Customer Reviews (5)

great overview of vegetarian philosophy w/great critique
I bought this book because I have a passionately vegetarian friend who is constantly shaming me because I eat meat. She claimed I was ignorant and if I only knew what she did then I would change my mind. She even told me she was a fundamentally better person than I was because of her vegetarianism. I bought this book in self defense. It is hard to find a book that argues the real IMPLICATIONS both philsophical and practical of vegetarianism. I find that those vegetarians who are constantly imposing their views upon others really don't understand the issues very well, meaning that they are making moral arguments without understanding what it means to make a moral argument. George talks about how moral vegetarianism smacks of sexism, racism, and classism. I think she makes very cogent arguments on all of those points. She IS very intelligent and a professor of this stuff, so attempts to dismiss her arguments should be strongly scrutinized! This doesn't mean that vegetarians ARE bad people. IT means that when we actually think about the implications of a seemingly unassailable idea that one shouldn't eat animals, it turns out that there are many ideological inconsistencies. But this book also has good pratical application--it's not too tangled in abstract philosophy. IN the end George comes up with a good compromise that respects the dignity and needs of *all* living creatures, human and animal alike. See vegetarians and carnivores CAN get along...

Puh-LEASE help Kathryn George see the light!
This book is utter hogwash. George irrationally attempts to a imply that you are either feminist OR you eat meat. Unfortunately for her, eating meat and feminism (as well as civil rights, etc) fall under the same holistic philsophy that life is either respectable and that all beings should be free to walk their own path. I repeat, other species, colors, genders, nationalities, etc, are NOT here for the misuse and abuse of an elite few or collective many. She is no better than the bureaucracy that shamefully denied women (and blacks) rights when insinuating that women are "above" other sentient beings. I got news for George: she's an animal, too! And anyone with a clue about nutrition knows that meat and dairy products are abominable, causing disease and stress on the human body, ESPECIALLY the pregnant woman. Check out the health statistics and reports at any medical school library, in any compendium of studies - there is not one shred of evidence that dairy is or has ever been helpful! In fact, there are pages illustrating the heinous damage it wreaks on the human system. Why? Because no other animal nurses off another animal, that's absurd! And no other animal ingests milk after weening....Unfortunately once again for George, it is hard to take a feminist seriously if she can turn around and repeat the same horrors inflicted against female human animals on other animals in the animal kingdom. What a joke. Save your money and buy some Carol Adams or somebody reputable.....

Where's the logic ?
This is a poorly constructed thesis and serves only to display the typical weak minded headonism of carnivores.Perhaps a person so simple could only serve one cause.I would also recommend ignoring the false information provided regarding health issues of veganism.

An absolutely absurd thesis
There are some ethicists who seem to operate on a crude hydraulic model of ethical concern, which has as its primary assumption the belief that you can't be concerned with more than one kind of injustice without dissipating valuable energy.This is the underlying presumption behind George's "Animal, Vegetable, or Woman."She claims that to be concerned with giving animals moral concern takes away moral concern for women--as if the two are mutually exclusive.She ridiculously claims that pregnant women need to eat meat or consume dairy products to ensure the health of their fetuses (jeez, where does she get this nonsense from!?) and that consequently moral defences of vegetarianism are anti-woman.Never mind that Peter Singer has made a career from comparing speciesism to sexism, or that careful and profoundly feminist vegetarians such as Carol Adams or Deane Curtin think otherwise.It's difficult to figure out if George's primary motive is to trash vegetarianism or defend a strangely unfeminist woman-uber-alles kind of position.A shameful book.

