to make pate de foie gras. "His parents, he noticed, thought about many things, but not about these things."

For Ari it is dreadful to eat something that was once a living, "frightened creature." His morality is rooted in his perception of the difference between "the birds who were free and the birds who were not free."

"He noticed that the birds who were free were always beautiful, their feathers were soft and silky and brilliant with color, their wings opened like fans as they mounted the air with confidence and song. He loved to watch the birds in the air. Their migration patterns were like paintings in the sky, moving pictures against the blue air as the birds jockied for their different places and lined up behind their leader, predetermined by the forces of sun and wind and light to make this journey. The journey was part of their being. A cage was a terrible thing."

Unlike these birds, the chickens kept for meat and eggs smell bad, cannot move in their cages, make "low moaning sounds," and stare with "gloomy eyes." And then there is Ari's beloved hen, Tk Tk, named for her quiet clucking. Tk Tk is clean, soft, independent, and loving. She often sits on the porch step with Ari making sweet sounds that come "from deep inside her breast, deep under her feathers, deep inside a well of animal happiness."

Ari asks his mother, were there different kinds of chickens?
"Ima said there were. `A chicken that you eat and a chicken that's a pet are two
different kinds of animals.'
"`Does the cage make them different?' Ari asked.
"The question disturbed Ima. `Not exactly,' she said."

Ari ponders the difference in his parents' attitude towards Tk Tk, the chickens in the cages, and the millions of migratory birds - storks, pelicans, eagles, kestrels - whose ancient route across the Negev is threatened by the government's plan to build a radio station in the Arad Valley. These are the "birds in the air that people admired and wanted to protect." Ari wonders "why his parents felt so strongly about the birds of the air, and did not seem to care at all about the chickens in the cages."

Their answers are evasive, and Ari suffers a "secret misery" that keeps him from being happy, His pain becomes a family matter when he starts washing his meat with water at the table before eating. He scarcely understands his compulsion, but persists in doing it, even when his visiting Grandma Ellie from New York taunts him about his "disgusting habit" and does everything she can to make him feel even worse than he already does about hurting his parents and becoming a weakling if he does not eat meat.

Although Ari's parents have always encouraged their son's quest for moral independence, they never dreamed where their teachings might lead. Ari finds unexpected support from them, however, and even from his "henpecked" grandfather; but the most astonishing revelation is that his teacher, Ms. Greenblatt, is a vegetarian and that her brother Yossi, the famous soccer player, is a vegetarian, too. Ms. Greenblatt washes away Ari's fears so that he no longer has to wash the blood out of his food or be defensive when baited by his classmate, Yonatan, who thinks that being big and being strong are the same.

When Ari tells Ms. Greenblatt that he informed his mother he did not want to eat meat, she praises him. "Good. So now you own your own stomach." This idea becomes Ari's "personal truth."

Kalechofsky dedicated A Boy, A Chicken and the Lion of Judah to her son, Hal," "whose parents did not understand," and "to other parents who might also miss the clues." Ari's practice of washing his meat is based on Hal's childhood habit. Only years later did Kalechofsky learn that her son always hated meat. Now a vegetarian herself, she sees washing the meat as a purification ritual designed to wash away every sign of blood from the flesh so as not to feel there was ever any life in it.

A Boy, A Chicken and The Lion of Judah is an intelligent, adventurous, and beautifully written book. Although it is specially intended for young people seven to fourteen years old, it really is a book for all ages.

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org)

 
The vegetarian cause is buttressed by many powerful facts and statistics relating the production and consumption of animal products to human diseases, the mistreatment of animals, the destruction of ecosystems, the waste of resources, and spreading hunger. While arguments based on this data are valuable and have undoubtedly contributed to convincing some people to becoming vegetarians, progress has been slow, and the vast majority of people still eat animal-centered diets. Wee also need other approaches, such as books that show the personal aspects of vegetarianism, that appeal to our emotions as well as to our intellect, and that help to overcome the rationalizations that people use to justify their dietary habits.
Roberta Kalechofsky's A Boy, A Chicken, and The Lion of Judah - How Ari Became a Vegetarian is such a book. It provides a powerful vegetarian message while probing the human condition. Although I have read many books on vegetarianism, this is the only one that brought tears to my eyes. This occurred as often during my second reading as during my first reading.
Ari, a nine year old boy who lives in the Negev Highlands in Israel with his parents, has a "secret misery", and initially there is no one to answer his questions or to understand his wretchedness. Because of the strong bond that he has developed with his pet hen, Tk Tk, Ari has decided that he wants to become a vegetarian, but he hesitates to tell his parents to avoid hurting their feelings. He wonders how his parents can be so actively involved in protest demonstrations to protect the environment, and yet be so oblivious to the daily cruelty in the nearby chicken coop and the treatment of geese when their livers are fattened to make pate de fois gras. He doesn't understand how they can be so concerned about saving "the birds in the air" while serving the chickens that were raised in cages for dinner. He doesn't comprehend his "purification ritual" of washing meat in a saucer before eating it, an activity that his grandmother, who is convinced that Ari needs to eat meat in order to be "strong and healthy", considers a "disgusting habit". Ari suffers because he doesn't have what psychoanalyst Erich Fromm called a "socially patterned defect" that would have enabled him to be like almost everyone else, blind to the moral inconsistencies related to their diets.
How Ari discovers others who are vegetarians, overcomes his aloneness and alienation, comes to "own his own stomach", gains his parents' understanding, and much more, is told with sensitivity and compassion in this wonderful book. Readers will be left with much to ponder with regard to their eating habits and their relationships with other people and non-human animals. While the book is aimed at children 7 to 10 years of age, based on my experience and the responses of other adults that I have shared it with, How Ari Became a Vegetarian provides adventurous, thought-provoking reading for people of all ages.

