Lindsay J. Griffin - Favourites

Vegan & Vegetarian Cookbooks

Becoming Vegan
by Brenda Davis & Vesanto Melina

Best of Lord Krishna's Cuisine, The
by Yamuna Devi

Cooking Vegetarian
by Vesanto Melina & Joseph Forest

The Garden of Vegan and How it all Vegan!
by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

Juice for Life
by Ruth Tal Brown

The Self-Healing Cookbook (Macrobiotic)
by Kristina Turner

Health books and websites

The Body Ecology Diet
by Donna Gates

Carbondale Centre for Macrobitoic Studies

Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care:
A Complete Program for Tissue Cleansing Through Bowel Management
by Dr.Bernard Jensen

Healing with Whole Foods: Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition
by Paul Pritchard

Prescription for Natural Healing
by Balch & Balch

Renew your Life:
Improved Digestion and Detoxification
by Brenda Watson

Alive! Natural Health Guides
(Vancouver, Canada)

Healthy Recipes (Red Lable):

#17 - Good Fats and Oils:
Why we need them and how to use them in the kitchen
by Siegfried Gursche

#36 - Smoothies and other Scrumptious Delights
by Elysa Markowitz

Lifestyles & Alternative Treatments (Orange Lable):

#25 - Good Digestion:
Your Key to Vibrant Health
by Ken Babal, CN

#33 - Choosing the Right Fats:
for Vibrant Health, Weightloss, Energy, Vitality
by Udo Erasmus

Healing Foods & Herbs (Green Lable):

#34 - Enzymes: The Sparks of Life
by Anthony J. Cichoke, DC, PhD

My History with Food Awareness

1996 - Introduced to Vegetarianism by Dharma Spirit. Became a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, began drinking herbal teas & eliminated cow's milk from diet (soymilk instead).

2003 - Tried strict vegan diet (summer) & strict macrobiotic diet (fall), but went back to Lacto-Ovo Vegetarianism, with occassional fish.

2004 - Switched from Soymilk to Rice-milk, then to Oat-milk. After a summer cleansing program, I eliminated white flour, white rice and other unhealthy things from my diet (see What to Avoid below.)

Fall 2004: Discovered the (vegetarian) Yogi-Diet: omits meat, fish & eggs and stimulants such as onions, garlic, caffeine (in any form), alchohol, drugs & cigarettes. Similar to Ayurveda Diet. (Ayurveda: The ancient Hindu science of health and medicine.)

Winter 2004: Back to lacto-ovo vegetarianism, with the occassional Salmon to get through the colder times.

Spring 2005: Same as above but no fish.

Fall 2005: I try to follow the Yogi diet - same as above. Lots of Classical Indian foods too. Since I've been cooking at/for the Sivananda Yoga Centre (once a week for a couple months now), I've been learning a lot, and eating well!

A Healthy Vegan Diet

The following is based on the Vegan Food Guide, found on page 154 of Becoming Vegan by Davis & Melina:

Organic Whole Foods:

Whole Grains: whole wheat, quionoi, buckwheat, millet, rye, barley, oats, corn, whole grain breads, sprouted wheat breads, whole grain cereals & rices (brown & any colour except white).
Veggies & Fruits (fresh & their fresh juices).
Fortified Soymilk & Alternatives (Calcium): calcium-set tofu, calcium fortified OJ, almonds/almond butter, high calcium greens, a.k.a. "dark leafy greens" (kale, collards, Chinese greens, broccoli, okra), high-calcium beans (soy, white, navy, Great Northern, black turtle), sea veggies (dry hijiki seaweed), blackstrap molasses, figs.
Beans & Bean Alternatives: Legumes (beans, lentils, peas), firm tofu/tempeh, veggie "meats", nuts & seeds & their butters, soymilk.
Other Essentials: Sources of Omega-3 Fatty Acids (flax oil, canola oil & walnuts), Vit. B12 (fortified foods & supplements) & Vit. D (sunshine, fortified foods & supplements).

What to Avoid

Refined sugars, especially white sugar (replace with honey [for non-vegans], stevia, sucanant, apple juice, etc.), white bleached flour, white rices, processed foods, bad fats (Saturated), deep fried foods/fast foods, too much table salt (Sea Salt is better but not too much), junk food, alcohol, chemicals, drugs & caffeine.

Final Word

You are what you eat!

... Back to Favourites Index