Women and Children vs. Vegetarianism
In this slim but tightly packed volume, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Idaho Kathryn Paxton George has uncovered a brilliant glitch in the ethical vegetarian argument.Arguing that due to the necessity for women to consume protein during pregnancy to insure healthy fetal development and for children to consume protein found in meats for growth puposes, this renders them morally wrong in the stance of ethical vegetarians such as Tom Regan and Peter Singer.George compellingly uncovers how this is both wrong and unfair, simultaneously offering a new component to the ethical vegetarian argument that becomes necessary to factor in when one choses vegetariansim for moral puposes.George's argument segues into issues of class as well, and she suggests that vegetariansim may also be a kind of luxury when executed for ethical puposes.Uncovering how women were so boldy and deliberately ignored when moral philosophers created the argument against ingesting meat, George offers a glimpse into the still prevailing and disturbing notions of patriarchal power in constructing systems of right and wrong. The above review was originally written for "Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal," a publication of the Claremont Colleges. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a registered dietician who specializes in vegetarian nutrition, this book is a consumer's guide to vegetarian foods with information on fat, fiber, protein and other nutrients; Vegan, lacto- and lacto-ovo vegetarian choices; brand-name vegetarian specialty items; fast-food contents, hidden animal ingredients; and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Vegetarian Smorgasbord of Information
Sometimes trying to live vegan feels like walking through a minefield. Even grocery stores and health food stores can be difficult but the real problems come when trying to eat out or plan a diet. Often, those other food counters aren't helpful at all.

I travel a lot and often I can't find anything other than fast food places to stop at. Until now I assumed that they were totally off limits to me. Then my sister bought me this book. Problem solved! I can flip through the pages, find the fast food section and spot the vegan items at a glance by checking the last column of every entry. Suzanne Havala has marked each item with a V, L, or L-O to indicate whether it is vegan (no animal products), lacto-vegetarian (includes dairy but not eggs), or lacto-ovo vegetarian (includes dairy and eggs). For this alone I am grateful!

However, she didn't stop there. This is a full nutrition counter. It includes information on protein, fat, fiber, sodium, cholesterol, calories, and vitamins and minerals for every item. Since it doesn't cover all those icky meat things I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot fork, she has plenty of room for the really important things: like every variety of veggie burger, frozen entree, soy milk and vegan cheese on the market. If it is sold in your local health food store, it's probably covered in this book. What that means is that I can sit home and plan my latest diet with accurate information. (I hope this doesn't mean I have to stick to it.)

In addition to the nutrition counter section, she also includes sample menus, information on vegetarian nutrition, and information on food additives that aren't vegetarian. Did you know that the food color carmine is made from crushed up insects? Yuck!

It's a great book and I'm delighted to have it. Just a few nits to pick: 1) It's hard sometimes to see where each category starts and ends. The book either needs an index or little tabs. 2) Since it's a standard paperback the crease makes reading the tables a bit difficult. It would have been nicer if this book had been spiral bound.

Suzanne Havala is one of the stable vegetarian voices in our community. She's been part of the Vegetarian Resource Group forever and has both the contacts and the credibility to produce a book like this. This book easily meets the high expectations I have of her work. I want to know when she's going to come out with the vegetarian diet log for my computer. I'll be the first to buy it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (72)

Good recipes, Hokey theory.
Be prepared to take most of the "theory" in this book with a large dose of salt. When trying to read the book from cover to cover I got less than 40 pages in before losing patience with the poor writing and lack of referencing. However, it's a book written by a man who has, by his own account, been entirely focused on sports since he was 15, so this is probably to be expected. There's a strong feeling of absolute self-belief running through Brazier's writing, that for me is quite a turn off when discussing scientific subjects (the feeling is "this worked for me, so it must be right") - this self-belief may well be the reason Brazier chose to write the text to this book himself, and what a shame as it could have been so much more affective written by a professional writer!

What it is worth getting the book for is the recipes and ingredients lists, as it's one of the few books I've come across that tries to bring together sports focused vegan recipes. You could probably find a similar amount of information online if you spent the time researching, but it's nice to have this there as a reference. It is, as you would expect, especially useful for the vegan athlete, with a good chunk of energy gel, sports drink and recovery focused recipes.

In short, I would buy it again, but if there was a "Thrive Cookbook" with recipes and ingredients only I would choose that in preference every time.

