Simple Recipes for Joy: More Than 200 Delicious Vegan Recipes - Couverture rigide

Gannon, Sharon

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1583335595 ISBN 13 : 9781583335598

Editeur : Avery, 2014

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Foreword

Sharon Gannon’s latest book has the power to change your life; it may even save it. This is a pretty bold statement. After all, you’re holding only a cookbook, right? Wrong. Trust me, this statement is spot-on accurate. How do I know? Because Sharon’s teachings are part of the reason I’m alive. And her recipes are more than a healthy meal; they are the foundation of what’s known as functional, holistic medicine. You see, the doctor of the future is you. You know exactly what your body needs to thrive and by quieting your mind, dumping your addictions, and listening to your gut wisdom, you too will learn how to use food to transform your life.

Food literally has the power to heal and the power to poison. In my journey as a cancer patient, I’ve come to understand that health is not an absence of disease; it is a presence of vitality, sustainable energy, and joy. Health is our birthright. And yet so many of us have forgotten. We believe that our genes determine our fate and that we have no control over our lives. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The genes you were born with are not your destiny. Your daily food choices (along with your lifestyle and environment) affect your genetic future. That’s right: what you eat today can literally have an impact on your DNA. Which is precisely why many people who follow the Standard American Diet (SAD) are sick, overweight, tired, and in a state of total dis-ease.

The SAD way of living, filled with acidic animal products that are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and cancer-causing carcinogens, processed foods, and refined sugar, strips our bodies of minerals and creates oxidative stress and inflammation. In fact, inflammation is the root cause of most chronic diseases. Inflammation is like being on fire on the inside, and this fire (or stress) comes from what we eat, drink, and think. In the case of animal products, the more we consume, the more inflamed and sicker we become.

It’s actually pretty ironic. We torture and slaughter billions of sentient beings each year because we erroneously believe that we need to eat their bodies for proper nourishment. “Milk, it does a body good,” right? “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” These messages have been strategically carved into our brains. Yet, this so-called nourishment often sends us to the grave earlier than necessary. It’s such a waste.

And who propagates these myths? The food industry. With billions of advertising dollars at their disposal, we are led to believe that meat, dairy, eggs, fish, poultry, processed foods, sugary snacks, and sodas are good for us. Because there is little regulation, we are incredibly vulnerable and often confused. As a result we blindly consume the foods that lead to heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, osteoporosis, arthritis, and so on. Let’s pause for a moment and follow the money trail. If plant-based foods are so good for us, then why can they sometimes be more expensive? Special interests do not favor broccoli. The fast-food burger is cheap because of government subsidies. And yet, calorie per calorie, there is more nourishment (vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and even protein!) in broccoli than in steak. So is cheap food a wise investment? No way. And once you learn how to shop wisely, you’ll see that a plant-based diet can fit into any budget.

It’s that simple, and yet we’re so confused. I know I certainly was. I was a hard-core omnivore and a junk-food junkie for many years. But on February 14, 2003, everything changed. Happy Valentine’s Day, you have cancer—a rare stage-IV disease with no treatment (no chemo, radiation, or surgery) and no cure. I was devastated. The first doctor I consulted suggested a triple organ transplant to remove and replace my liver and both of my lungs. Because these organs were riddled with malignant tumors, he thought it was my only hope. The second doctor suggested another radical treatment (that wouldn’t cure me) and gave me just ten years to live. I was only thirty-one years old. In an instant, I thought my life was over. I had no idea it was just getting started. I finally found an open-minded oncologist who helped me decide upon a radical approach. Watch and wait. Do nothing. Since the disease could be slow-moving, maybe I had time.

As it turns out, I did have time, and I decided to use it wisely. Next stop, Whole Foods, my pharmacy. How did I know to go to Whole Foods and stock up on plant-powered medicine? Sharon Gannon.

I started practicing Jivamukti yoga in 1991. At the time I was a young dancer, actress, and bartender with lots of injuries and “isms.” Jivamukti quickly became my church. It was a place I could go to take care of my temple and find my way home. I had never heard of veganism before studying with Sharon. I barely knew how to sit still, let alone make a bowl of quinoa! But slowly I began to listen.

