Thanksgiving: Vegan Alternatives to Turkey

Posted on November 25, 2015 by SoarAway

Thanksgiving: Vegan Alternatives to Turkey

On my first meatless Thanksgiving a dozen years ago, my family graciously bought my a “Tofurkey” so I wouldn’t be left out. It was the most unappetizing act of lovingkindness ever. Tofurkey back then was utterly disgusting. And while Tofurkey products have since improved enough that I will now eat them again, I still don’t think of them as the perfect vegan/vegetarian turkey replacement. So here are some better ideas!

Seitan

Seitan is made from wheat gluten, so it is not suitable for the celiacs or gluten-free fanatic amongst us, but for those of us (like me) who love wheat, it’s perfect. It’s chewy and versatile and is sometimes called “wheat meat” because it so perfectly replicates the texture of meat. Plus, because it’s made from gluten, it is protein, which makes it a good meat substitute.

Seitan is in my view the perfect meatless meat. It has the right texture and it kind of takes on whatever flavor you want it to. If you’re making it yourself, mix herbs and spices in with the vital wheat gluten as you mix it to give it additional flavor. Plus, if you make it yourself, you can probably make it turkey-shaped. You could always stuff it with actual stuffing and pour some yummy vegan gravy over it if you want a traditional healthy alternative to turkey at your Thanksgiving table!

Of course there’s no reason why you have to restrict yourself. Give thanks in whatever your culture is! Cook seitan into a curry or stick some hot sauce on it and call it faux chicken wings. Or, my favorite, stick it on kebabs and bake it in the oven covered in green goddess dressing!

Tempeh

You thought I was going to say tofu, didn’t you? Well, I will, but it doesn’t rank as high on my list as tempeh. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans and you can generally still see the soybean shapes in the block of tempeh. Unlike tofu or seitan, tempeh has a very distinct, nutty flavor. Although it can’t be easily shaped into “turkey” form, I think the distinctive nutty flavor makes it a great vegan turkey alternative. The nutty taste complements other traditional Thanksgiving foods like cranberry, green bean casserole, and apples.

Tempeh is also a good option if you have vegan and gluten free guests at your table. It’s also considered low FODMAP and is acceptable on a high alkaline diet. For a main dish, consider glazing the tempeh with a cranberry sauce, or a maple syrup. Crumbled tempeh can also be deep fried as a crunchy high-protein topping on your green bean casserole if you have nut-free guests!

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)

Textured vegetable protein, or TVP for short, is made from soy flour and comes in all sorts of sizes, shapes, and textures. It can be sold as flakes or in chunks. It is relatively versatile, which makes it a good Thanksgiving meat substitute. It’s more highly processed than seitan or tempeh, but it is still vegan, high protein, and healthy.

One of the most popular forms is in the shape of “mince.” It looks like and has the texture of minced meat (I would guess beef, but it’s been a long time since I had actual minced meat!). As a Thanksgiving substitute and main course, I recommend making it into a meatloaf, and substituting the normal ketchup on top for a more festive cranberry relish!

Tofu

Okay, it had to be mentioned. Tofu does tend to be the classic vegan or vegetarian meat alternative. However, the texture is often a challenge for people who aren’t accustomed to it. It’s not my favorite turkey substitute, but it can still have a place at your Thanksgiving table!

If you have guests or children who you think might object to the bland taste of tofu or its unusual texture, try preparing it differently. Drain the water from hard tofu by wrapping it in tea towels and placing a heavy plate over and under it and letting it sit for a half an hour or more. Then marinate in flavorful sauces and bake to give it a good flavor, or deep fry it to change its texture. Like tempeh, you can crumble hard tofu and deep fry it for a crunchy topping on savory dishes (if you want to do this, consider freezing the tofu first). You can also crumble it to act a bit like TVP, although it might not be as convincing a substitute.

But to my view, much better than trying to use tofu as a Thanksgiving main dish is to use it in desserts. Silken tofu can be used to create vegan versions of holiday puddings, cheesecake, and – of course – pumpkin pie!

Forget the Substitutes

Why bother with substitutes anyway? Just make an awesome vegetarian main dish. Want all-American fare? Make homemade veggie burgers with whole wheat bread rolls. Or go for a more exotic main dish such as a vegetarian moussaka.

Or scrap the idea of a main dish entirely. Many traditional Thanksgiving meals have more than one main dish anyway – like turkey, ham, and brisket. Avoid the trouble by simply making an abundance of side dishes. This gives you all the freedom you need to make whatever you want! And lots of traditional Thanksgiving dishes, such as stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, can easily be made in vegan versions.

Happy Holidays!

Just because you’re not having turkey at your table doesn’t mean you can’t have a traditional Thanksgiving… and you’re giving the turkeys something to be thankful about, too.

Happy Holidays!

Beyond Carnism by Melanie Joy

Posted on May 5, 2015 by SoarAway

Beyond Carnism by Melanie Joy

On this blog, I generally focus on health and the science around health and diet for kids. I believe we can change the world by changing the foods we feed our kids. Not only can we ensure that the next generation faces lifelong good health, but in doing so we can also help them grow up to face the world with joy. Part of the joy that comes from eating a healthy diet comes from the attendant good values that come with it. So it is that I wanted to share with you all this TEDx talk by Melanie Joy.

Melanie Joy, Ph.D., Ed.M. is a Harvard-educated psychologist, professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, a celebrated speaker, and the author of the award-winning book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows. Melanie is the eighth recipient of the Institute of Jainology’s Ahimsa Award, which was previously awarded to Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Her work has been featured by numerous national and international media outlets, including the BBC, Germany’s ARD, ABC Australia, the New York Times, and Spiegel Online. Melanie has given her acclaimed carnism presentation on five continents, and she is also the founder and president of the project Karnismus erkennen and of Carnism Awareness & Action Network.

What is Carnism?

Carnism is the name Melanie Joy has given to the belief system that justifies human consumption of animal flesh. This is the belief system most of us have grown up in, which conditions us to think of it as okay, as “normal, natural, and necessary” behavior. And yet, most of us think it is perfectly acceptable to eat a pig or a cow but not our pet dog or cat. So we do not think it is normal to eat any and every animal, just certain ones. Why?

Carnism and Health

The consumption of animals is incontrovertibly detrimental to our health and wellbeing. For children, whose bodies are growing at a rapid rate, it is even more important to eat a healthy diet as the foundation for their futures. Feeding our children meat hurts them. In the words of Melanie Joy:

We pay for our carnism with our health, as eating an animal based diet can lead to serious disease, while eating a plant-based or vegan diet can optimize health.

It is for this reason that I think you will all benefit from watching this video. Older children and teenagers can also benefit. Watch it and then have a discussion about what you have seen – your children may have some very interesting insights! (Please be advised that there are some graphic images in this video that may be unsuitable for younger viewers.)

