Vegetarian Star

Whole Foods "Health Starts Here"

Whole Foods has partnered with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat To Live, and Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet, to create their “Health Starts Here,” program designed to show customers what foods are nutrient dense.

The Health Starts Here logo will appear throughout the store near items that are plant based and nutrient dense, with Dr. Fuhrman’s Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) system, which assigns high numbers to foods like fruits and vegetables and low numbers to meat products and processed/prepared foods that are low in nutrients compared to their caloric content.

The Health Starts here program consists of three basic principles:

* Simply put, eat mostly plants
* No matter what type of diet you follow — including those that incorporate dairy, meat and/or seafood — eat more plants, like raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, legumes and beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains
* Eat a colorful variety of plants to ensure you’re getting the best nutrients for your body, which leads to feeling satiated

For more information, visit Whole Foods Market.

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Gene Stone

Gene Stone, an accomplished writer and businessman who’s trophies include Esquire editor and co-founder of vegan ice cream shop Stogo, allowed Supervegan into a glimpse of what life was like collaborating with Rip Esselstyn and writing The Engine 2 Diet, a book about a fire fighter who helped his station extinguish cholesterol and extra pounds by putting out meat.

Stone didn’t expect to have much in common with the Texan vegan, except for the fact they both shunned meat.

“I didn’t expect he would be liberal (politically),” Stone said. “I also didn’t expect we would have similar senses of humor and really enjoy hanging out with each other as much as we do. I’ve become very good friends with several other members of his family as well. In the summer, I go up to the Esselstyn family farm near Hudson and spend a weekend in vegan paradise, where two dozen or so Esselstyns gather and there’s nothing but incredible plant-based food everywhere, all the time.”

Getting along great with Esselstyn wasn’t the only surprise Stone experienced during his ghostwriting project for The Engine 2 Diet.

Originally, Stone became vegan to write the book, but found it impossible to go back to eggs, cheese and other dairy after it’s completion.

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Rip Esselstyn

Rip Esselstyn recently gave an interview to Tonic and shared his favorite “must have” items from the grocery store.

Tonic’s question asked for 5, but just like you can’t stop taking those vegan cookies out the box and putting them in your mouth, Rip had to give a few extra.

“I’m a really big fan of broccoli,” says Rip of his number 2 choice. “Whole Foods Market has a frozen 365-brand of broccoli florets. I can freeze them and eat them again and again. I’ve become a big fan of frozen fruits and vegetables.”

Almond milk also makes the cut.

The author of The Engine 2 Diet that convinced his firefighter co-workers to eat vegetarian to lower cholesterol, lose weight and gain better health has just finished reading, “Born To Run,” a story about a tribe who ran 100 mile runs, fueling themselves on squash, beans and berries.

Is that what convinced Rip to add a “whole bunch of beans,” as number 5 on his list?

To read the entire interiew and learn what his other must have grocery items are, visit Tonic.

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Rip Esselstyn is scheduled to speak tonight at the Dolan Center for Science and Technology at John Carroll University, 20700 N. Park Blvd. in University Heights, Ohio.

The free event includes an hour long presentation, followed by a question and answer session, book signing and a reception featuring vegan food and beverage samples.

Esselstyn is the author of The Engine 2 Diet and a  firefighter from Austin, Texas’ engine company #2 that got his team mates to eat vegetarian at the firehouse to combat health problems they were having.

The clip above features an interview and more about the Esselstyn.

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A couple of months ago, Dr. Oz put three Chicago firefighters on a vegan diet.

Mauricio “Mo” Tirado, Egnechles “Iggy” Brown and Doug Crowley have all since lost 20-30 pounds each, according to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Crowley was able to stop taking cholesterol medication, Brown is excited he can see his abs again and oatmeal is starting to grow on Tirado.

The men plan to stick to their diets as much as possible and say that if they do ever consume meat, it will be in very small amounts.

Dr. Oz enlisted the help of The Engine 2 Diet author Rip Esselstyn, a Texas firefighter who got his team into better shape by convincing them to eat vegan at the firehouse.

“Firehouses are the dumping ground of all of America’s leftovers — you couldn’t create a better atmosphere for unhealthy eating,” Esselstyn said. “It’s such a masculine culture — they think you need to eat dairy, eggs and meat and if you don’t you’re a little sissy girl.”

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Not long ago, Boston.com featured an article on men who eschew the stereotype that meat equals masculinity and opt for a vegan diet and lifestyle.

“Hegans” are what these male vegans are called and the name will probably stick in the media like metrosexual did a few years ago.

One of the more famous hegans described is author of The Engine 2 Diet, Rip Essestyn, a firefighter out of Austin, Texas.

“He helped the men in his department lower their cholesterol in 28 days by shunning animal protein and then turned his efforts into the best-selling “The Engine 2 Diet’’ (Wellness Central). Though not billed as a vegan diet per se, Esselstyn’s “plant-strong’’ lifestyle helps lower cholesterol by going meat-, egg-, and dairy-free, he says. “Sure there is a stigma attached to it, that it’s for yuppie, tree-hugging, emaciated weaklings,’’ he says. “That is far from the truth. I like to say that real men eat plants.’’”

The clip above shows Esselstyn demonstrating how to be manly.

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Skinny Bitch In the Kitch

The Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine has named Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin‘s Skinny Bitch In The Kitch one of five best cookbooks of the decade.

From a press release:

“Skinny Bitch in the Kitch provides healthy vegan recipes that actually taste good, from Bitchtastic Brownies to dairy-less Fettuccini Alfredo.”

It’s those Bitchtastic Brownies that made Bitch in the Kitch a New York Times Bestseller.

As expected Alicia Silverstone‘s The Kind Diet made the cut, as well as The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen, The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn and Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello.

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Dennis Kucinich is about to get congressional vegan style!

Vegan Earth Day is approaching on June 21st, and the vegan representative of Ohio plans to deliver a statement about it to the floor of Congress. The event will be televised by C-Span and documented permanently in the Congressional Record.

All eyes will be on you Dennis and it’s recorded forever. But no pressure or anything.

According to a statement made by Kucinich’s Press Secretary Nathan White to Bob Linden of the radio program, Go Vegan With Bob Linden, Kucinich is “crafting a proclamation in support of VEGAN EARTH DAY and its goal of increased global awareness of environmental, health, economic, and other benefits of adopting the vegan lifestyle.”

This year’s Vegan Earth Day celebration in California will feature firefighter Rip Esselstyn, author of the Engine 2-Diet, as well as his father, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who inspired Rip to go veg.

For more information on Vegan Earth Day, visit VeganEarthDay.org.

via ourbelovedearth

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