Fantastic!
This book is fabulous! I bought this book out of recommendation from a friend and it is worth every penny. The book is complete with an explanation of why food affects the human body so much, the right foods to eat for a complete and nutritious vegan diet and so much more info.

This book is incredibly complete and a wonderful educational book for vegans and non-vegans who are looking to improve their diet and in turn, their athletic performance. I would suggest this book to everyone.

Get it for the recipes, not the science
The good: A focus on vegan athlete nutrition with pretty good recipes and nutritional recommendations.
The bad:The science and explanations behind the foods are inaccurate and lacking.

The good, in a bit more detail:If you're looking for good recipes for post-workout shakes, etc., "Thrive" is a good source.As others have noted, most of the recipes are from basic foods, if some that we may not all have in our pantries yet.Brazier's later books tend to have a lot of recipes that say "buy my Vega stuff and mix...", but this one doesn't.The recipes are athlete-tested (less likely to make you feel sick when eating them during a workout!).The mix of nutritional and "when to eat what" advice is good, and matches well with what other sources recommend, but translated into a framework that works well for the vegan athlete.The recipes have variety, and in many cases, incorporate a set of protein sources that other books don't.I haven't seen another source of recipes for vegan energy bars or energy gels.

The bad:If you're looking for an accurate and clear explanation of the science behind it, don't buy this one -- buy "Eat to Live" (Fuhrman), "The Spectrum" (Ornish), "The China Study" (Campbell), or "The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook" (Barnard), or perhaps "The Food Revolution" (Robbins).Brazier's explanations of the rationale behind his recommendations are scientifically bogus, falling back on claims about live enzymes aiding nutrition and broad categories of "alkaline" foods, and a fairly wacko theory about refined foods taking more energy to digest than you get out of them.

The union of these two makes for a book that is reasonable to have on your bookshelf, particularly given the lack of other good vegan-athlete targeted cookbooks, but that makes you want to gnash your teeth in frustration every few pages when the author veers off into another unsubstantiated theory.Despite that, though, the recipes are reasonable, and the food sources are great.Just know what you're getting before you buy it.

no weekly shopping list =gigantic headache
i wholeheartedly agree with everything brian talks about.the only thing is is that he includes no weekly shopping list for all the recipes for a given week.and since all the recipes for the dishes are in one section in the back of the book, i had to constantly flip back and forth from the weekly meal plan section to the recipes section in order to figure out what and how much of what i needed to buy for the week!

this might not seem so bad, but bear in mind that this is a 12 week plan with 6 scheduled meals that need to be cooked/made per day, so 12x7x6 = 504!!504 recipes you need to flip back and forth for in order to figure out the logistics of how each dish's ingredients will end up in your kitchen!a lot of the ingredients are fairly exotic too, so it's not like you can head to your local grocery store the weekend before, say, the start of week 3 and expect to find all the ingredients.you would need to prepare way in advance and shop online for those ingredients so that you'll have them at the start of the designated week, or else you simply can't continue the diet.

it is so unfortunate, because i truly believe that plant based diets are superior, however, to try to break down the ingredient list was so time consuming and a nightmare.not only that, if you work like i do AND since there are 6 meals per day, are you seriously prepared to cook meal 1, meal 2, meal 3, meal 4 in one sitting before heading to work EVERYDAY so that you'll be able to have them with you at work?!and you're seriously gonna carry all those meals with you on public transportation along with the rest of the stuff you normally carry to work???seriously, think about the time investment you will have to make by waking up 1-2 hours ahead of when you normally do in order to follow this diet program.

if brian or his publisher had some forethought and tried to make it easier to stick to what is an already labor intensive diet plan, i would've given this book 5 STARS.but the fact that it is so user unfriendly and prohibitively difficult to figure out left this book collecting dust on my bookshelf.