 

Unlike other books I've looked at that were primarily vegetarian cookbooks, Being Vegetarian is meant to teach you how to go vegetarian, why vegetarianism is a good and healthy option, and how to survive and thrive as a vegetarian. It does a truly amazing job of this, covering a wide array of fascinating and helpful information.

While the author is a lacto vegetarian (a vegetarian who eats dairy products), she details the wide array of potential vegetarian diets, from the least strict to the most. Her recipes suit a lacto vegetarian diet, although she includes suggestions for adapting them to vegans.

Dr. Wolfe includes a huge amount of nutrition information, both in support of the idea that a vegetarian diet is a perfectly healthy one, and to make sure that you continue to get all of your nutrition as a vegetarian.

Since vegetarians often take up their diet due to health concerns, environmental concerns, or reasons of conscience and animal cruelty, Dr. Wolfe includes information about organic foods, nutrition for all stages of life, cruelty-free products, and so on. I think this holistic approach to the book is going to be particularly useful for many readers.

There are many issues related to going vegetarian that I'd never even thought of that Dr. Wolfe addresses. She provides suggested ways to gradually phase your diet over to a vegetarian one. She details ways to handle holiday meals with the family; road trips; airline travel; restaurant eating; neighborhood barbecues; pregnancy; vegetarian teens; and more. She discusses the idea of using the various available vegetarian substitutes for diary, meat, and eggs, vs. finding other ways to fill out your diet.

In addition, the book includes 92 vegetarian dishes, ranging from breakfasts to dinners, and including a handful of dishes from various cuisines around the world. The recipes are laid out clearly, occasionally include black-and-white photos, and often come with helpful tips. The ones we tried came out wonderfully and were quite delicious; my favorites were a meusli recipe and a chard kopita recipe.

Now it a newly revised, updated and expanded third edition, "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Being Vegetarian" continues to be a premier instructional guide for aspiring vegetarians enhanced with the inclusion of almost one hundred, 'kitchen cook friendly' non-meat recipes for dishes that would grace any dining occasion, please any palate, and satisfy any appetite. Of special note is the inclusion of nutritional advice focused on keeping meat-eating habits in proper balance; tips for helping non-vegetarian family members and friends to understand the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle; finding vegetarian options at grocery stores, restaurants, and when eating while traveling. The recipes range from such staples as Vegan Gravy, to popular dishes like Veggie Bean Chili, to ethnic fare such as Tofu Tamale Bake, to such party fare as an Eggless Potato Salad. Each individual recipe includes along with a list of ingredients and cooking instructions, an 'info block' noting the number of serving portions, servicing size, and prep time. Especially recommended for practicing and aspiring vegetarians, "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Being Vegetarian" is an ideal addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Very thorough guide. Need to have a good grasp of nutrition concepts before tempting to read. Very helpful with up to date information any dietitian can appreciate.

Messina is a well-known name to vegetarians through her cookbooks, and to the science of nutrition through her scholarly articles. This book, though erudite and intended for dietitians, is valuable to everyone interested in vegetarian nutrition. I would recommend it to physicians, owners of diet salons, nurses, as well as every vegan who wants to understand the value of full nutrition. Great job!

Here is a book that will help you become a vegetarian and support you in doing so. Mr. Boyd lives the life truly and thoroughly and tells us why in a heartfelt manner. This isn't just about not eating animals, it's about our future!

Very informative and easy to read. Eye-opening without being overly technical. This book convinced me to adopt a vegan lifestyle.

There is an old saying that "you can't judge a book by its cover". That is a saying because many people do just that: judge a book by its cover. And many people will assume, based on the title of this book, that it is just another book about the stereotypical Hindu reverence for cows (and only cows). The fact is, the Gaudiya-Vaishnava ("Hare Krishna") cult, an authentic religion stretching back hundred of years, is probably the only religion in the world that not only has true compassion for animals, but is also, clearly, the ONLY religion where there is the possible direct intercession into the spiritual welfare of animals. For example, see the first chapter of the Antya-lila in the Sri Caitanya-Caritamrita, in reference to the glorious deliverance of Sivananda Sena's dog.

If you really want to learn more about the Vaishnava tradition of vegetarianism, this book is for you. It offered a great perspective on the history of vegetarianism in India as well and also compares and contrasts different religions and their thoughts on eating meat. If you're not so much into religion, then this book would also appeal to you as it speaks from the heart on animal kindness and reverence. A great read.

As a converted vegetarian I found this book very useful to gather facts to defend myself when people disagreed with me. I found the answers to common questions very useful as well as funny. The book as a whole was lighthearted but shocking at the same time. If a meat eater were to read it, I would think that it would persuade them to turn vegetarian. So be warned! If you do want to be vegetarian, but need persuading- read this book! But if you don't- stay clear!

There is a lot of information about animal rights issues and how to deal with parents and friends. It helps answer the who, what, when, where, and why's of a cruelty free lifestyle.