Easy Vegan Meals by SparkPeople: The No-Stress, No-Guilt Way to Reap The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet

by Stepfanie Romine

Overview

"Easy Vegan Meals by SparkPeople: The No-Stress, No-Guilt Way to Reap The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet" offers 122 simple, delicious vegan recipes, plus tips, tricks and information to help everyone who's interested in adding more meatless meals to their diet. While many vegan diet books tout a plant-based diet by scaring people into giving up meat, judging them for continuing to eat cheese, or scolding them for not giving up animal products completely, this book focuses exclusively on the positive aspects of veganism. Like the site that inspired it,"Easy Vegan Meals" encourages readers to set small goals as a way to gain traction throughout their journey to a healthier lifestyle.

"If you want to eat plants 100% of the time and get healthy while doing it, I'm thrilled--and this is the book for you," writes Romine. "But if you want to experiment with more meatless meals, learn how to cook for a vegan in your life, or just learn what the heck vegans eat, this book is for you, too."

"Despite my passion for the vegan lifestyle, this book is not meant to pressure you or guilt you into giving up meat, cheese, or eggs forever. I'd rather have every reader take one step toward a healthier self than alienate even one person with a 'diet' that seems complicated and stressful."

In addition to the recipes, "Easy Vegan Meals" includes:
• a thorough yet easy-to-understand overview of what vegans eat
• the key nutrients vegans need to watch (with tips on how to include them)
• a chapter on the basics of vegan baking
• tips for omnivores who love vegans
• the low-down on going vegan on a budget--how to save time, money and the planet
• a 7-day vegan challenge, with a meal plan, shopping list, and tips to cut down on time spent in the kitchen.

"Easy Vegan Meals" also contains success stories of SparkPeople members who improved their health and, in many cases, lost weight, by eating vegan. Among them is Julie, a 42 year-old woman who dropped from 360 pounds to 183, and wiped out depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, high cholesterol and high blood pressure – along with the need for medication for various conditions.

Most importantly, the almost 300-page book proves that eating vegan can be fun, easy, and best of all, delicious. The book even shows readers how to enjoy vegan versions of classic comfort foods, such as mac and "cheese," brownies, and mashed potatoes and gravy!

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014170956
Publisher:	SparkPeople, Inc.
Publication date:	03/21/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Stepfanie Romine is editor of SparkRecipes.com and dailySpark.com, SparkPeople's healthy living blog, where she writes about topics such as cooking, yoga, and stress relief. A vegan and runner, Romine has lived and cooked on three continents. She is a longtime practitioner of Ashtanga yoga and became a certified yoga teacher in 2009.

With degrees in French and journalism from Ohio University, Romine started her career in newspapers, first as a copy editor at The Columbus Dispatch, then as a business reporter, food blogger, and columnist at The Cincinnati Enquirer. She joined SparkPeople, which is a 100% free website that encourages people to change their lives one small goal at a time, as an editor in 2008.

It was her first trip overseas, to live in France's Loire Valley in 2001, that inspired Romine to start writing about food. She hasn't stopped writing, cooking or traveling since. In 2005, she quit her job, packed up two suitcases and moved to Seoul, South Korea, where she knew no one. She spent a year teaching writing, then backpacked through Europe before returning home.

Her love of cooking flourished during those travels, and she discovered that a lack of space and fancy tools is never an excuse for a good cook: She once baked 12 dozen Christmas cookies using only a single mixing bowl and a toaster oven.

Romine lives in Cincinnati, where she and her boyfriend, Sam, fuel long runs and bike rides with healthy homemade meals. She spends a good deal of her time feeding her healthy vegan meals and treats to Sam's competitive cycling team.

She volunteers her time to teach healthy cooking classes at the Freestore Foodbank and Starfire U, a program that teaches life skills to young adults with disabilities. Romine also leads a monthly dialogue on vegan cooking and nutrition at Cincinnati's only vegan general store, Park + Vine.

She is the co-author of "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight."