books

If you are new to veganism, and thinking about getting pregnant then this book is for you!

About the author

Dr. Reed Mangels is a registered dietitian with a doctorate degree in nutrition. She is one of the leading experts of vegan nutrition in the world, and specialises in vegan nutrition for children. She is vegan herself, and has raised both her daughters vegan, who are now all grown up and still vegan.

Dr. Reed Mangels is the Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Nutrition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a free-lance writer and speaker. Since the 1980’s she has been a Nutrition Advisor for the The Vegetarian Resource Group and the Nutrition Editor for the Vegetarian Journal.

She is the author and/or co-author of numerous papers and books about veganism, including the American Dietetic Association’s position paper on vegan and vegetarian diets, Vegan & Vegetarian FAQ (2001), The Dietitian’s Guide to Vegetarian Diets (2004), The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book (2011) and this book.

About the book

Your Complete Vegan Pregnancy (ISBN 978-1-5072-1019-2) was first published in 2019 by Simon & Schuster Inc. The book starts of with some info about the vegan diet, vegan foods, vegan nutrients, health benefits and discusses the various reasons people go vegan. It also covers all the different aspects of getting ready for your vegan pregnancy, and even includes a section about talking to your healthcare provider about your vegan diet.

Part 2 is all about what to eat for a healthy pregnancy and includes info about protein, zinc, iron, Vitamin B, Folic Acid, DHA and Iodine. Part 3 is all about the vegan lifestyle and includes a vegan food guide for pregnancy, menu planning advice, vegan shopping and ingredients, and foods to avoid. The last chapter in Part 3 is all about living vegan while pregnant and includes concerned family members and non-vegan partners.

Part 4 covers each trimester of a vegan pregnancy including labour and delivery. There’s even a birth plan checklist at the back of the book. The final Part of the book has 50+ vegan recipes you can use before, during and after pregnancy.

If you have been vegan for a while and do a lot of research about vegan pregnancy then you might already know a lot of the info in this book. I still think this is a great resource for vegans who’d like to pregnant as well as vegans who are already pregnant.

Where to buy?

You can buy the kindle (paperless) version of this book on Amazon or get a physical copy from your local bookstore. If they don’t have it, give them the title or ISBN number 978-1-5072-1019-2 and ask them to order it for you.

Have you read this book? Do you have any other book recommendations? Let me know on Facebook and Instagram. If you would like some info about my green vegan lifestyle and the vegan products I use, please take some time and browse through my blog. I have a section where I post recipes I’ve created, or you could browse through the food and drinks section. Alternatively, you could head on over to the body & beauty OR home & garden section to see what products I personally use on myself and at home.

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Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with my posts and the upcoming DIY’s!

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Although people’s interest in the vegan lifestyle has grown in popularity in recent years, especially since COVID-19, the Vegan Society was created a very long time ago, back in 1944. People across the world, have lived a vegan lifestyle even before then. What’s even more amazing to me is that the 3 main reasons (animals, health & the environment) for being vegan are equally old.

There were many definitions of veganism but it was not until 1979 that the definition of veganism that we know today was created by The Vegan Society: “a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment.”

I found this vegan cookbook at the Tears Animal Charity Shop. It is 36 years old, a year older than I am. It is filled with Vegan recipes and also includes some information about the Vegan lifestyle.

Animals

On the Introduction page of The Vegan Diet the authors, David Scott & Claire Golding state: “There are three main reasons for following this diet. First, by following a vegan diet we cease contributing to the exploitation and cruelty suffered by animals reared for their flesh and products. This reason is particularly relevant now that such suffering has become an intrinsic, if not intended, part of modern factory-farming methods.”

I did a quick google search and found that Factory Farming started in the 1960’s. This way of farming animals is not new, and the Sentience Institute estimates that 90% of the world’s farmed animals are in factory farms, 31.0 billion of which are land animals and 38.8 to 215.9 billion are fish. Even though this is the reality of the world we live in, so many people still don’t realise the immense suffering that happens every day to these animals.

Health

The Vegan Diet Introduction continues: “Second, we benefit nutritionally because the naturally balanced food we eat, so long as it is not refined, is low in fats and cholesterol and not over-rich in protein. Further, plant food does not contain the chemicals that are fed to animals to ensure that their flesh is of the right colour and tenderness, at the right time, for the market place, thus ensuring the optimum yield per unit according the amount of money invested.”

We have learned a lot more since then. There is overwhelming scientific evidence that proves a well-balanced vegan diet has a large range of health benefits and has the power to reduce the risk of various chronic diseases.

Since the 1980’s the use of antibiotics added to factory farmed animals has increased immensely, and in some countries 80% of medical antibiotics are fed to animals. This has contributed to the development of antibiotic resistance, as Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 2017 “A lack of effective antibiotics is as serious a security threat as a sudden and deadly disease outbreak,”.

