Vegetarianism Books

"Dr. Charlotte," as she is affectionately called by many of her patients and friends, has long been torn between two loves - following her medical practice and plowing a furrow in the field of nutrition.

Born into a health-minded family, her father spent half a century perfecting high-protein vegetarian foods - long before anyone even thought of today's commercially-made analogues.

After receiving her medical degree in 1938 at the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University), she became one of the few women doctors in Beverly Hills and for eight years counted ammong her patients such well-known personalities as Helen Gahagen Douglas, Melvyn Douglas, Victor Young, and many other celebrities.

Although Dr. Charlotte planned to specialize in surgery, the serious illness of her mother turned the young physician to the study of nutrition and its restorative powers. Learning more of nature's methods of healing rather than relying on drugs eventually led her to close her lucrative medical practice and she and her husband, Campbell, opened a 224-acre health spa in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas.

After long years of service at this institution, Dr. Holmes and her husband now devote their time to coast to coast travel giving health lectures and conducting cooking classes.

"Fruit of Vegetables...Which?" (formerly "Keys to Cooking for Living") incorporates the highlights of their successful nutrition program that has brought renewed health and happiness to countless health seekers.
--- from book's back cover

Here's something you're not likely to see again: a cookbook, or more like a manual for eating, by the champion of Kundalini yoga and genuine 70's spiritual icon Yogi Bhajan. The book is lacto-vegetarian and is definitely a product of its time, though I feel that there is no reason to confine the principles of the 60's and 70's "health movement" to a specific age since being healthy and conscious is no fad but timeless and honest. What is different about these recipes from a lot more current health-related cookbooks is that it is not rigorously fat free but balanced. For years I avoided any fats in my diet, didn't dare even share a single bite of a dessert, and after a while I realized that this attitude is not sustainable or healthy, and in fact I even lost weight after I began to relax a little. I'm a pretty scrawny dude to begin with and this book is good by me, so health nuts and others please take equal heart.

The book bases itself of a collection of complimentary principles: alkaline/acidic foods, ayurveda, (less directly) Buddhism, and the general adherence to natural foods without preservatives and produced organically. It is a yogic diet. Generally speaking, ghee is used instead of butter, honey instead of sugar. That might give you an idea of what "health" means in this book. Not the ABSENCE of sweetness or fat, but a balance is maintained and still many of these dishes include neither.

So how's the food?? It is really almost invariably delicious, I have to say. I use it more than any other cookbook and I was intending at first for it to be a fun occasional retreat. The Banana Apricot Loaf is exemplary, and if you want to give it a shot first you can go to the wonderful 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) website here:

http://www.3ho.org/clients/3ho/recipes.nsf/d075b8704d7c40e2c1256cc2002c6d14/CDF92F80091E57DC87256EF5006D50E7?OpenDocument

and I think it is tremendously representative of the book. Other amazing things are the Ginger Curry, the Carrot-Raisin Cashew Spread, the alarmingly good "Avocado Sat Nam Special" (no kidding: avocado, banana, raw peanut butter, almonds, sunflower seeds, alfalfa sprout, and somehow all this together is actually really really good). Many of these recipes are for live or raw foods, in fact there is a noticeable reverence for them, (even a RAW "NO-BAKE BIRTHDAY CAKE"!) and while I am not a raw foodist I have found them a wonderful and invigorating (believe it!) addition to my diet. There is a light bent in the direction of Eastern cooking, but if this is a daunting concept for you believe me it requires little of you and is fun, and in fact this book covers Mexican, Italian and American foods in addition to Indian and Middle Eastern foods. The diversity is wonderful and there is a distinct and welcome flavor that runs throughout.

To be fair this book has lots of funny little quirks, such as its first recipe being for aspic (glad we left behind THAT part of the 60's), hilariously unnecessary things like recipes for quesadillas thrown into the mix that basically tell you to throw some cheese inbetween 2 tortillas and grill, and recipes entitled "Yogi Bhajan's Wha Casserole" and "Ek Ong Kaur's Special Spread" which give it a cute sense of community. Not to belittle this book though, because it is really a wonderful thing, full of life and delicious healthy foods to suit just about any yogi. There is even the original recipe for the famous Yogi Tea!

As someone who has been practicing Kundalini for years I feel that this book is a wonderful companion piece to a lifestyle which strives for health, consciousness and balance. It is apparently out of print and it deserves better, though you'll find that there is really no trouble getting a hold of it thanks to amazon and the rest of the internet. Take care and sat nam!

This is a great book for vegetarians. I have tried a number of recipes and they all have turned out great. It is great for planning parties. I especially like the lasagne rolls. Quick and tasty!

This is a great little book. Tilston runs through the main arguments for being a vegetarian in a lucid and undogmatic style. He doesn't come across as a fanatic, just a sensible everyday sort of guy trying to make sense of the mass of information on the environment and health. He has clearly read a great deal of the latest research on these subjects. He deals with a few technical issues, such as land degradation and what our bodies need to run well, in clear everyday language. There is so much research these days that, as he points out, we can now draw some definitive conclusions in many areas. In areas where there are no straight answers, such as whether or not it's "right" to eat animals, he takes the reader through both sides of the argument. But perhaps the best thing about the book is that he has interspersed the arguments with his own experiences of being vegetarian, which makes it a light read of some heavy topics. And there's not a recipe to be seen.