Beyond carnism and toward rational, authentic food choices by Melanie Joy at TEDxMünchen

Visit Melanie Joy’s Beyond Carnism website to learn more

Supporting Kids’ Food Choices

Posted on April 13, 2015 by SoarAway

Supporting Kids’ Food Choices

Our children don’t always want to eat the same way we do. Of course, many kids today are interested in filling up with junk food, but a lot of kids also go through a vegetarian phase. Parenting forums are filled with moms lamenting that their children are refusing to eat meat, and panicking over how to sneak meat into their diets or otherwise ensure they get enough protein. As parents, the best thing we can do for our kids is to find ways to be supportive of their food choices.

When kids decide to follow a different path from their parents – whether it is dietary, religious, or political – it is hard as parents not to feel that we have in some way failed them. It feels like a judgment to have your child refuse the food you always fed them. Almost as if they are saying you are not a good enough parent and you raised them the wrong way. Our task as parents is to raise ourselves above this natural inclination and to ask ourselves what is best for our child.

Research has long shown the health benefits of a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet. A new study also shows major cardiovascular benefits for kids on a vegan diet, which is important because heart disease begins in childhood. Many people are trying hard to get their kids to eat a more heart healthy diet. Yet, if it is our children who make the decision to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet, we resist it. Oh, the ironies of life!

Unfortunately, I know too many kids who become vegetarian and end up eating more junk food and processed, pre-packaged foods. Today, vegetarian processed foods are widely available, which makes it easy for kids to access them. Additionally, there is a natural human inclination that when we give one thing up, we should get more of another thing we like to replace it. Kids who give up their steaks and fried chicken legs might feel justified in downing some extra potato chips. But when this happens on a regular basis, it adds up to some pretty unhealthy eating.

As parents, we need to be supportive of kids’ dietary changes, even if we disapprove. The problem is that if we are not, then our kids will not be able to make the healthiest choices within their range of options. Vegetarian and vegan kids whose parents are unwilling to cook separate food for them end up replacing meat with canned or instant foods, or junk foods, which are high in sodium and sugar.

On a personal level, I have known in my lifetime far too many kids who gained weight and became much less healthy on a vegetarian diet. When I spoke to them about it, I found they were carbohydrate loading. Pasta and bread were their main foods. Junk foods and other high-calorie convenience foods were also way up there in their list of things to eat. Remember, potato chips and deep fried french fries are vegan and pizza and lasagna are vegetarian. While these foods can be delicious treats, they should be “once in a while” foods, not everyday foods. When I saw vegetarian kids gaining weight, I found they were eating these foods frequently, and were eating far too many calories (especially from fats and carbohydrates) overall.

As parents, it is our job to combat this behavior: Not by denying our kids the freedom to make some dietary decisions. Not by forcing our kids to eat foods they don’t want to. But by helping them make healthy food choices within reasonable parameters.

Here are some quick tips for busy parents whose kids want to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet:

Find healthy alternatives to bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice. Quinoa is my favorite, but oats (especially steel-cut) are fantastic for breakfast (even pancakes!) and potatoes can be replaced with more nutritious root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or turnips.
Make sure all grains are whole grains. Whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice are all much more nutritious than white, refined carbohydrates.
Make beans! Beans are a great source of protein, fiber, and lots of other vitamins and minerals. Don’t buy the canned kind – buy dry beans. They won’t have any added sodium and they are much cheaper. Soak them overnight, then boil them. Do a big batch and keep them in the fridge. Beans are incredibly versatile and can fill in as a meat substitute for many kinds of meals. There are lots of kinds of sauce you can put on them, you can add them to eggs or other cooked dishes, and you can also puree them to make a spread for bread or a dip for vegetables. As a bonus, there are many different kinds of beans, each with a slightly different flavor and texture, so you can offer your child some variety.
Make smoothies. It’s easy to toss some fruit in a blender for a quick meal or snack. For a vegetarian meal on the go, add some milk (or rice milk) and some nut butter for added bulk and protein. For a snack, make it lighter, by adding only fruit and some ice.
Provide healthy snacks. Healthy crackers or muffins are easy to grab on the go. Even sweets like cookies and cakes can be healthy treats if they’re made right. Providing the kinds of snacks you want your kids to have available makes it less likely they’ll grab a bag of chips when they’re out. Package snacks in small, disposable snack size bags (I use biodegradable ones, which are now very good quality) and you make it even easier for kids to grab and go. (I prefer to use reusable containers, but for many kids on the go this will be a deterrent, as they will now have another item they need to remember to bring home, even after they’ve finished their snacks.)
Use juice pulp. Making fruit or vegetable juice is a great, healthy addition to any diet, but don’t throw away that pulp. Many vegan and vegetarian kids are eating pasta and bread until they are full, whereas heavier proteins can make you feel fuller. Help kids feel fuller, faster, by giving them some extra fiber in their diets. Add fruit juice pulp to muffins and oatmeal. Use vegetable juice pulp to make pasta sauce, burgers, and crackers.
If you can’t beat them, join them. Try making all-vegetarian meals a few times a week. You might find you enjoy them, too. By including kids in family meals, they are more likely to eat a healthy diet.

I hope these tips help ease the adjustment when you have a child who decides not to eat meat anymore!

If you have other tips, please share them below!

Homemade Rice Milk – The Healthy, Cheap Dairy Alternative

Posted on March 10, 2015 by SoarAway

Homemade Rice Milk – The Healthy, Cheap Dairy Alternative

For various reasons, which will be further explored on this blog in the future, I choose not to give my kids much dairy. I certainly never give them cow’s milk (I do give them some dairy products, to help prevent them from developing allergies), but at the same time, I prefer not to give them a lot of commercially purchased milks. My solution is to make my own milk substitute: rice milk!

There are a lot of concerns about feeding kids too much soy (yet another blog topic for the future – I’m going to be busy!), so I rarely give my kids soymilk. I prefer to limit their soy intake to tofu and tempeh. Almond milk is great, but it does contain nuts, which means it’s not a good ingredient to include in dishes for guests or that must be nut-free to be sent to school (it’s also a bit more difficult to make at home). Even oat milk and rice milk purchased at the store can contain additives, sugars, flavorings, and preservatives. Even if you do find a milk substitute that meets your standards, it becomes incredibly expensive to purchase on a regular basis.

What if there was a healthy milk alternative that was both cheap and easy to make? Enter homemade rice milk!

Most people are amazed when I tell them how easy rice milk is to make. It really does take 5 minutes or less to make, per liter.

And how about the cost? Mine comes in at about 30 cents per liter, which is up to a tenth of what it costs to buy it in the store (of course where you live affects your savings, but where else can you get organic brown rice milk for so cheap?!).

Because the rice milk I make at home is so easy to make and so cheap, nobody in my family has any qualms about using it in large quantities. I substitute it for milk in almost every recipe. Sometimes I even substitute it for water in recipes to give some added nutrition to a dish, added creaminess, and added flavor.