When the diagnosis came, I listened at the deepest level imaginable. Here’s what I heard: “Practice yoga, learn how to take care of yourself, reduce your stress load, calm your mind, sleep, and most important—change what’s on your plate.” Influenced by Sharon’s teachings of ahimsa (nonviolence), I decided to practice kindness and compassion toward all beings, including myself. The first step was to remove stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, all processed foods, and all animal products from my diet. After the initial detox period, I was astonished by how great I felt. For the next eight years, I researched the diets and lifestyles that were known to increase immunity, strength, and longevity. Guess what? They were all plant-based.

At this point, you may be questioning why your doctor hasn’t told you any of this information, or worse, you may wonder why he or she won’t validate these findings. The truth is that doctors don’t study nutrition in medical school. Therefore it’s our job to teach ourselves.

For nearly a decade now, I have lived a happy, healthy, and stable life in the face of a deadly disease. I still have cancer but it doesn’t have me. The diagnosis that once terrified me continues to lie dormant. Thanks to my diet and lifestyle, I’m in terrific overall health and have boundless energy, peace, and strength.

In the process of learning about the power of foods, I’ve had the privilege to share these principles with thousands of people from around the world, many of whom have been able to fully restore their health naturally without drugs, surgeries, or complicated and costly medical procedures. Like Sharon, I can’t think of a better way to spend my life than in the service of others. Because once we learn this information, we must pay it forward by spreading this lifesaving message to our families and friends.

As a nation we are getting sicker and fatter. Every day, fifteen hundred people die of cancer. Every minute a person in the United States dies of heart disease. Two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. And diabetes is growing at an alarming rate. Young people are being diagnosed with diseases common to their grandparents, and many researchers believe that the next generation will be the first to die before their parents. Health care costs are ballooning out of control, yet most of the money goes toward treating diseases that are preventable with proper plant-based nutrition. It’s easy to conclude that the leading cause of death in this country is not disease, it’s an unhealthy diet.

At the same time, our precious environment urgently cries out for help. According to the United Nations, “livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport. Livestock now use more than 30 percent of the Earth’s entire land surface. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America, where 70 percent of former forests have been turned over to grazing. The livestock business is also among the most damaging sectors to the Earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.”

Now, this all may seem depressing at first, but it’s also thoroughly empowering if you’re willing to do something. But know this: We can’t wait for change. We must be the change. You can change the world from your kitchen. You can lead a peaceful plant-based protest, but only if you’re willing to buck the broken system and take a compassionate stand for yourself, the animal beings, and the precious world around you.

Take it from me: prevention is the only lasting cure. No matter what your circumstance, actively participating in your health, spiritual wealth, and happiness is a revolutionary act. Join the revolution today. Read this book, try the delicious recipes, and tell everyone you know to do the same. Listen to Sharon. She is a true visionary, a pioneer, and a compassionate mother to many beings. I’m so grateful to her for teaching me how to heal. Now she will teach you.

Peace, love, and veggies,
KRIS CARR, bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Diet and Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips

Introduction

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in New York City, and Union Square is as hectic and bustling as ever. People pass our Broadway entrance looking harried, barking into cell phones, lugging overstuffed briefcases, tugging toddlers’ hands. But inside the Jivamukti Yoga School, the creases of worry on the people’s faces fade away. After a peaceful yoga class, many of them step into Jivamuktea Café for a Chakra Rainbow Smoothie, a Burrito Verdura, or some Spirulina Millet. They linger to talk—laughing quietly, reading, or simply sitting—at home in the tranquillity and joy that abounds in this place.

Serving them, I am filled with gladness. I learned long ago that if I wanted to find enlightenment, cooking was the first step, and that if I was in search of joy, there was no better way to reach it than by providing for others. Yogis, who live by the nonviolent yogic principle of ahimsa, naturally gravitate toward the all-vegan, cruelty-free menu at Jivamuktea Café; and the simple peace and joy that fills them as they sit down to eat infuses the entire room with happiness.

As a child, I asked my mother, “If killing is wrong, isn’t it wrong to eat animals?” My mother replied, “It is okay, because they are raised for that.” Like most people, she felt that eating enslaved animals was normal and acceptable. Due to what they eat, many human beings on the planet today consciously or unconsciously cause tremendous harm to themselves, to the environment, and to billions of animals.

