Book Review

The Vegetarian Solution: Your Answer to Cancer, Heart Disease, Global Warming, and More

The Vegetarian Solution: Your Answer to Heart Disease, Cancer, Global Warming, and More
By Stewart Rose
Review by Tammie Ortlieb

If I weren't already a vegan, I would be after reading The Vegetarian Solution by Stewart Rose. Rose, vice president of the Vegetarians of Washington, the country's largest regional vegetarian organization, provides a compelling argument for a plant based diet.

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Geared toward the vegetarian wannabe, this little treasure covers all the common reasons to consider leaving meat, eggs, and dairy products out of the diet--health, environment, animal welfare, and faith. Not only can a vegetarian diet reduce our risk of stroke, heart disease, and certain cancers, it also lessens the likelihood we will experience food poisoning, osteoporosis, obesity, dementia, and constipation. In addition, following a plant based diet, according to Rose, "is a way of walking more softly on the earth." Producing grains and vegetables for direct consumption reduces soil erosion, feeds more people, and eliminates animal urine and feces build up, a major contributor to water pollution in this country. For vegetarians who have not yet made the switch to a vegan diet, Rose provides a graphic visual of what it feels like to be a factory farmed hen (page 116, figure 7.2, in case you're wondering). I found the book incredibly thorough, but definitely more than a little boring. I felt at times as though I should be taking notes lest I do poorly on the exam.

Rose does a great job, however, of promoting the vegetarian meal plan as simple, natural, and quite a healthful, tasty option. He guides the reader through a step by step transitional process and attacks head on issues such as grocery shopping, eating out, travel, and the ever-dreaded potluck. Most important, the author leaves no doubt as to what exactly he means by the term vegetarian. In his own words, a vegetarian diet "excludes all meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs." Staying true to the goal of compassion and caring toward animals and the general well-being of our bodies, he maintains, leaves no room for the inclusion of fish in the diet or for the support of dairy farming or modern egg production.

I must say, book nerd that I am, I learned more from this piece than I even knew I had yet to learn. I found, for example, that type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes) has been linked to dairy intake during early childhood. I discovered that meat, dairy, and eggs can wreak havoc on a child's cholesterol levels just as they can on an adult's cholesterol levels. Finally, and I must say I'm sure my teenagers will appreciate this little tidbit, acne can be alleviated by reducing dairy in the diet. Rose's facts, and there are a plethora of facts, are all extensively researched with nineteen pages of scientific references cited. Should that not be enough, he has also provided a list of further reading including work from the likes of Neal Barnard, John McDougall, John Robbins, Jane Goodall, and Dean Ornish.

My recommendation concerning this book? Get it. Read it. Have your library order a copy. Pass it on. Just one word: expect to be informed, not entertained.

The Vegetarian Solution: Your Answer to Heart Disease, Cancer, Global Warming, and More

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer and adjunct instructor with a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, four veg kids, and small menagerie of pets. Tammie writes for various vegetarian sources, mostly on being okay with your vegetarian self. She's a book nerd, a research nerd, a health nerd, and a huge glass of soymilk half full kind of creature. Visit her blog at www.middle-agedveganchick.blogspot.com.

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