Bear in mind that rice is gluten free, so this is a good substitute for people who are allergic to many major allergens like wheat, soy, or nuts.

The best thing about making your own rice milk, which trumps even the time and money factors, is that you can customize it. Want it sweeter or less sweet? Adjust the amount of sweetener you add. Want it flavored? Add your own preferred amount of essence or flavoring – the sky is the limit! Now you don’t have to be limited to just vanilla and chocolate flavorings. Want your rice milk thinner? Add more water. Want it thicker? Add less water. No matter what you want it for or what your personal preference is, you can make it to be exactly the way you want it to be.

The only downside I find is that no matter how much I blend mine up, it still separates a bit in the fridge. But is this really a downside? After all, even commercially produced rice milks with homogenization equipment available still have to be shaken before use. And how much effort is it to shake up some rice milk before using anyway? But this is actually the only bad thing about homemade rice milk that I could come up with. I’m really grasping at straws here!

My kids love this rice milk and actually… so do I. I can’t stand the flavor of commercially produced milk substitutes. They just do not have the right kind of texture to compare at all with the cow’s milk I grew up on. But fresh rice milk, straight out of the blender and ever so slightly warm…. Oh, yeah, that’s creamy and delicious, I have to admit!

At the very least, this recipe is worth a try. At best you and your kids will love it and it will revolutionize your cooking. It will help you and your kids to lead healthier lives and consume a healthier diet. And at worst? Well, you have a liter of rice milk that cost you 30 cents – add it to some baking and never worry about it again. But somehow I don’t think that will be the outcome.

Homemade Rice Milk

Ingredients

1 cup cooked rice (I recommend organic brown rice, but you can use any kind of rice left over from dinner – I have used basmati, jasmine, and other kinds of rice and they all turn out delicious)
1 pinch salt (I recommend pink Himalayan salt)
1 tbsp sweetener (I use agave nectar or honey, depending on whether or not I want the resulting milk to be vegan, but any kind of sweetener will work – I have used date syrup, unrefined molasses sugar, and maple syrup – just be aware these may slightly alter the resulting flavor)
4 cups filtered water

Instructions

Cook rice if not done already. Whenever I cook rice for a meal, I make extra to use for this purpose. Alternatively, make a big batch and freeze one-cup servings of rice to use for making rice milk. Cooked rice freezes surprisingly well!
Add all ingredients to blender.
Blend on high for 4 minutes in a conventional blender or 2 minutes in a Vitamix/professional catering blender.
Serve, use in cooking, or put in a container in the fridge. Keeps in the fridge for approximately 5 days.
Shake before using if it has been stored in the fridge.

Variations

Add flavorings to make your rice milk more exciting and varied. Pureed strawberries for strawberry milk (or add whole strawberries when you blend the milk), cacao powder for chocolate milk (you may need additional sweetener), vanilla essence for vanilla milk. But don’t think you need to stop there. Why limit yourself? What about mango milk? Or try adding some interesting essences for different flavors. Almond essence can fool people into thinking they’re drinking almond milk, or better. Mix some mint essence into chocolate rice milk for mint chocolate milk. Any flavor you can imagine can be mixed in to make this drink more palatable for picky kids!

I use rice milk for everything. Pancakes, muffins, and bread in baking. I mix it into scrambled eggs, frittatas, and quiches. I use it in smoothies and desserts. And, of course, I use it on its own, for drinking or for cereal. Try using flavored rice milk with plain cereals like Weet Bix, pure shredded wheat, or plain puffed cereals. Adding a flavored milk like chocolate or strawberry will give the cereal the impression of having the fun flavor, too. This can help you cut the heavy artificial sweeteners and flavors out of kids’ diets by enabling you to eliminate heavily flavored and sweetened cereals from their diets.

I hope you enjoy this recipe for rice milk as much as we do!

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

Posted on March 3, 2015 by SoarAway

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

Following on my last couple of posts about roasted vegetables, here is an alternate and incredibly easy use for roasted root vegetables: soup! My husband loves soup and although he prefers chunky soups to purees, I find a hot and hearty pureed soup really comforting. This is another way to repurpose one meal into another.

Roasted root vegetable soup is so simple to make, I don’t even think I need to post up separate instructions:

Dump roasted root vegetables into a blender.
Add some vegetable stock.
Blend.
Serve.

The thing about making roasted root vegetables is that I find it incredibly easy to make a massive amount at once. But eating roasted vegetables every night for a week can get a bit boring, so it is worth it to find alternate uses for them. If it is possible to make a huge amount of something one night so I can do minimal cooking the other nights of the week, I am game. Who doesn’t love a life hack like that?

Often when we repurpose leftovers, it’s tempting to just change them marginally. But they still retain the same mouthfeel, even if the flavors change a bit. By turning the roasted root vegetables into a soup, you completely alter their texture and taste. Normally when we eat roasted root vegetables, we taste each individual vegetable. You can close your eyes and tell if you are eating a potato, a carrot, or a beet. Even if you get a couple of different flavors in one bite, they are only marginally mixed and still identifiable. But once they are blended into a soup, the flavors meld seamlessly and create a new taste.

Simply adding all these vegetables to a pot, boiling, and blending will not give you the same result as roasting. Roasting is a process that tends to intensify and concentrate flavors. The caramelization process that takes place during roasting naturally intensifies the sweetness of even the most bland ingredients. Boiling and then blending will leave you with a soup that is much more bland and flavorless, whereas blending up roasted vegetables will give your soup all the oomph and power of sweet, concentrated flavors.

Another bonus of turning leftover roasted root vegetables into soup is the freeze factor. Roasted root vegetables cannot just be frozen as they are because some vegetables just will not maintain the right kind of texture and flavor when later defrosted, plus you’ll lose all the crunchiness that comes from roasting and be left with soggy cubes. Not appetizing! But once you blend all the vegetables up into a soup, you can definitely freeze it. Just remember that if your mixture contains potatoes, you will need to stir well when you reheat it to redistribute the moisture in the soup evenly throughout.

Perhaps the best part about this soup is that it is so easy and fast. Once you have your roasted root vegetables, you basically just need to spend one minute blending them. If they’re cool, then just heat and serve.

And of course, it is versatile, too. You can change the flavor of the soup dramatically depending on what vegetables in what amounts you’ve chosen to roast. Is it a sweeter soup with lots of things like pumpkin and beets? Or is it more savory, with flavors like potato and celeriac?

Changing the seasonings on the roasted root vegetables also dramatically changes the flavor profile of the soup. Make Indian-style curried root vegetables and you’ll have a curried soup. Italian herbs give you an Italian style soup. Virtually any flavor combination that works for roasted root vegetables works for roasted root vegetable soup, too.

