Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet [Paperback]

Versanto Melina (Author), Brenda Davis (Author), Victoria Harrison (Author), Suzanne Havala (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

Becoming Vegetarian is a comprehensive and up-to-the minute guide to achieving a healthful vegetarian lifestyle. Written by three highly qualified dietitians, all of the key questions which arise for those who are beginning a dietary shift away from animal products are addressed, as well as those questions long term vegetarians have who want to ensure that their dietary pattern is nutritionally adequate.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Few books on vegetarian nutrition are as comprehensive and accurate as Becoming Vegetarian..." (Journal of The American Dietetic Assoc. May 1996) -- Journal of The American Dietetic Assoc. May 1996

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company; 1st edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570670137
• ISBN-13: 978-1570670138
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nutritional Science Made Easy, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet (Paperback)

There are many reasons to become vegetarian, including personal health, costs to the environment and the treatment of animals. Whatever your philosophical bent, this book provides the nuts-and-bolts information needed to maintain a healthy diet. As an athlete, I found it especially helpful to understand the function of fat and the different kinds of fats. Although this book helped ease my conversion into a lacto/ovo vegetarian a year ago, and I did enjoy the section on training non-vegeterians to understand the meatless choice, I would recommend the book highly to anyone, vegetarian or not, wanting to understand human nutritional needs. Food has an enormous social subtext and is surrounded by so much myth and fable it is hard to know what to believe. This book, in its sensible and attractive way, is completely credible.

82 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievably good! You must get this book!, May 23, 1999

By 

M. Dick (SF Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet (Paperback)

This is the single best book on vegetarian nutrition in print today. I cannot say enough good things about it. The authors are very familiar with the latest nutritional studies and cover curent issues such as omega-3 fatty acids. No myths or new age babble here. The authors don't pretend there are no nutritional pitfalls in a vegetarian diet, instead pointing out areas of concern and how to deal with them. This includes not just obvious issues like B12 in a vegan diet, but also other critical and not always addressed issues such as riboflavin. For those who don't rely on dairy for their dietary calcium, non-dairy sources of calcium are not just listed, but there is detailed discussion of the dietary factors that both help and hinder calcium absorbtion. The authors avoid the errors of other vegetarian advice-givers and don't make the mistakes of suggesting spinach for calcium (because calcium in spinach is not well absorbed -- read the book and find out why) nor suggesting seaweeds or tempeh for B12 (because the B12 in these foods, when present, is an analog our body cannot use). Whether you are a new vegetarian or have been one for 20 years, this book is a MUST PURCHASE. Give it as a gift to every vegetarian you know!

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent & comprehensive info, yet consice and easy to read, April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet (Paperback)

Not just for vegetarians!! For everyone who wants information on human nutrion -- cancer patients, heart-attack survivors, pregnant women, or just plain folks who will continue to eat meat but want info on cholesterol, carotenoids, fiber, carcinogens, etc. All the basics and the subtlies of human nutrition are covered in an easy to understand book. Topics include protien consumption, both qualitiy and quantity, as well as iron intake, B-12, fatty acids, ecetera. Did you know that while spinach contains iron, it also contains a substance that makes iron unabsorbable by the body? Read this book and you will learn. The book isn't 'preachy' and is not judgemental; it is well written and covers everything you need to know. It debunks myths, and gives real-life examples of how many communities have survived and thrived for generations as vegetarians. This book is not about a fad diet, nor is it trendy.

Includes great practical info, like what to cook for dinner, how to feed an adolenscent, being a diplomat with those dismissive of vegetarians, and even a grocery shopping list with a glossary to define what aduzuki beans are and a recipe on how to cook them.

By the way, I was a vegetarian for 20 years before I picked up this book, and I learned alot from it! I continue to use it as a reference book with all of its nutritional tables and RDA charts.