Book Review: Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet

Messina, Virginia, and Jack Norris. Vegan for life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet. Da Capo Press, 2011. 

A most helpful book to define terms (i.e. What does vegan really mean?) and introduce the reader to the benefits and ease of maintaining a plant-based diet. Both authors are long time practitioners and registered dieticians. The sixteen chapters address numerous questions: What nutrition do we really get from this kind of diet? Is it enough? What do we give up when we give up meat, dairy, and eggs? Is a vegan diet good for women who are pregnant, lactating, or undergoing menopause? Should children and teens be vegan too? They also address health issues such as weight, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease.  I found their writing style engaging and their answers compelling. 

Regarding nutrition, chapter 3 is titled Vitamin B12: The Gorilla in the Room. Within the vegan research and community, there is disagreement about whether a B12 supplement is warranted. The authors agree that a B12 supplement is a benefit. 

Is a vegan diet bland or boring or tasteless or filling? They emphatically deny these myths. They draw on a variety of cultural recipes to demonstrate the wide variety of options. The authors are sensitive to budget issues and cognizant that many people do not have a lot of spare time to spend in the kitchen, so they regularly describe meals that are inexpensive, quick, easy, and tasty. They provide examples of brands that make plant-based substitutes for meat and dairy products. Clearly, a person or family need not develop new culinary skills in order to enjoy a vegan diet. 

The authors have recommendations for entering into a vegan diet. In the opening pages the authors explain their own transition into vegan eating. The last chapter offers an argument for a diet without meat, dairy, or eggs based on the treatment and experience of animals. 

The appendixes include vegan resources and a guide to cooking grains, beans, and vegetables that is easy to understand and use. 

When I finished reading Vegan for Life I felt like I had been properly introduced and informed about the benefits and challenges of maintaining a vegan diet. Should I pursue this further, I have good information to go forward with.   

There is a 2020 edition of this book. I do not know if additional information was added. 

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