Finally, jazz it up with different toppings. A soup heavy in orange colored vegetables, like pumpkin, carrot, and sweet potato, begs for a sprinkle of nutmeg and some toasted pumpkin seeds. Pine nuts and soaked raisins are the perfect topping for a Moroccan-style blend. Try sour cream and spring onions (or finely diced jalapenos) on a Mexican-style blend. A curried soup goes great with some yogurt and chutney on top. As far as toppings go, they sky’s the limit!

Because roasted root vegetables often include more starchy or high-calorie ingredients, a big bowl of this soup is satisfying enough to constitute an entire meal. Alternatively, serve it up as a pre-course, or even during the meal itself. A curried soup can be a nice side during a meal of thali while a Moroccan-style soup could even be poured over a mound of couscous.

Heat it up really hot before school and fill a thermos to send with your child as a healthy school lunch choice – it should still be hot, but not too hot, by the time they are ready to eat it.

To me, roasted root vegetable soup is the ultimate comfort food. It’s easy and fast and is a great way to repurpose leftovers. I hope you enjoy! We enjoyed it so much I completely forgot to take a picture until it was all gone!

Roasted Root Vegetables, Three Ways

Posted on March 2, 2015 by SoarAway

Roasted Root Vegetables, Three Ways

Yesterday I posted about how to make the perfect roasted vegetables. It’s one of my go-to dishes when I am unsure of what I ought to make for dinner because it tastes great, it’s incredibly versatile, and it’s perfect leftover food for lunch the next day. Recently, I had a collection of root vegetables I decided to roast up. I had too many for just one tray, so I decided to do three trays, three different ways!

I have had people ask me about how to season the veggies when you are roasting them. The reality is, you can season them with just about any flavor combination you love. And you can cheat, too, by buying pre-mixed spice combinations like Chinese five spice or Mexican taco seasoning and using those. Yes, that is a legitimate way to get a good flavor on your roasted vegetables! Your guests will never need to know how easy it was to mix those spices up.

Just be sure to avoid liquid seasonings like teriyaki, hoisin, duck, or garlic sauce. Save those for a stir fry or for dipping some tempura vegetables in. It’s tempting to want to just drizzle on some sauce and stir it around, but often these kinds of sauce thin out when heated. The result will be a sticky gooey mess on the bottom of your roasting pan. Your vegetables will not be evenly coated and they will end up soggy. Seriously, stick with a thin coating of extra virgin olive oil and dry spices and herbs.

Of course, if you are into mixing up your own spices, feel free to do so. The vast majority of the time, I mix my own flavors and they turn out amazing. I’ve spent a lot of time testing different flavors and generally have a pretty good idea what they combine well with. When I come across a flavor I happen not to be comfortable with, I simply leave it out or experiment with it in small batches until I get a good feel for the flavor. Just two years ago, for example, I was totally unfamiliar with tarragon. It’s still not a flavor I use all that often, but now I know its uses pretty well (I love it with fish and, perhaps surprisingly, in a German potato salad). So, rule of thumb, if you’re not 100% certain the spices and herbs you’re planning on using go well A) with the vegetables you’re roasting and B) with one another, just avoid them, OR make a small batch first . Better safe than sorry!

Now that you know how to make Chinese flavored roasted vegetables (just add a tiny drizzle of Bragg’s seasoning prior to coating with olive oil, then mix in Chinese five spice mixture) and how to make Mexican flavored roasted vegetables (just mix in Mexican taco seasoning mixture), I’m going to move on to the more advanced class: Three ways I love to make my roasted vegetables.

*WARNING* I am NOT going to give amounts for each of the seasonings. It completely depends on how much you are making and how strong you want the flavor. Also, I suck at measuring things and didn’t have the patience to make these dishes several times to measure everything until I figured out the perfect amount when I could get the perfect amount the first time just by eyeballing it. Sorry!

Roasted Root Vegetables, Three Ways

These are the vegetables I used:

Potatoes
Butternut Squash/Pumpkin
Sweet Potato
Rutabaga/Swede
Turnip
Parsnip
Carrot
Daikon Radish
Onion

(There is also garlic in these, but I didn’t use it for all of the mixes, only one.)

First you have to chop up your vegetables, then toss them in olive oil. If you don’t know how to do this, please follow my tutorial on how to make the perfect roasted root vegetables.

The instructions for all of the following spice mixes is the same: Add the spices/herbs to your oil-coated vegetables, mix to coat, then cook (again, according to the tutorial – I’m not going to repeat myself a zillion times here. I have two whiny kids begging me to take them to the park!).

Italian Style

Serve this one with some white fish poached in wine and some whole wheat garlic bread.

Fresh garlic cloves (whole or sliced/diced/mashed – up to you)
Basil
Oregano
Rosemary
Thyme
Black Pepper
(Salt – optional)

Indian Style

Serve this one with a pot of dahl and coconut and lime whole grain basmati rice.

Curry Powder
Garam Masala (mild – unless your kids like spicy food)
Garlic Powder
Ginger Powder
Organic Flaked Coconut OR cubed fresh young coconut
(Salt – optional)

Moroccan Style

Serve this one with some eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and couscous with raisins and pine nuts.

Cumin
Coriander
(Sweet) Paprika (again, unless you have kids with asbestos mouths)
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Ginger Powder
Diced Preserved Lemon

I hope you enjoy these three suggestions for good roasted root vegetable seasonings! They make great meals and also make good lunches and fillings for wraps to send to school with your kids.

If you have your own favorite spice combo, please share!

Roasted Vegetables: A Healthy Meal How-To

Posted on March 1, 2015 by SoarAway

Roasted Vegetables: A Healthy Meal How-To

Roasted vegetables sounds like the easiest healthy meal/side dish in the world. And in some respects, it is. It is simple to prepare, highly versatile, and is usually very healthy. But there are a lot of ways to roast vegetables, some better than others. This is a guide for how to make the very best healthy roasted vegetables.

What Vegetables?

Before making roasted vegetables, you have to ask yourself what kind of veggies you want to roast. Do you want it to have a more savory flavor or more sweet? Do you want to do winter/root vegetables or summer vegetables? You can’t just mix and match any vegetables. Some cook slower and others faster, plus some flavors just go together better.

Some vegetables can go either way, which I tend to think of as onions (especially yellow/white/brown/Spanish onions for winter vegetable roasts and red onions for summer vegetable roasts) and garlic primarily. Tomatoes can also be nice in a winter vegetable roast, especially if you’re planning to puree it into soup later. I find eggplant can also go either way. If you do want to mix it up a bit, for instance to mix carrots in with “summer” vegetables, put them in to roast for a while before adding your other vegetables. For the most part, however, I divide vegetables into “summer” and “winter” vegetables, although there may be some crossover as to when the veggies are actually in season.

Winter Vegetables
Winter vegetables tend to be hard vegetables that take a bit longer to cook. The ones in bold below are especially sweet and can be mixed in with a more savory mixture or selected on their own to make a sweet mix that will appeal to kids’ sweet tooth palates.

