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A review by cdlindwall
The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet by Alicia Silverstone
3.0
So after deciding to make the plunge into vegetarianism (and likely veganism after I become more adjusted), I checked out a handful of books from the library to do some more research. I'd heard about this book from the Oprah show (fine, i'm that person), and I wanted to see what the fuss was about.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book, and a lot of things I thought could be improved upon.
In short, the attitude and enthusiasm for veganism were fun and inspiring, but the credibility of her nutritional science was a little spotty.
First, I loved her emphasis that it was a process. It's ok to "flirt," as she calls it, with changing all your dietary habits that you've grown up with. Although some people make these changes cold tufurkey, you can't be expected to. I'm glad her enthusiasm didn't come off as angry and war-like, as some vegans do. So, I appreciated that. I also appreciated that half that book was informational, not just recipes. Especially if you're going to make such a drastic shift in your daily life, it really helps to feel connected to the cause. Be it environmental, health, or animal cruelty-related, being connected to those motivators helps you stay focused and make the change stick. Having done other research beforehand, I recognized many of the arguments and bits of information from other research I've read, either first or secondhand. It didn't seem like a sham.
With that said, she could've made the first section more scientific. Some of her claims were just that -- claims. Fairly unsubstantiated ones at that. I'm not sure if a dietary researcher would've stamped their name by those chapters or a scientific journal would've let that fly. Some of it was -- eh, not quite believable. For example, I have read many other places that calcium from dairy does not, in fact, prevent osteoporosis. Ok, Alicia, believable. But I have not read anywhere reputable that eating meat from a stressful slaughterhouse causes us to "consume" their stress and become stressed ourselves. I've also never heard that adding spices to vegetables are bad. And it also bothered me that she harped on frozen veggies, which are in fact just as nutritious and very convenient for people with less time. Little less-than-reliable factoids like that unfortunately ruined some of her credibility. But don't let those pieces of Alicia Silverstone-ness ruin what otherwise is a fun and inspiring book that will re-motivate you to take the leap into veganism.
The other issue I had was with some of her recipes themselves. She eats kinda strange things, and that's not to say those things aren't great for you, but where the hell do I find them? This is coming from someone who lives with great access to grocery stores and even many ethnic grocery stores because I live in a fairly diverse college town. If you live somewhere more rural or don't have a local health food store, where would you find her specific type of pickled prunes or these kinda strange seaweeds? I'm sorry, but you can be vegan quite easily without needing these sorts of outlandish foods. Not that they're BAD, but they're not relevant to a lot of people, especially people who may already struggle with a vegan lifestyle because of lacking resources to begin with. There are a lot of foods that are closer to my normal diet (and are still a huge improvement on my normal diet, mind you) that aren't seaweed for breakfast. I'm sorry, but that's just never going to happen.
But overall, I thought the tone of her book was upbeat and inspiring. She makes a lot of the same arguments as most other vegan advocates: environmental, moral, health. And she is just a celebrity gone vegan. She's not a renowned researcher, so don't expect that caliber of book, honestly. But I was excited to go try some things I hadn't before. She didn't come off angry or pushy, just excited to show you what this lifestyle has done for herself. So I did enjoy it for those reasons.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book, and a lot of things I thought could be improved upon.
In short, the attitude and enthusiasm for veganism were fun and inspiring, but the credibility of her nutritional science was a little spotty.
First, I loved her emphasis that it was a process. It's ok to "flirt," as she calls it, with changing all your dietary habits that you've grown up with. Although some people make these changes cold tufurkey, you can't be expected to. I'm glad her enthusiasm didn't come off as angry and war-like, as some vegans do. So, I appreciated that. I also appreciated that half that book was informational, not just recipes. Especially if you're going to make such a drastic shift in your daily life, it really helps to feel connected to the cause. Be it environmental, health, or animal cruelty-related, being connected to those motivators helps you stay focused and make the change stick. Having done other research beforehand, I recognized many of the arguments and bits of information from other research I've read, either first or secondhand. It didn't seem like a sham.
With that said, she could've made the first section more scientific. Some of her claims were just that -- claims. Fairly unsubstantiated ones at that. I'm not sure if a dietary researcher would've stamped their name by those chapters or a scientific journal would've let that fly. Some of it was -- eh, not quite believable. For example, I have read many other places that calcium from dairy does not, in fact, prevent osteoporosis. Ok, Alicia, believable. But I have not read anywhere reputable that eating meat from a stressful slaughterhouse causes us to "consume" their stress and become stressed ourselves. I've also never heard that adding spices to vegetables are bad. And it also bothered me that she harped on frozen veggies, which are in fact just as nutritious and very convenient for people with less time. Little less-than-reliable factoids like that unfortunately ruined some of her credibility. But don't let those pieces of Alicia Silverstone-ness ruin what otherwise is a fun and inspiring book that will re-motivate you to take the leap into veganism.
The other issue I had was with some of her recipes themselves. She eats kinda strange things, and that's not to say those things aren't great for you, but where the hell do I find them? This is coming from someone who lives with great access to grocery stores and even many ethnic grocery stores because I live in a fairly diverse college town. If you live somewhere more rural or don't have a local health food store, where would you find her specific type of pickled prunes or these kinda strange seaweeds? I'm sorry, but you can be vegan quite easily without needing these sorts of outlandish foods. Not that they're BAD, but they're not relevant to a lot of people, especially people who may already struggle with a vegan lifestyle because of lacking resources to begin with. There are a lot of foods that are closer to my normal diet (and are still a huge improvement on my normal diet, mind you) that aren't seaweed for breakfast. I'm sorry, but that's just never going to happen.
But overall, I thought the tone of her book was upbeat and inspiring. She makes a lot of the same arguments as most other vegan advocates: environmental, moral, health. And she is just a celebrity gone vegan. She's not a renowned researcher, so don't expect that caliber of book, honestly. But I was excited to go try some things I hadn't before. She didn't come off angry or pushy, just excited to show you what this lifestyle has done for herself. So I did enjoy it for those reasons.