UPDATE:since i didn't have the time or resources to do the diet, i ended up getting brian's vega "complete whole food health optimizer" (berry flavor) instead.simply put, it is AMAZING AND DELICIOUS!!I LOVE IT!i've only been using it for about a week as a smoothie infusion, but i've immediately noticed the difference in mood, energy level, mental clarity, hunger/junk food control.the wholefood optimizer is a bit pricey, but if you're like me and you still want to reap some benefit from the thrive diet, it is definitely the way to go.

Eat your veggies and fruits
We should be eating a diet consisting primarily of vegetables and fruits.I'd heard that, but another reminder is always good.

Beyond this basic advice, the book contains many scientific explanations about the effects of stress on the body, the relationship between stress and diet, pH-balancing the body, etc. which unfortunately are not footnoted and therefore are unverifiable.Since the author is not a scientist himself, I have a hard time accepting his explanations purely on faith.

To put it another way, in the absence of science, why should I believe this diet any more than I should believe the competing Atkins or Paleo diet books telling me to eat mostly meat?Yet another diet recommends fermented foods, and yet others swear by spirulina (not mentioned in this book).Without data, these are all no more than diet "religion."

Maybe it's all true.As presented in this book, it just isn't very convincing.(Another credibility damager: this book recommends hemp powder a few times, without mentioning its completely foul taste.)

References are listed at the end, but without much explanation, making any specific claim, and the book is full of them, near impossible to check. ... Read more

Product Description
Recent advances have contributed to our understanding of how aplant-based diet confers many health advantages and how substancesfrom plants may be effective in the prevention of specific cancers.The Ninth Annual Research Conference of the American Institute forCancer Research has focused on the latest developments in severalcategories of nutrients of wide contemporary interests. The conferencesessions included such topics as the effects of soy, green tea,selenium, wine, grapes, and spices in cancer prevention. Thisconference was held in Washington, D.C. on September 2nd and 3rd,1999, and was entitled Nutrition and Cancer Prevention: New InsightsInto the Roles of Phytochemicals. The discussion program included a session that was devoted to thecurrent status of herbal products in relation to cancer prevention, inrecognition of the increasing attention that complementary andalternative medicine has been receiving from the scientific communityas well as the general public. A separate presentation addressed theissue of nutritional supplements and cancer prevention. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the classic book on why a vegan diet makes good sense, and how to maintain a vegan diet sensibly. Learn why eating animal products is bad for your health, dangerous for the environment, and absolutely unnecessary for anyone, young or old.

Contains sections on getting all your nutrients and how to put together a vegan menu, along with 50 recipes for everything from breakfast basics to dessert treats. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A much-needed learned physician's view of vegan eating
I find this book to be such a refreshing break from the typical diet drivel put out by "big-name" physicians like Atkins.Dr. Klaper knows his nutrition, knows his medicine, and even knows his foods (therecipes are excellent.) With his kind heart, he shares the best way to saveyours.

Although the message is postive, this book lacks facts.
Don't get me wrong, I've am vegan and spread the word, but this book is more propaganda than fact.If you are looking for scientific facts about howto be a maintain healthy while eating vegan, this might not be thebest book.This is a good book that covers the uglies of saturated fatsand cholesterol, and where our meats, diary, and eggs come from (which Ithink should be in a nutrition book).I bought it and don't reget it, butwasn't completely happy with it. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by the author of the popular nutrition classic, Diet and Nutrition, this book explores the health issues surrounding vegetarianism and helps the aspiring vegetarian make the transition in a way that provides the greatest health benefits. The book is well researched, easy to read, and an excellent resource for both the seasoned and would-be vegetarian. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

For Current and Future Vegetarians
I am 58 years old and have been a vegetarian for 24 years.I read this book 24 years ago.It is still the best source for learning how to make the transition to a meat-free way of life.Dr. Ballentine wrote this scholarly work in layman terms so that it is easily understandable.He documents the plethora of reasons (ethical, social, health, environmental) why a person should become a vegetarian.The book is packed full of nutritional information so that one can be assured of the best way to combine various types of foods to be able to get ALL the nutrients necessary for excellent health without meat.Be sure to read the end-notes in the book because there is almost as much useful information there as there is in the main part of the text.If you peek at all the references you will notice that the author did extensive research in this field.I keep buying these 3 at a time to give to friends and colleagues who inquire why I became a vegetarian.Otherwise, I'd have to say, "Do you have several hours to hear my answers.Also, I continue to refer to it from time to time.This book is well worth its cost.