Carrots
Parsnip
Turnip
Rutabaga/Swede
Celeriac/Celery Root
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Beets
Pumpkin/Butternut/Winter Squash
Kholrabi
Radish/Daikon
Yam
Cassava/Yuca/Manioc
Jerusalem Artichoke/Sunchoke

Summer Vegetables
Summer vegetables tend to be softer, quicker to cook, and more varied in type.

String Beans/Green Beans/Wax Beans
Asparagus
Summer Squash/Button Squash
Zucchini
Tomatoes/Cherry Tomatoes/Grape Tomatoes/Heirloom Tomatoes
Eggplant
Corn
Capsicum/Bell Pepper
Sweet Mini Peppers
Spring Onions
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Brussels Sprouts

Unusual Additions
Some foods are not “traditional” additions to a tray of roasted vegetables, but can actually complement a tray of roasted vegetables, make it “pop,” or become a great talking point. If you’re making a savory dish, adding one sweet or tart element, like fruit or berries, creates an added flavor dimension that takes a dish above and beyond. Who says roasted vegetables have to be simple or boring?! For instance, adding sliced star fruit into a tray of green and red summer vegetables will be both visually and flavorfully appealing, but will also be a great talking point around the table.

Baby Bok Choy
Celery
Cucumbers (salt first to draw out extra moisture)
Olives/Capers
Berries (Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries)
Figs
Peaches
Pineapple
Apple
Grapes
Tofu
Tempeh
Seitan

Cut Them Up

Cutting up veggies to roast sounds simple, but some techniques are better than others. I used to just roughly chop up vegetables into big bite-sized pieces, but after having kids I realized this was less than ideal. Not only did it mean I had to cut them up further for my kids, but uneven sized meant some small pieces were overcooked while other big pieces were undercooked. If you’re just planning to whiz them into soup, this won’t matter, but if you actually want to eat your roast vegetables, you need consistency. Ideally, you want all pieces about the same size and you want them small enough for your kids.

I use a Vidalia Chop Wizard to attain an even dice on all hard vegetables. The cubes it makes are always the same size and are perfectly bite-sized for babies and toddlers. Because they are smaller, they cook a faster, but it is so easy to use that you won’t have to spend lots of time chopping your vegetables. I just slice them and then push them through my Vidalia Chop Wizard. I have been using this thing for at least 10 years now and it’s still going. I have tried other brands, but I’m nowhere near as enthusiastic about them. This one, I would actually buy again. It’s cheap and it saves me loads of chopping time. And it is apparently indestructible. What’s not to love?

For summer vegetables, I just try my best to get them in bite-size pieces all of approximately the same size. I might slice beans and asparagus all into one-inch pieces. Zucchini I will slice lengthwise in quarters and then slice into sticks or chunks depending on how skinny my zucchini are. (Zucchini are my favorite summer vegetable. LOVE their versatility!).

Seasoning

I use a huge variety of seasonings and I tend to season winter and summer vegetables differently. In fact, seasoning roasted vegetables really merits its own post, which I think I’ll save for tomorrow.

The most important part of seasoning roasted vegetables is getting the right amount of oil on. You want just enough to lightly coat them. Too little and your veggies will become too dried out. Too much and you’ll have a disgusting oily layer at the bottom of your pan. I used to just dump a whole bunch of oil on top of the vegetables in the pan and hope for the best. The best was never what I got. No, to get the right result, you really must season first in another bowl where you can thoroughly toss your vegetables. I always used my hands so I can get a literal feel for how much oil is on my vegetables. As a rule, I add just a couple of tablespoons, mix, and add more if necessary to coat. By tossing in a separate bowl, you can make sure oil and seasonings are evenly distributed, but you also avoid gross roasted vegetables if too much oil goes in. Just leave the extra at the bottom of the bowl when you transfer to a baking tray/pan. (Don’t just dump the vegetables in – spoon them or scoop them in.)

At their most basic, season your vegetables with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Roasted vegetables caramelize nicely so they really have amazing flavors on their own, which just need a note of salt to highlight. As I said above, you can season with all sorts of flavors, herbs, and spices, but that’s for another post…

Now Roast Them!

For root vegetables chopped small, I will fill a whole tray with them – they shrink as they cook – and I won’t worry about even trying to do a single layer. I then mix them up during the cooking process so that as the top layer gets a nice caramelized brown color, I mix it to put the bottom layer on top. This ensures the nice crunchy caramelized bits are distributed throughout and nothing burns. Summer vegetables, on the other hand, I always try to get in as much of a single layer as I can, because they tend to be more watery types of vegetables and benefit from having more access to the air circulating in the oven.

You want to get the temperature such that it is hot enough to cook the vegetables but not so hot it burns them before they have time to caramelize. I generally cook mine at 180 C fan forced or 200 C if not (Americans should use 400 F). Root vegetables take 45-60 minutes to cook through if they are chopped small or 60-75 minutes if chopped large. Summer vegetables generally take 30-45 minutes.

Serve Them

Roasted vegetables are delicious as a side dish, but I also use them as a main so they can be the star of the show. Starchy winter vegetables are hearty enough to really fill you up. Pair them with a less conventional grain dish, like polenta, quinoa, or even couscous. Roast some marinated tofu or tempeh in the oven at the same time or add cubed tofu or tempeh to your roasted vegetable dish and you’ll have a complete meal.

Roasted vegetables are also good cold. This makes them an ideal part of a school lunch. Both winter and summer vegetable roasts are good cold and lend themselves to becoming portions of a school lunch. You can also send them as filling in a wrap or, rather than using a grain-based wrap, make a flat omelet and wrap that around your roasted vegetables for a high-protein lunch option. This is where the small dice method really comes in handy – it is just the perfect size and shape for filling wraps and omelets!

So go ahead, enjoy your perfectly roasted vegetables. Winter or summer, hot or cold, they are a delicious and nutritious addition to your kids’ diet. Remember, even if your kids are vegetable-averse, you can tempt them by doing a sweet mixture, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut, and beets with apples or peaches mixed in. Delicious, nutritious, and kid friendly! Yay!

(Raw) Vegan Gluten Free Pizza Crackers

Posted on February 28, 2015 by SoarAway

(Raw) Vegan Gluten Free Pizza Crackers

Maybe it is because I am a child of the 80’s that I remember eating pizza-flavored crackers as I grew up. I’m probably thinking of the Combos Pizzeria Pretzel, pizza flavored bugles crackers, or the inimitable Combos Pepperoni Pizza Cracker, although the thought of pepperoni-flavored anything pretty much freaks me out now. Still, I love pizza and it is probably one of my favorite foods. So what could be better than a pizza-flavored snack? A healthy pizza-flavored snack, of course!

Carrots, beets, and red capsicum/bell pepper cut up and ready to be juiced.