For most, what they eat is influenced by unconscious habits, ignorance, and mass media advertising rather than common sense, kindness, or joy. I have been reminded time and time again of the power of the printed word. Cookbooks, food critics, and celebrities can have a huge influence on what people choose to eat and whether or not restaurants stay open. The animal-user industries of course are well aware of this and pay a lot of money to get celebrities to endorse their products. Remember the milk mustache? And it’s worked; most of us have become so civilized that we can’t think for ourselves. Common sense is not so common. We have relinquished our innate sense and sensibilities, giving them over to the advertising agencies and food critics to manipulate our appetites.

In fact, we too often have no appetite outside of what we have become programmed to crave. As we have dissociated ourselves from nature, we have also become disconnected from the natural intelligence of the body. We can no longer feel what our bodies really need; we live in our heads, and our heads have been thoroughly programmed by our culture. We have allowed our own bodies to become so polluted by and addicted to junk food, tainted animal flesh, and milk products that we cannot even tell anymore when we are consuming something poisonous and injurious to our health. We have allowed “Food Inc.”—corporations and the animal-user industries, which have in many cases become more powerful than governments—to decide what’s available and affordable to eat. In America, Froot Loops (a highly processed, high-fructose, genetically modified, corn-based breakfast cereal) is cheaper to buy per serving than a piece of real organic fruit! Everything that is good for us and good for the environment has been stigmatized with the label alternative, while foods that are harmful to our health and the health of the environment are called normal or standard, and that is sad.

Some people may argue that they have a right to eat meat and dairy products, saying that it is nobody’s business what they do. When a person defends their right to eat meat and dairy products, they are failing to realize the devastating impact that such a diet has upon the environment and all of the life on this planet. It is fair to assume that most meat eaters are not eating meat because they want to cause harm to an animal or the environment; it is most likely more a matter of not thinking further than what appeals to their appetite at the moment. I think meat eaters generally view veganism as no more than a dietary preference, similar to preferring chocolate over vanilla, not realizing the life-and-death seriousness of the issue. When you are a meat eater, you generally don’t bring consciousness to your food choices. Of course some do, like people who eat kosher or halal food, or Catholics who abstain from meat on Fridays, or others with food allergies to gluten, peanuts, etc. But nevertheless, out of the worldwide human population of seven billion, very few meat eaters bring any significant level of awareness to the food on their plates. For the vast majority of people, food choices are a matter of habit, convenience, and personal preference rather than ethical considerations. They will just eat whatever is being served, whatever appeals to them on the menu, as the flight attendant asks, “Chicken or beef?”

When we become aware of the atrocities that are being committed against defenseless animals, many of us feel saddened and even overwhelmed. We feel helpless to do something about it all. Confronting or even discussing the issue with our family and friends can feel overwhelming, not to mention the helplessness we may feel against the forces of government or multinational corporations. How could any of us make a difference in a world where the majority of human beings feel it is not only normal and okay to eat animals but it is our God-given right as the dominant species to exploit the weak?

It is a fact that our consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy is excessive, yet our culture is founded upon the excessive enslaving and exploiting of animals for food. This way of life started around ten thousand years ago, when human beings began to domesticate animals and exploit them for material gain as part of the shift from a nomadic lifestyle to a more sedentary one.1 So the good news is that eating animals and animal products is not hardwired into us—it is cultural, something we have learned. Behaviors and habits that are learned can be unle...

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Advance Praise for Simple Recipes for Joy

"This beautiful book will transform your life. Sharon Gannon has helped countless people achieve a dramatically new level of health and wellness. Now, you can put her wisdom to work as she guides you to using the power of food in ways you may never have imagined. Over many years, our research has established the surprising power of plant-based diets to help people regain their health and vitality. Sharon Gannon brings you everything you need to put that power to work."
—Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC
 
"Sharon Gannon infuses love and spirit into every one of her incredibly delicious dishes; eat her food and feel good in your body and soul!”
—Kathy Freston, New York Times bestselling author of Veganist and Quantum Wellness
 
"Sharon is my Guru—I like eating anything she’s dishing out. Her teachings on yoga and veganism have positively transformed my life. She is not only an example of someone who walks the talk, but she excels in so many areas, teacher, philosopher, activist, artist, musician and cook, showing us all that through devotion to God one can become a divine instrument and with God’s great love all is possible."
—Russell Simmons, philanthropist, New York Times bestselling author of Success Through Stillness
 