Valuable knowledge
Rudolph Ballentine is my personal guru I must say.I've bought all his books and treasure them all.This was the last unread one, and I was confident it would be all that I hoped it would be, and I wasn't dissappointed.He has such a thoughtful considered balanced writing style, making it easy to go for go to whoa with him.He adds a breadth and depth to the rationale for going vegetarian that noone else I've read has managed, and so makes this book a valuable addition for those considering going meat-free.Once you've read this book, the trip will be easier.Good health and thanks again Rudolph!

Transition to Vegetarianism
This is a very informative, well written book enveloping all aspects of nutrition and modern society. The only critisism I have is that it's written from an American point of view, not Australian. Their statistics are quite different to ours, although we are becoming more like them with our obesity problems and other health issues.
This book contains vital information for any person thinking of becoming a vegetarian.

The pros and cons of a vegetarian diet
In Transition To Vegetarianism: An Evolutionary Step, Doctor Rudolpf Ballentine presents an informed and persuasive survey of the value and reasoning to a vegetarian diet. Dr. Ballentine's informative text is laced with health relevant information such as meat-eaters having three times as many heart attacks as vegetarians, that a vegetarian diet decreases osteoporosis dramatically, that in endurance tests vegetarians had more than twice the stamina and strength of meat-eaters, and that the vegetarian diet is a time-honored technique for promoting alertness and clarity of consciousness. Ideal for the non-specialist general reader, Transition To Vegetarianism covers red meat, poultry, fish, and the question of milk and eggs in a vegetarian diet. If you are considering the pros and cons of a vegetarian diet for yourself, begin with reading Dr. Rudolf Ballentine's Transition To Vegetarianism.

Excellent info on vegetarian and part-vegetarian diets
Most people can't stop eating meat one day and put a red "X" on the plate instead. Unless you live in a culture like India, or eat lots of beans and rice, it takes a bit of adjustment to move to a plant-based diet.

When newly minted militant vegetarian friends reject the idea of starting out by simply eating less meat, this book is the place to turn for support. After twenty years of shepherding people toward a more vegetarian diet, I've seen definite trends that emerge when giving up meat: persistent cheese-eating, a plethora of omelet dishes,a sudden craving for peanut butter, etc. This guide gives sound practical explanations about why these cravings happen; it also gives suggestions for maintaining nutrition without going overboard on fat. Vegans will be unhappy with the assertion that a plant-based diet with some milk products is a typical solution for Americans, but realistically, how many of us are willing to do what it takes to maintain a strictly vegan diet the rest of our lives? And as additional research emerges on fatty acids (such as Omega-3 and Omega-6 oils) there seems to be an increasing number of reasons to consider fish as a practical substitute for supplements like hempseed or flaxseed oil.

Over the years, I've heard countless people wake up to nutrition and tell me they've discovered the "only healthy diet there is." Every one of those diets has been different! Rather than rushing out to try someone else's diet, I'd recommend looking at Dr. Ballentine's set of guidelines first. This is one of the only books on vegetarianism I know that doesn't tell you "here's the best diet." Instead, the author presents the pros and cons of various food options, and gives you a reasonable way to work towards a diet which suits both your body and your life situation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the best books on the subject
This is a great book! The author uses a Q-and-A format that is very easy to read, and includes drawings/cartoons that are very humorous.This book answers just about every question anyone, especially those not familiarwith vegetarianism, might have, about every aspect of vegetarianism.Thequestions follow each other much like they might be asked by someonegenuinely curious about vegetarianism.It's also a great book for thosewho think they already know everything there is to know. It's a great bookto have on hand for those pesky questions people like to attack you with.