So here it is, the ultimate snack of goodness that your kids will love because it tastes like pizza and that you will love because there is nothing that could even remotely be construed as unhealthy in it. That’s right, they are vegan, gluten-free, raw (if you keep the temperature on your oven below 115 F/46 C), fat-free, and they are even kosher enough for the strictest of Passover-keeping Jews (and there is no diet more strict than that – they make gluten free and paleo look like wimps). I am honestly convinced that this recipe is the snack recipe to end all snack recipes. Because it is made of amazing.

Add spices to juice pulp to flavor it. When the pulp is dehydrated, the flavor concentrates and makes these crackers FULL of flavor!

The key ingredient in this recipe is juice pulp, so you actually kind of get a two-for-one deal in this recipe. Sure, you get a crunchy snack cracker that tastes like pizza, but you also get some super healthy (and yummy) juice to drink. It really is an all-around winner.

Juice pulp and spice mix spread on a baking tray, ready to be dehydrated into crackers

Vegan Gluten-Free Pizza Crackers

Ingredients

4-5 packed cups juice pulp from red/orange veggies (I used carrots, beets, and red capsicum/bell pepper)
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
1 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tsp rubbed oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt (I use pink himalayan salt)

Instructions

Juice your vegetables and discard the juice. Just kidding! Drink the juice and keep the pulp to make these crackers.
Mix all ingredients. I recommend using your hands to ensure all ingredients are evenly distributed and to break up any clumps of pulp.
Using the flat of your palm, press pulp mixture evenly onto 2 cookie trays lined with baking/wax paper. Depending on how thick you want your crackers to be, this will fill 2 medium or 2 medium-large trays (or 1 giant tray). Alternately, press into the trays provided with your dehydrator.
If you are making thicker crackers, score the pulp with a knife so you can break the crackers apart easily later.
Optionally sprinkle top of crackers with sea salt.
Place the trays in your oven on the lowest setting. I use 50 C fan forced, but keep it below 46 C if you are going for a raw option. (Although this designation makes me confused, as it definitely gets above 46C in the Aussie outback on a regular basis, so I suppose nothing grown there could be considered raw… but I digress.) Bake until crispy. Times vary depending on your oven, settings, and thickness of the crackers. I make mine quite thin and with fan force on it takes only 3 hours to fully dehydrate these crackers. If you are doing thicker crackers, do not have fan force, or use a centrifugal juicer that does not get out as much juice as a masticating juicer, it may well take 5 hours to complete this.
Break apart crackers and test. If you made thicker crackers, break on the lines you scored. If you made thinner crackers like I do, you will find they have shrunk and cracked on their own during the dehydrating process. They won’t be perfect little squares, but who cares when they taste so good?! If crackers are not crunchy and brittle, return to the oven and check again in 30-60 minutes.
Enjoy crackers on their own or with toppings that pair well with pizza, like sliced olives, sun dried tomatoes, etc. Store extra crackers in an airtight plastic container or ziplock bag.

Variations

Finely chop up “pizza” toppings and mix them in. My favorite is olives but other toppings such as sun dried tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, roasted red bell peppers/capsicum, crumbled tofu, mushrooms, tempeh, or vegetarian meat substitutes. Be sure not to overdo it with the “toppings” as you still want your crackers to be crackers!
Change the spices added. These crackers really smell and taste like actual Italian pizza, but mixing in other flavors like basil won’t hurt. Or change the spice mixture completely, swapping for instance with Mexican spice mix to make “taco” crackers.

The final juice pulp crackers have a nice reddish-orange color that suits their pizza flavor. They’re very high in fiber and also have lots of great nutrition. Because they are so highly concentrated, they also have a delicious flavor – you will be really surprised!

I hope your kids love these crackers as much as mine do! I’ve actually had to restrict my older toddler from eating too many or he’ll eat the whole lot of them. Of course, if you have a child who suffers from constipation, eating the whole lot of crackers might be a good move – these snacks will keep your kids very regular! But given that most kids today do not enough enough fiber, these crunchy crackers are a really healthy addition to your kids’ diets. In fact, even my “big kid” had been sneaking crackers from their box constantly – and he’s the one who’s supposed to be doing a juice fast!

Easy Fat-Free Vegan Tomato Soup

Posted on February 26, 2015 by SoarAway

Easy Fat-Free Vegan Tomato Soup

Given the recent study that was released, showing a low-fat vegan diet is the best way to reduce heart disease risk factors in children, I thought it is a great time to showcase one of my family’s staple meals: tomato soup. If you’re like me, you grew up with tomato soup as the ultimate comfort food. When I was a kid, I would have a can of Campbell’s tomato soup with a buttery grilled cheese sandwich and it would warm up my whole world. Today, I make my own, homemade tomato soup, which takes just about the same amount of effort as the canned version, but is much, much healthier. Instead of an unhealthy sandwich of refined white bread holding together a clump of gooey animal fats, I ladle my homemade comfort soup over brown rice and voila! I have instant, healthy, completely fat-free vegan comfort food for the whole family.

Before making this soup, I toss all the tomatoes I need to use up in a big tub of water and wash them as I go. You can use up any type of tomatoes you have around, and can even use up tomatoes that are older, going mushy, or have bad spots (just cut them out).

One of the biggest complaints in the heart disease study I examined yesterday was that vegan foods with no added fat were more expensive and difficult to find. I believe that if people only knew how easy it is to replicate traditional unhealthy processed foods at home they would no longer rely on the processed versions. Tomato soup is amazing and it is also amazingly easy to make a delicious version to rival anything you can get in a can.

Begin by adding onion (then garlic) to the bottom of your soup maker or pot. Normally I add a tablespoon or two of extra virgin olive oil but for this no added fat version I simply omit that step. Because the entire soup cooks together in broth, rather than sauteeing the onion and garlic in oil first, the oil is purely optional.

I guess I have become a bit of a tomato soup connoisseur. I have tried and tested dozens of tomato soup recipes. Some I like better, some less. My all-time favorite tomato soup recipe is one I picked up from the cookbook “Market Vegetarian: Easy Organic Recipes for Every Occasion” by Ross Dobson. It’s a bit more time consuming, however, with the added step of roasting the vegetables prior to turning them into soup. When I was single, I was happy to take that extra step, but as a busy mom… who has time for that?! I want tomato soup, I want it now, and I don’t want to spend more than 5 minutes of active time making it!

I add fresh tomatoes to my soup maker up to the fill line before adding broth.

I will admit this is a bit of a cheat recipe for me. One day nearly two years ago, my husband came home with a masticating slow juicer and a surprise – a soup maker! At the time we joked that it was a “wife replacer” because my husband is obsessed with soup, so we have soup as a meal almost every day of the week, especially when the weather is cool, but even frequently when the weather is hot. I asked him why I would need such an item when I make so much soup on the stove. But I have since changed my tune. While I still make a lot of my soups on the stove or in my trusty crock pot, the soup maker has become my go-to for quick soups. This recipe is one example of a recipe I love to just toss in and let go, but if you don’t have a soup maker, don’t worry. I’ll provide easy instructions. It might take an extra couple of minutes of time, but it still won’t be much more involvement than making a can of soup would be!

