Vegetarian Star

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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Nice little video of Rip Esselstyn, author of the Engine 2 Diet discussing how the firefighters of Austin, Texas’ Fire Engine Company #2 eat vegan during work shifts.

Rip encouraged the guys at Engine 2 to go veg after some were having medical problems like high cholesterol. According to the video, a study showed heart disease kills more firefighters than fire itself. 

Esselstyn’s book, which helped Newsweek’s David Noonan go vegan and lose weight, was written after he was inspired to go veg from his father’s research. His father, Dr. Caldwell Essestyn says, “Having the USDA design your food pyramid is like having Al Capone do your taxes.”

Esselstyn’s entire family eats vegan and it looks like the family favorite food is kale (Watch aunt Esselstyn rip the leaves off that plant, yo)

Best quote of the day starts at the beginning of the video when Rip says, “Real men eat plants and boys meat meat.”

Rip thinks in the next five years eating meat will be such a social disgrace, taking your tenderloin away from the picnic gathering will be equal to asking a smoker not to smoke inside.

While he may be a little overly optimistic, with more people choosing to at least flex or reduce some meats in their diet, Rip’s definitely onto some future trend.

via vegansoapbox.com

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Does anyone even read those suggested lists posted by Amazon.com users? Seems like it’s more for the user to feel highly important, knowing they’ve made a difference by enlightening a potential buyer that Radiohead is very dissimilar to Filter, but both CDs sound great while reading the Natural Herbs book.

Here’s a list you might find helpful, though. Bruce Friedrich at the HuffingtonPost has compiled his essential reads for vegetarians.

Kathy Freston, author of the Quantum Wellness books, including her latest, The Quantum Wellness Cleanse is included.

“In our toxic society, Kathy Freston is pumping in some much-needed fresh air, with chapters discussing not just the importance of eating a vegetarian diet for health, ecological, and spiritual reasons, but also discussing a range of other practices that will inspire readers to be the happiest and healthiest people we can possibly be,” writes Bruce.

The Engine-2 Diet, which inspired Newsweek editor David Noonan to go vegan made the cut. 

Dr. Dean Ornish and John Robbins are also a few of Bruce’s favorites, but he does give warning to the faint of ears who plan to read anything by Skinny Bitch authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin.

“…for anyone, really, who enjoys a chatty and irreverent — and I do mean irreverent, so be warned! — tone…”

Read Bruce’s complete list at huffingtonpost.com.

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Veg Daily

Senior Editor at Newsweek, David Noon, was inspired to embark on a 28-day vegan diet by the book, The Engine 2 Diet.

You know some say that once you go vegan you never go back to meatan, and that’s exactly what happened with Noonan.  Two months later, he’s still going vegan strong and has lost 12 pounds. Not to mention he’s marveling in the fact he gets to annoy the non-vegans.

From a recent article in Newsweek:

“Much to my surprise, more than two months later I am still a vegan. I am also 12 pounds lighter and I have substantially more energy than I did when I was a flesh eater. (That’s the term I use now to describe people who eat meat; annoying non-vegans, I have found, is one of the best things about being a vegan.)”

While David is having a blast making fun of the flesh-eaters, he’s still struggling with some old cravings, like pizza.

“How easy it would be to go out for a couple of slices of pizza right now. Only I feel so much healthier today than I did just a few weeks ago. I haven’t had my cholesterol checked since the fall (it was 209), but I’m confident that it has dropped significantly because, as Esselstyn’s book amply documents, that’s what happens when you become a plant eater. So I’m sticking with the program. I’ll skip the pizza and have a big salad or one of those damn PBJs for lunch instead. And tonight I’ll have some roasted vegetables and maybe a beer (a plant-based beverage, thank you very much). And tomorrow I’ll be older, but I still won’t be fat.”

Of course, once David does some more investigative journalism into vegan foods, we’re sure he’ll discover all the awesome vegan substitutes for the things he’s missing-like making a homemade pizza with cheese made from cashews and almond milk.

Source: Newsweek via Veg Daily

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