"All one needs to do is be around Sharon Gannon for mere moments to realize that she's figured out the secret to happiness. Sharon glows with good karma, optimal wellness, and a joyful, blissful life. Therefore, whatever she is eating, doing, teaching—we must perk up and take notice. How and what we eat is not only integral to health, but to what life brings us energetically. This cookbook is a call to tasty karmic eating, to revitalize our dulled taste buds and get our depressed palates in shape. Whole foods, fresh foods, foods alive with rich vitamin properties—these are the keys to turning our life around from the inside out. Unlike many vegan cookbooks, Sharon's recipes aren't riddled with substitutions for meat and ice cream. Sharon serves us healthy realness, the truth behind what our bodies really need (one look at hers tells us to listen up!) and what will fill us and warm us in the long term. Sharon's recipes are simple, tasty, and most importantly, recipes you will make again and again. Sharon keeps her ingredient lists short, which makes life for busy moms (like me!) committed to healthful family eating easier. This is a book all vegan-curious, committed plant-eaters, and anyone looking to up their health ante and notice a quick difference should have handy. You don't have to be a patchouli-swinging back-bender to eat these foods; any novice or mom next door can learn endless nutritional truths and tips with this book within reach. If you could live healthfully without resorting to pharmaceuticals, help the environment by eating sustainably, be in fabulous shape, feel wonderful, and be committed to ahimsa—to not participating in the brutal treatment of animals on factory farms—non harming... why on earth wouldn't you? This is the truth in Sharon's message. It's a simple decision to make. Try this diet. Eat this delicious food. The transformation in your body and mind will be dramatic, and you'll ride the sexy changes deliciously on this treasure tomb of plant powered tastiness!"
—Chloé Jo Davis, Eco Spokesmama & GirlieGirlArmy.com Founder
  
“Super Green Salad, Love Smoothie, Green Machine...All enlargements of the soul with the intrinsic beauty of Sharon Gannon, the most impassioned and truthful vegan chef and yogi alive today on Mother Earth.”
—Joe Sponzo, Personal chef to Sting and Trudie Styler, and author of The Lakehouse Cookbook
 
"Sharon Gannon's beautiful book lies at the untapped intersection of cooking, yoga, and ahimsa practices, demonstrating that preparing and consuming life-giving—rather than life-taking—food is the foundation of a conscious and compassionate life."
—Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, bestselling author of The Joy of Vegan Baking and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge.
 
"Simple Recipes For Joy proves that a compassionate and healthy vegan diet leaves zero to be desired. If you've ever considered leaving animals off your plate, this easy cookbook by one of yoga's masters has a lot to offer. Full of simple yet incredible meat-free recipes that don't rely on soy products, Sharon's recipes are based on wholesome, unprocessed foods that bring us health and vitality. She cooks from the heart, always keeping the well-being of others in mind—both human and animal. She is a tireless voice for the voiceless—and a great cook too!"
—Jenny Brown, Founder & Director Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and Author of The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farm Animals
 
"Buying a vegan cookbook is usually an expression of interest. Buying this one is a declaration. The activism known as peace springs from your plate—and thanks to Sharon Gannon, it’s a delectable beginning."
—Kevin Archer, author of In Lieu of Heaven
 
"Sharon's food nourishes AND enlightens. As a long time devoted fan of her Jivamuktea Cafe and her yoga teachings, I can't wait to experiment with her alchemy at home. She's finally given up her secrets."
—Darren Aronofsky, award winning film director—Noah, Black Swan and The Wrestler
 
"With Simple Recipes for Joy, Sharon lets us in on the inner sanctum of her alchemical kitchen. I have had the privilege of sitting at her table since 1979, being personally served by her and eating her delicious cruelty-free meals—and can attest to the fact that they are filled with nourishment, presented with graciousness and plenty of magic. Her cookbook provides insightful ways to improve our health, the Earth’s wellbeing, our relationship to our fellow animals and make positive changes in our diet that will affect the whole world and could possibly save it."
—Dr. Andrew Lange N.D., author of Getting at the Root: Treating the Deepest Source of Disease

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Avery
• Date d'édition: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1583335595
• ISBN 13: 9781583335598
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 352