The finished tomato soup in the soup maker, still frothy from being blended just 1 minutes ago, but a bright red color and smelling great! My mouth is watering!

One thing I love about this recipe is that you can use up whatever tomatoes are around. If I end up with a lot of tomatoes that are just too ripe to make salad with, into this soup they go. If I have a few tomatoes with spots, I cut them out and toss the good parts in the pot. If I have too many tomatoes or if they are in season and I can pick up a case for cheap, I make a massive quantity of this soup and into the freezer it goes for future consumption on a lazy day. My baby is obsessed with tomatoes, so anything that tastes like tomatoes is an instant winner with him.

Are you saying I need to give up my tomato for the paleo diet?!

I love tomatoes, in any form!

Another great thing about this recipe is that it is really versatile. You can mix it up and add in all sorts of different flavors and even different ingredients. You can make it thicker or thinner. You can add fat or not. You can add dairy or not. Or you can just make it as is. After all, it only calls for four ingredients! What’s not to love?!

Easy Vegan Tomato Soup

Ingredients

10-12 tomatoes (depending on size)
1/2 medium onion, preferably red
2 large cloves garlic
~2 cups vegetable broth
(pinch salt, if your broth is a low-sodium version)

Instructions

(Optional) Put 2 cups of brown rice and 4 cups of water in a rice cooker and set to cook.
Quarter your onion half, peel your garlic, and add them to your pot (or soup maker).
Quarter your tomatoes – approximately 12 roma tomatoes, 9 vine ripened, or 6 beef tomatoes. If using giant beef tomatoes, you should cut them in eights instead of quarters.
Add tomatoes to the pot and add broth to just below the tomatoes (not too much unless you want a very watery soup). If your broth is low sodium, you should add a pinch of salt here. Salt helps bring out the flavor of tomatoes.
Plug in soup maker, set on “smooth” setting, and go relax until it beeps.
Put on the stovetop on medium-high and cook for approximately 30 minutes. Watch to be sure it does not boil over – if it begins to boil reduce to a simmer. Stir at 20 and 25 minute marks.
Pour soup into a blender and blend until smooth, approximately 1 minute.
Place a mound of brown rice in a bowl, pour soup over, and serve.

Variations

If you’re not going for the fat-free version, I find a small amount of oil can help make this soup taste a bit more creamy. Add 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of the pot before adding all your other ingredients.
Try a red pepper and tomato soup. I know this is a flavor of soup I’ve seen in the organic brands at places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Just substitute a red capsicum/bell pepper for a couple of the tomatoes. You don’t need more than one really big one or two smaller ones to get a good flavor.
Add fresh herbs. Almost any fresh herbs will work – tomatoes are so versatile and seem to work in pretty much any cuisine I’ve ever found. Toss in some leaves of fresh basil just before blending. Fresh oregano, rosemary, and thyme are great. Add a nice big sprig of rosemary or thyme and remove just before blending, or sprinkle just a bit on top and blend it in. Or try dried herb blends, like an Italian herb blend.
Add spices. Spice mixes give a fantastic foreign dimension to this all too traditional American soup. Add some curry powder, moroccan spice mix, or even Mexican taco seasoning for an all-new experience.
Add some dairy. Keep it vegan by topping your bowl of soup with some cashew sour cream, or splurge and go for the real thing. Or sprinkle some cheddar or shredded pepper jack cheese on top. Mix cream or whole (full cream) milk throughout before serving to turn it into a cream of tomato soup.
Double, triple, quadruple this recipe… it freezes well and doesn’t take much effort to double. You will need to extend the cooking time before blending so the increased amount of liquid and vegetables come to the right temperature. Once it comes to a boil, reduce and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring 10 and 15 minutes into the simmering.

I hope you can see that this soup is soup-er easy (I couldn’t resist). It is also incredibly versatile. I think it tastes just as good as the tinned kind – no, better! Because it’s made with fresh tomatoes, it has that mouthwatering fresh flavor no tinned version ever could. And with all the possible variations your family will never get bored. You can play with the flavor variations endlessly!

For families with kids in school, consider making this in the morning and sending it for lunch in a thermos. In a good thermos it should still be hot enough to eat at lunchtime. Send it with a container of brown rice on the side your child can spoon in as they go. In other parts of the world, soup for lunch is a standard, but in western society it is much less common. Your child will no doubt really enjoy the change!

I hope you enjoy this easy and tasty recipe. Please let me know what variations you have tried and how you like them!

New Study Shows Vegan Diet Reduces Heart Disease Risk in Kids

Posted on February 25, 2015 by SoarAway

New Study Shows Vegan Diet Reduces Heart Disease Risk in Kids

We think of our children as immune to certain diseases we associate with old age. We don’t expect them to get arthritis or to have a stroke. Yet, sadly, with childhood obesity on the rise, more and more of our children are at risk for heart disease. Just as type 2 (once called “adult onset”) diabetes has become commonplace among the youth of today, risk factors for heart disease are on the rise in younger and younger children. The good news is, you can turn it around, and it’s easier than you think.

Earlier this month a study came out in The Journal of Pediatrics showing just how powerful switching to a healthy diet is. Researchers wanted to evaluate how effective different diets were at reducing risk factors for heart disease in children. Many studies of this nature have been done on adults, but this one is specifically targeting precursors of heart disease in children, which I have mentioned before is an increasing concern, with 70% of obese 5-7 year old kids exhibiting at least one risk factor for heart disease.

The current mainstream guidelines for reducing heart disease risk are those put forth by the American Heart Association (AHA). While many doctors and individuals have long criticized their standards as being far from sufficiently rigorous, the AHA has been loathe to further restrict their recommended diet. Perhaps they are concerned that being too strict will frighten people away from keeping to the recommendations. But in the meantime, their diet is far from ideal. So, what exactly are the AHA recommendations?

Choose foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugars and sweeteners. As part of a healthy diet, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, fiber-rich whole grains, fish (preferably oily fish — at least twice per week), nuts, legumes and seeds. Also try eating some meals without meat. Select fat-free and low-fat dairy products and lean meats and poultry (skinless). Limit sugar-sweetened beverages.

On the AHA diet, which is definitely healthier than the average diet, kids did see their diets improve and become healthier. But how much healthier? 1/3 – 30% – of their calories were still coming from fats, although less than 7% of those calories came from harmful saturated fats. Because they reduced meat intake, daily cholesterol intake dropped to less than 300 mg/day. Sodium intake also dropped to 1,500 mg/day.

