Book Review: Veganist by Kathy Freston

If you ever were interested in exploring reasons to transition to a vegan diet (or even a partial vegan diet), this is the book for you. It, of course, covers the common anti-cruelty reasons, but Freston also pulls in experts in the area of nutrition, medicine, and the environment to explore myriad other reasons to leave behind eating animal products. The tone is non-judgmental and encouraging. The point, she says, and the reason she calls herself a veganist rather than a vegan, is the attitude. It’s not about being preachy, dogmatic, or self righteous, but making a positive change in your life and influencing those around you.

The book is organized into chapters Freston calls “promises.” Her promise is that switching to a vegan diet will change your life. Having eaten mostly vegan for nearly a year, I can personally attest to what she is saying. There is something to be said for making conscious and conscientious food choices every day. It connects you to your life, your body, your health in a way that not even physical exercise does. You will feel lighter and more energized, healthier. That is a promise.

Freston does not recommend making a drastic switch from a junk food, fast food filled diet to vegan all at once, but transitioning, one animal or animal product at a time. Soon, she says, you will find that you want to make more changes and by giving your taste buds a chance to transform themselves, you will desire real, whole foods even more than the cholesterol and saturated fat laden things you had been eating.

Veganist demonstrates that there is no down side to eating vegan. It improves your health, helps the environment, diminishes the demand for meat, thereby diminishing the public health risks associated with factory farms, and even can save you money. For example, the price of a pound of organic black beans at Whole Foods is $1.69. One pound of chicken breast at Walmart would cost me $2.99, and doesn’t feed nearly as many people as a pound of beans. And what about the environment? Freston argues that if every American ate vegetarian only one day a week it would have the environmental impact of removing half a million cars from the road.  

What about you? Would you be willing to cut back on your animal consumption if it meant a healthier you, a healthier wallet, and a healthier planet?