Grab a copy of this if you can find it, because I think it is out of print. It is a companion book to The Inner Art of Vegetarianism. There are lots of good exercises in this book. Plenty of space to write and think. For those of you who like to analyze your dreams, the exercises on dreamwork are excellent and not filled with any new-agey mumbo-jumbo. It will inspire you to put your beliefs into action.

This has to be the most inspirational book ever. I love to read it over and over again.

this is one of the foundational books on the biological basis and necessity of eating raw (ie, "living") foods in order to detox and maintain good health. cooking foods is great for flavor but kills all enzymes and hence places the body in an untenable position. the book very clearly shows not only why meat and dairy are poisons, but also shows how "cooked" veggies and vegans on seemingly "healthy" diets are missing the basic biological point. brian clement is the head of the world famous hippocrates institute and one of the spiritual heirs of dr ann wigmore, so this book speaks with great authority. cheers, jg

Since the publication of Love Your Body in 1972 (I still have my store-bought first edition), there have been many non-cook cookbooks - all welcome. I recently saw one - at Whole Foods (where the wealthy shop in California - good thing it's worker-owned - one might feel guilty - I always think about Fallujah when I'm there - esp. in the sumptuous Mill Valley store) pictures of a beautiful couple preparing live food dishes - lavish production. Cost : $40.00 something. I personally entertain no doubt that, one day, when we get over the `have/have not' hump (maybe `before', if we actually could plant enough fruit trees), we will all be thriving on diets of `living food' - perhaps Viktoras coined that phrase also. I am of the firm conviction that humanity will relegate flesh-food eating to the scrap-heap of obsolete practices - and, like its terrifying derivative, cannibalism, meat-eating will be practiced in but few remote regions of the planet. But, I also feel that such a transition will not be painless (i.e., there is a logical necessity impelling such a change). That being said, promulgators and inveterate customers of such high-minded, liberal institutions as Weinerschnitzal and McDonalds will inevitably find themselves pleasantly ensconced in such tranquil venues as cocytis as Dante envisioned it - icy rivers of innocently shed blood. Plus c'est change, plus ca meme.

The question which the book raises and eloquently and precisely answers in the affirmative is: Is there more to health than the moral basis of veganism? There is more - and that is where Viktoras Kulvinskas - in my opinion, the most profound biochemical researcher of the twentieth century, rises, unheralded to this day (much in the way of Thoreau - whom I sense must have had a similar presence), to our rescue. Of course, there is a moral afflatus. When Viktoras says, "Love your Body or leave it", he is stating categorical spiritual truth as well as material fact.

Viktoras' mastery of the facts is not to be discounted. This book not only changed my life, but saved it. When I first started eating primarily according to the regime suggested in Love Your Body, I was dying (not metaphorically) of a debilitating intestinal disorder. This disease had raged through my body and being for four years (ages 22 - 26). I had experienced the tortures of traditional slash and burn medicine to the nth degree cubed, deep down. Alone I stood, daily peering into the crack of doom. When I picked up Love Your Body, as simple and svelte as the volume is, I did not realize what would take me years to understand. For instance, I had to be physically shown how to make rejuvelac and grow wheatgrass. Yet, the instructions are clearly given here. When I first read the book, I didn't understand the importance of every aspect of the diet being described. However, by simply using the basic recipes - and eating strictly fresh and raw - with a lot of prayer - and a minimal degree of self-control - I began to heal. My testimonial is but one. Yet, know that I was desperate - and a high-enzyme diet of live food, juicy fruit (citrus, pineapple, watermelon juice - I learned to grate pineapple and watermelon to juice them from J. Lovewisdom - an old mentor of Viktoras), freshly juiced wheatgrass and sprouts, is the only diet that have I found to provide the biological equilibrium in which healing can occur. From my perspective, a live food diet appears to be pre-requisite to true health.

Love Your Body is much more than the first and best "post-modern" live food preparation manual - the book initiated a revolution not yet close to completion or fulfillment. If you are investigating the possibility of a live-food diet because you are sick - please, please buy this book - the information here is priceless. I would also say that perhaps the only way to survive a nuclear holocaust is through indoor gardening, breatharianism, and some form of yoga, and love (Viktoras' recipe). But who knows? Eh? All I know is, despite cooked food binges, and decades of stress, I'm still eating sprout soup - and I believe I always will. As they used to say in those letters - Thanks Vik! thank you for all the love love love love love love love thru lovein service ... forever.

I found THE MEATLESS GALLEY COOKBOOK to be a well-written cookbook with reasonable, nutritious, low-fat ingredients. The procedures make it a practical volume for onboard cooking. I have used this book on two short cruises and another longer cruise. All of my meals were very successful, and the dishes were easy to digest in a sailing environment. I recommend the book for any vegetarian cook at sea or on land.

A spiral binding would make the book easier to use in the galley.

This is a fun little book that you can use even if you have not read the companion book "Inner Art of Vegetarianism." The daily, dated meditations are quick to read and the actions are easy to put into place. They are very gentle suggestions which will deepen your connections and your thinking. The suggestions are seasonal as well, corresponding with a yearly cycle. I recommend this book!