COVID-19 is believed to be a zoonotic disease, which is a disease that originated from animals and was transferred to humans. There are currently over 200 types of zoonosis with coronaviruses, the plague, rabies, lyme disease being some of the most well-known. The WHO warns that over 70% of emerging diseases may come from wild animals.

When you consider that the underlying risk factors for COVID-19 severity and death is obesity, heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and chronic pulmonary disease, which can all be prevented or reversed by eating a vegan diet, then this really is the perfect time for a global shift towards a vegan diet. Globally since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there has been an accelerated rise in people switching to a vegan diet.

Environment

Lastly the Vegan Diet Introduction states: “Third, the vegan diet contributes to a better use of the land available for growing food. Animal farming is an extravagant and ecologically unsound use of our resources. Many of the world’s food problems could be alleviated if land devoted to animal rearing was turned over to plant-food cultivation.”

According to Our World In Data, half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture, 77% of which is used to feed livestock. We know that the livestock industry is destroying the planet as it contributes to deforestation, species extinction, water pollution, air pollution, global warming, desertification, erosion and greenhouse gases, to name a few environmental issues.

Currently it is estimated that livestock are responsible for 14.5 % of global greenhouse gases (GHG) which is almost as much as the transportation industry which is 15-20%. Given the environmental crisis we are facing it is of utmost importance to turn to what is on our plates, for the solution.

My thoughts

On the one hand it makes me sad to think that for decades we have known the environmental, health, ethical and moral implications of eating animals, and have had resources like this vegan cookbook, yet as a species we continue to consume animals. On the other hand, since going vegan in 2011 I have personally witnessed a global shift towards a vegan diet, although to be honest, it is a lot slower than I’d hoped. My own vegan journey started from an environmental and ethical stand point, and not long after, it also included the undeniable health benefits which I’ve seen in myself.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you in a comment on Instagram or Facebook.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with my posts! If you end up trying this product, after reading about it for the first time here, please tag me and let me know what you think. Remember to hashtag it  #thegreenveganchick

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“When my right arm fell off, I knew what to do. I stuck it back on, with vegetable glue.” Vegetable glue is a very cute children’s story with a message about the importance of eating vegetables.

The book

In this story vegetable glue, which is what you get when you eat your veggies, literally keeps the pieces of your body stuck together. 😜 I found this board book at a second hand book shop called The Book Shoppe in Tokai. The book was published by Meadowside Children’s book and was printed in China.

The illustrations are beautiful and the story is fun and quirky. It is meant for toddlers but I really enjoyed it so much when I read it in the shop that I had to buy it. Maybe one day I’ll get to read it to my future kids.

When my head rolled away, I thought it had gone, But I found it again, And stuck it back on.

Vegetable Glue

The Author & The illustrator

Vegetable Glue is written by Susan Chandler, a children’s book writer from The UK. The beautiful illustrations in the book was created by Elena Odriozola, a Spanish illustrator of children’s books.

Where to buy?

You should be able to order this book from your local book store. Just give them the book title and the ISBN no. and ask them to order it for you. (ISBN 978-1-84539-299-4). If you struggle with the title try this alternative title instead: What I do with vegetable glue.

Have you come across any similar books? I’d love to know. I’ll be adding more children’s books soon! If you would like some info about my green vegan lifestyle and the vegan products I use, please take some time and browse through my blog. I have a section where I post recipes I’ve created, or you could browse through the food and drinks section. Alternatively, you could head on over to the body & beauty OR home & garden section to see what products I personally use on myself and at home.

Let’s get Social!

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with my posts and the upcoming DIY’s! 

© the green vegan chick. All images & content are copyright protected. Please follow my Sharing Policy if you would like to use or share any part of this post.

Bea Johnson’s book Zero Waste Home is a practical guide to zero waste, based on Bea’s personal experience living a zero-waste life with her family. Bae wrote this book so she could share what she has learned with the hopes of inspiring others to start their own zero waste journey. 

About the Zero-Waste Lifestyle

Zero Waste is all about reducing the amount of waste you are responsible for, reusing wherever possible, and only using recycling and eco-bricking as a last resort. 

Bea Johnson is known as the founder of the Zero Waste Lifestyle Movement. But just like most other zero wasters, Bea started out her life with “shelves full of things you only use once and then throw away.” 

About the author

Bae and her family used to live in a big house filled with all of their stuff. They decided to make a change, and move to a neighborhood where they could live within walking distance of their kid’s school, cafes, libraries, and hiking trails. While looking for their new home, they stayed in an apartment, with just the basics.

Temporarily living with less, made them realise that they had more time to spend together as a family and do things that they enjoyed. And they realised that they didn’t miss their stuff.  The neighborhood they moved to was more expensive than where they had lived before so when they bought a new home which was half the size of their previous one, they had to purge 80% of their stuff.

What we truly did not use, need, and love had to go

Bea Johnson

Their new simplified life allowed them more time, which they used to read books and watch documentaries about environmental issues. Until that point, they had been disconnected from the negative impact their actions had on the already endangered planet, which their children will inherit.  For the sake of their children’s future, they drastically changed their consumption habits and lifestyle. Where better to start making changes than at home.