One of the BEST I've read
This is one of the best books I've read about being vegetarian. I recommend it highly in the Health Niche on our site. This and a few other hard-to-find books like Arnold Ehret's Mucusless Diet are the mostrequested by our clients! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Environmental Nutrition, published by Belvoir Media Group, LLC on February 1, 2008. The length of the article is 1410 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Frozen vegetarian meals dish out good nutrition.(Nutrition Comparison)
Author: Anastasia Schepers
Publication: Environmental Nutrition (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2008
Publisher: Belvoir Media Group, LLC
Volume: 31Issue: 2Page: 5(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Vegetarian Journal, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 5613 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 25 years of vegetarianism and a look into the future.
Author: Heather Gorn
Publication: Vegetarian Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 26Issue: 3Page: 6(8)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Vegetarian Journal, published by Vegetarian Resource Group on April 1, 2010. The length of the article is 620 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Promoting vegetarianism in the heartland.(Vegetarian Action)(Gretchen Chlebowski at the Chicago Green Festival)
Author: Valerie Soszynski
Publication: Vegetarian Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2010
Publisher: Vegetarian Resource Group
Volume: 29Issue: 2Page: 35(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
Approximately 12 million U.S. citizens consider themselves vegetarians, and 13.5 percent of all U.S. households claim to have at least one family member practicing some form of vegetarianism. In the past 30 years, scientific endeavors in the area of vegetarian nutrition have progressively shifted from investigating dietary concerns held by nutritionists and other health professionals to creative solutions for various medical conditions and preventive approaches to chronic diseases.Although professional interest in vegetarian nutrition has now reached unprecedented levels, scientific knowledge regarding vegetarian diets and their positive effects on human health is far from complete.Vegetarian Nutrition provides data to explain the preventive role of vegetarian diets for many chronic diseases such as heart disease and some types of cancers while including recommendations and guidelines for vegetarians and those prescribed vegetarian diets. Based on scientific sources and research, and presenting information in both tabular and prose formats, the book details various diet regimens, health concerns, and energy expenditure.This handbook is written for academic and clinical nutritionists, dieticians, and graduate students in nutrition ad public health, with each chapter rendering a scholarly review of the particular topic. While considering both health benefits and nutritional concerns Vegetarian Nutrition addresses such topics as chronic disease prevention; adequacy of the diet for children, in pregnancy, lactation, and for the aging population; recommendations for a healthy vegetarian diet; and global perspectives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent literature review
Most vegetarian advocates are prone to selective citation of the scientific literature, quoting those studies that support their ethical beliefs, but omitting mention of the science that is contradictory. Sabate's Vegetarian Nutrition does not do this, and is a fair review of the literature. Each area of concern is addressed with a complete review. Does eating meat cause disease or do other factors in the vegetarian lifestyle than abstention from meat confer health protection? Are vegetarians and vegans at greater risk for nutritional deficiencies? Sabate explores these and other questions with thoroughness and integrity.

Paul Bergner, Adjunct Faculty in Nutrition, Naropa University ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nutrición Efectiva = Comida Vegetariana
"Nutrición Efectiva = Comida Vegetariana" contiene 427 paginas con 700 deliciosas recetas de comida vegetariana. Algunas recetas son: Birria Estilo Jalisco; Calabacitas rellenas de huitlacoche; Chiles Rellenos; Chop Suey; Sopa de Ajo; Hamburguesas de Lenteja; Mole de Olla; Arroz con Leche y muchas, muchas más. Una verdadera obra maestra del arte culinario donde desfilan los más sabrosos guisos que nos devuelven el gusto por el sabor natural y lo saludable. De la misma autora de "Un Camino Hacia la Salud", la licenciada en Nutrición Margarita Chávez Martinez. ... Read more

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Book for the Kindle: Vegetarianism: A Healthier Path to Spirituality

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