To determine if this diet is truly the ideal in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease in children, researchers, led by Dr. Michael Macknin, tested both the AHA diet and an alternate vegan diet. He and his team of researchers selected 28 obese children between the ages of 9 and 18 to participate in the study, which ran for 4 weeks. They then randomly selected children to participate in one of the two diets. At least one parent of each child in the study was also required to stick to the diet. This makes it much easier for kids to stick to the diet, follow through with the study, and maintain a positive attitude. The addition of this provision is actually a good example of what I repeatedly have said: Lead your kids by example. If you want to inspire healthy kids, you need to also be eating a healthy diet! Participants in the study also attended two-hour educational nutrition information sessions once per week, which affirms again what I have repeatedly said: Kids need to be educated about how food affects their health so they will be motivated to make healthy decisions.

What was the vegan diet like? Children on the vegan diet were given plants and whole grains, although they limited their intake of fatty plant foods, like nuts and avocados. They were given no animal products and no added fat was used in food preparation.

As a result, and no doubt in spite of a bit of cheating and leniency, consumption of animal proteins dropped from an average 42 grams per day to just 2.24 grams per day. The percentage of calories from fat was just 18% (compared to 30% for the AHA diet), with only 3.6% coming from saturate fats (compared to 7% on the AHA diet). Clearly, the vegan diet is a dramatically healthier diet than the AHA guidelines, if we look just at nutritional intakes. (Of course not all nutritional values for foods were tested, but we can easily make an educated guess that those children on the vegan diet were consuming more vitamins and minerals, as their diets included more nutrient dense vegetable and whole grain ingredients.)

What were the results of the study?

Children on PB had 9 and children on AHA had 4 statistically significant (P < .05) beneficial changes from baseline (mean decreases): body mass index z-score^PB (−0.14), systolic blood pressure^PB (−6.43 mm Hg), total cholesterol^PB(−22.5 mg/dL), low-density lipoprotein^PB (−13.14 mg/dL), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein^PB (−2.09 mg/L), insulin^PB(−5.42 uU/mL), myeloperoxidase^PB/AHA (−75.34/69.23 pmol/L), mid-arm circumference^PB/AHA (−2.02/−1.55 cm), weight^PB/AHA (−3.05/−1.14 kg), and waist circumference^AHA (−2.96 cm). Adults on PB and AHA had 7 and 2, respectively, statistically significant (P < .05) beneficial changes. The significant change favoring AHA was a 1% difference in children’s waist circumference. Difficulty shopping for food for the PB was the only statistically significant acceptability barrier.

In layman’s terms, this means that kids on the plant-based diet showed significant improvement in nine different categories: body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, insulin, myeloperoxidase, mid-arm circumference, weight, and waist circumference. High sensitivity C-reactive protein is one measure of inflammation in the body and is a major indicator of heart disease risk. Myeloperoxidase is an enzyme necessary for healthy body function, but in elevated levels is associated with risk for coronary artery disease,* to the point that high levels over a 13-year period was shown to have more than doubled the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.**

In contrast, children on the AHA diet showed statistically significant improvement in only four areas: mid-arm circumference, weight, waist circumference, and myeloperoxidase. Clearly, the vegan diet was more effective in reducing risk factors for heart disease. However, the AHA diet did show a 1% change in waist circumference, which shows it was good for losing weight in the right places. On the other hand, the vegan diet resulted in greater health benefits even if those benefits were more internal than external.

(If you are an adult reading this and want to reap the benefits, you can. Children’s bodies are more reactive to changes in their diet than adults, so they show more significant results more quickly, but adults also showed major benefits. On the plant based diet, adults benefits in seven of the risk factor areas, while on the AHA diet they benefited in two of the risk factor areas. If you put your child on one of these diets and you join him/her, you will also stand to gain – or, in this case, to lose! Haha!)

Dr. Macknin’s conclusion was:

As the number of obese children with high cholesterol continues to grow, we need to have effective lifestyle modifications to help them reverse their risk factors for heart disease.

We’ve known that plant-based diets are beneficial in adults in preventing and possibly reversing heart disease. This study shows that the same may be true in children too, though more studies are needed.

Of course this study was limited in scope, as not many children were tested. Also, the study ran only for four weeks. But just think about that! Statistically significant benefits in nine areas were found in children on a plant based diet in just four weeks! That’s such a short time. It is really amazing.

The one complaint participants on the low-fat vegan diet had was that food was expensive and difficult to find. It does not need to be this way. Of course if you are buying convenience foods, it will be more of a challenge and more expensive. Processed foods in the vegan market are niche, and fat-free vegan foods even more so. I would suggest that more foods be made at home and less processed foods consumed, to take a page out of the paleo diet book.

We shop in bulk at farmer’s markets, often going once a week to stock up on fruits and vegetables. I then use these to make healthy meals for my family. Perhaps tomorrow I will post a recipe for an easy fat-free vegan tomato soup. I often make big batches of this comfort food when tomatoes are in season and freeze containers for use later in the year. I find prices in farmer’s markets are 30%-50% lower than in supermarkets, I can support local farmers directly, and the food is more fresh. On my last trip to the farmer’s market, I got 10 kg (22 lb) organic grapes for $10! In the US, some farmer’s markets are even offering to double food stamps, so even people on food stamps can take advantage of the findings in this fantastic study.

With childhood obesity on the rise, we as parents have the power to combat it. It’s not as hard as it might seem – even if you cut back and begin to follow the AHA guidelines, your child will benefit. Go gradually and slowly transition to a more plant-based diet. Even I cannot claim to be vegan (we eat a small amount of dairy and a tiny amount of fish once a week, but lots and lots of eggs), but take the steps you can in the right direction and it will only benefit you and your kids. I know if my kids showed one of these risk factors for heart disease, or showed signs of obesity, I would not hesitate for a moment to switch to an even healthier diet than the one we are currently on. We all have to start somewhere! Go ahead, take the plunge – or at least the first step – in the vegan direction!

*Zhang R, Brennan ML, Fu X, Aviles RJ, Pearce GL, Penn MS, Topol EJ, Sprecher DL, Hazen SL (November 2001). “Association between myeloperoxidase levels and risk of coronary artery disease”. JAMA 286 (17): 2136–42.doi:10.1001/jama.286.17.2136

**Heslop CL, Frohlich JJ, Hill JS (March 2010). “Myeloperoxidase and C-reactive protein have combined utility for long-term prediction of cardiovascular mortality after coronary angiography”. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 55 (11): 1102–9.doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.11.050

Inspire Healthy Kids

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Easy Fat-Free Vegan Tomato Soup

New Study Shows Vegan Diet Reduces Heart Disease Risk in Kids

Seitan

Tempeh

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)

Tofu

Forget the Substitutes

Happy Holidays!

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What is Carnism?

Carnism and Health

Beyond carnism and toward rational, authentic food choices by Melanie Joy at TEDxMünchen

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