With the new-found knowledge that plastics were devastating our oceans, they realised that recycling was not the answer, and so they went on a journey to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. They drastically reduced their waste, which used to consist of mainly single-use packaging, bought packaging-free, and switched to reusables. 

Their new lifestyle evolved and soon Bea, Scott, and their two boys Max & Léo were living a life with the goal of striving to live Zero Waste. In 2009 Bae’s husband Scott, quit his job and started a sustainability consulting company, while Bae started a blog called Zero Waste Home, where she shared various aspects of their zero-waste lifestyle. In 2013 Bae published Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste

About the book

The goal of Zero Waste Home is not for everyone one who reads it to generate zero waste, which we know is not possible. Bae hopes that people who have read her book will come to realise the harmful effects our purchasing power can have on our endangered planet. The book is a step by step guide, packed full of practical tools and tips that will hopefully inspire people to reduce their waste and make other positive changes to their lifestyles that will be better for the planet and for us. 

“We – mothers fathers and citizens – have the right, if no the duty, and certainly the power, to bring positive change to the world through our daily decisions and actions.”

Bae Johnson

Since its release  Zero Waste Home has been translated in over 25 languages, most of which are bestsellers, and has remained a #1 bestseller on Amazon in its category since the book’s publication in 2013.

Where to buy?

You can buy the kindle (paperless) version of this book on Amazon or get a hard copy (softcover) from Shop Zero or from Loot.

Have you read Zero Waste Home or is there another zero-waste book that you would love for me to read? Let me know in the comments below.  I’ll be adding more book recommendations soon! If you’d like to see green and vegan products I have found browse my Product Directory. Alternatively, If you are looking for some vegan recipe inspiration, have a look here. 

Let’s get Social!

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with my posts and the upcoming DIY’s! 

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Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals is a must-read for all. It’s all about Foer’s personal journey into the American Factory Farming industry, which is not so different to South Africa’s factory farming industry.

“Almost always when I told someone I was writing a book about “eating animals”, they assumed, even without knowing anything about my views, that it was a case for vegetarianism. It’s a telling assumption, one that implies not only that a thorough inquiry into animal agriculture would lead one away from eating meat, but that most people already know that to be the case.” 

Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

About the author

Jonathan Safran Foer is an American writer, best known for his fiction novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, as well as Everything Is Illuminated, both of which have been turned into films. In 2009 he published his 3rd book, a New York Times bestseller: Eating Animals, which was his first non-fiction book.

“It might sound fantastic, but when we bother to look, it’s hard to deny that our day-to-day choices shape the world.” 

― Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

About the book

Admittedly, I have actually had this book for a few years now, but for reasons that remain unclear to me, it has remained on my bookshelf. I read it at the end of last year and wish I had read it sooner.

In the book, Foer documents his 3+ year quest to find out where the animals he eats come from. He delves deep into the reality of today’s American factory farms, which account for 99% of the animals raised for food in America. He interviews farmers and farmworkers, as well as animal activists. It is not a book urging you to become vegan, it is simply a book about a father’s journey to discover the truth, and decide if he and his family should support the industry or not.

Why you should read it?

I would highly recommend that meat-eaters and vegans alike read this book. It’s truly disturbing that the majority of people are completely unaware of the reality of what eating animals means, in today’s modern world. If you have the idea in your head that the grocery store-bought animals you eat, all live on grasslands and swim freely in the ocean, are conceived naturally, live happy, healthy lives and die free from pain, think again. The reality of today’s animal farming industry is much different, even here in South Africa. The farming of animals is a worldwide, multi-billion dollar industry, with profit as the major motivator.

And as Foer mentions in his book, factory farming has a major negative impact on our health and the environment.

“Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn’t motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn’t enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?” 

 Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

The truth is that nobody wants us to really know what happens on these farms. They don’t want us to know what happens to the animals from their birth to their death. They don’t want us to know what negative health and environmental effects are attached to eating those animals. They don’t want us to see the truth of what we are actually eating and what we are supporting with our food choices. I strongly feel that every South African, and global citizen, need to know the truth, and after knowing to decide whether or not they want to support such an industry.

In 2011, after doing lots of research, I made my decision, and I urge you to know the facts before you make yours.

“Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.” 

Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

Where to buy?

You can buy this book on Amazon (Kindle Version), Loot (Physical Book), and Takealot (Ebook)

Have you read Eating Animals or is there another book that you would love for me to read? Let me know in the comments below.  I’ll be adding more book recommendations soon! If you’d like to see green and vegan products I have found browse my Directory. Alternatively, If you are looking for some vegan recipe inspiration, have a look here. 

“One of the greatest opportunities to live our values-or betray them-lies in the food we put on our plates.” 

Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals

Let’s Get Social!

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with my posts and the upcoming DIY’s! 

© the green vegan chick. All images & content are copyright protected. Please follow my Sharing Policy if you would like to use or share any part of this post.