Being "vegan curious" as of late...

I recently read Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet. Mostly I wanted to find ways of eating healthier things in more creative ways, eating less meat and animal by-products so I needed some sort of a reference to begin to implement this new-to-me eating style. I figured “Cher Horowitz” might point me in the right direction since her book was getting lots of good press.

The good thing about the book is that it’s a good introduction to poor food practices. Although I think other books have done it better and more thoroughly, Alicia touches on the subject of animal cruelty in the production of meat and dairy products.

A lot of the information comes across as common sense stuff although in my opinion it comes off as a bit “preachy” at times and to be honest, I’ve read better version. But her passion and dedication on these subjects manages to shine through.

One thing that I think Alicia got completely wrong though is when she talks about people with wheat sensitivity; it’s a little too simplistic in my opinion of a very real and dangerous condition. Alicia implies that people only become sensitive to wheat because refined wheat is in so many foods that our bodies are overloaded and insists that “most” people really aren’t allergic to wheat. She insists that this was her case and furthermore states that leaving wheat for a time cleanses your body and in time you will find that you can eat it again.

My personal experience has taught me other wise. In fact I feel I have become more sensitive to gluten and feel the effects gluten contamination much sooner and more acutely the longer I am “clean”. I believe the Celiac Foundation would disagree with her too; I know that I’ve read studies that support that Celiac/wheat allergies/wheat sensitivities are actually more common and affects more people than was previously believed or estimated.

So no offense to Alicia but I think her research really missed the mark on this aspect and I can only wonder at how many people will be misled by this. I can’t blame the girl though because the only thing that propels us towards the facts is our own personal experiences. I can honestly say that if I wasn’t personally affected, I wouldn’t know a lot about the subject either.

Whole wheat can actually play a significant part in a “kind” vegan diet but wheat is not “kind” to me. So while the wheat aspect kind of misses the mark and leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth the book actually has many merits, among them as a good springboard for healthier eating.