Vegan Starter Kit: Everything You Need to Know About Plant-Based Eating

Dr. Barnard is such an excellent writer. The book covers just about all the topics you want to know about as you consider, or start on, the path to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. You can look at the table of contents from the book's image on the website to see what the chapters cover. You'll get a good overview of why whole plant foods are good for you, nutrition, and improving health conditions so often caused by poor diet. It's a delightful and quick read, and in the back of the book you get more resources to check out and recipes. I definitely recommend this book to anyone new to the topics of nutrition, plant-based eating, vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

Love it!

The book is easy to understand and easy to follow to begin the journey to going vegan There are Some good recipes also in the book

I have kidney disease and prediabetes. It helped my kidney disease going from 62 to 69. That makes this a great book. As for my prediabetes, it went from a 99 to 110. Not good. However, that said my a1c went back to my 5.7 average from 6.0. Hard to understand.

1. Easy to read book about adopting a vegan diet. I've been eating vegan for nearly 3 years and have lost about 30 needed pounds, reversed Type 2 Diabetes shocking my physician, lowering my A1c and blood pressure. I fall off the wagon and get back on. I was looking for a book to send to a friend to encourage her and her family toward healthy living. I think this is the one! I've tried other books but this is very straightforward and not overwhelming in detail. You can find plenty of that elsewhere. 2. Yesterday My Orders indicated the package containing this book had arrived and was handed to a resident. It was no where in my house and my husband didn't get it. Tonight I happened to be in the living room when a mail truck drove up and I went out to greet the hardworking mail carrier and save him the few steps up my walkway. He handed me the padded package containing this book. Amazon is usually so honest and reliable, this is a major fail. If they lied about this unimportant thing, what else is fake and fraudulent?

Even if you have been vegan for many years, this is a book filled with great information and tasty recipes.

Neal Barnard offers some useful information in this concise book about veganism. I'm not vegan, however I do follow a whole foods plant based style of eating which includes occasional and very limited amounts of organic pasture raised eggs, cheese, fish, chicken and beef. Many people claim vegan and whole foods plant based are the same thing. Untrue. Whole foods plant based implies that one eats whole natural foods closest to their original form while having plants make up the majority of the nutrition. While a vegan diet free of animal products can still include frankenfoods and absolute junk. I finished the book and for the most part obtained some valuable information. However, I take major issue with something written in Chapter 9 and it basically puzzled me how an intelligent Dr can make such a claim. To the question can dogs and cats be vegan he states: YES. And a brief paragraph of explanation follows. At that point I almost didn't finish the book. I was very disappointed to read such a claim coming from someone who is so influential and respected in the plant based community. While perhaps technically a dog might be able to eat vegan ( i wouldn't advise it). A cat is clearly an obligate carnivore and it's absolutely wrong to imply that a cat can be vegan by taking supplements. In doing so a person would be forcing a cat to go against it's natural state of being. It evolved as a carnivore. Veganism wants compassion for animals. Well, forcing a true carnivore to eat veggies and grains isn't compassionate or healthy. I feel strongly that when someone's vegan propaganda over rides factual science and biology it's dangerous territory. This is the equivalent of an influential paleo or keto Dr telling people to feed only steak to their pet bunny rabbits. After that paragraph I came along to chapter 10 in which Dr Barnard examines popular myths. Myth #10 is the one I want to address. He states, myth: Humans are natural carnivores. Ok, I think this is an unfair example. A very small percentage of people eat only meat. Most common is the understanding that we humans have evolved as omnivores. He makes no mention of that though. I eat primarily whole foods plant based because I choose to for health benefits but not because I'm under any delusion that humans aren't "supposed" to eat meat. He goes on in his explanation of myth #10 to say that meat causes problems for humans that it does not cause for dogs, cats, cheetahs, lions and other true carnivores. So I feel he contradicts himself, here he is acknowledging facts and science stating that these animals are "true" carnivores, where in Chapter 9 he states dogs and cats can be vegan. Palm to forehead... Aside from those two paragraphs, I did find the book well written and informative regarding many areas of vegan eating. He does encourage a whole foods vegan diet which I think is a good thing. I enjoy Dr Barnard's method of delivery, he's well spoken and has a sense of humor that I appreciate. I was only disappointed after reading those couple of paragraphs I already addressed. I respect the science based knowledge that Dr Barnard applies throughout most of the book stating that plant based eating is very healthy for humans. So I'm baffled why he doesn't apply it regarding cats being carnivores and humans being omnivores. Dr Barnard doesn't state that humans are not omnivores but he doesn't acknowledge that we are either. I think it's important for an influential Plant based Dr to state humans are omnivorous in order to educate those who believe we are herbivores. I have no delusions that homo sapiens are strictly plant eaters. I don't deny that a plant heavy diet is very nutritious but I also acknowledge the blue zones of the world where the people do consume "some" animal based nutrients. Overall, this book is an informative quick read. The three star rating is due to the vegan cats and dogs paragraph.

There are many books out there on plant-based eating (I've read several) and many of them are very good. However, there are few, if any, that are as accessible and concise as this one. Dr. Barnard has done a fantastic job distilling the essential information one needs to know to get started on a vegan diet. Each section wastes no time, or words, on delving into what's most important to know. The book includes all the basics but also has chapters on specific health conditions, life-stage specifics, and some great recipes to get started with. The Vegan Starter Kit is also highly accessible in how it recommends making a transition to a vegan diet, skipping difficult to achieve goals and guidelines and instead advising a simple, very workable path. Highly recommended for anyone just starting out or anyone even remotely curious about vegan eating. Obviously, this book is not meant to be exhaustive and if after reading it you desire to learn more the book includes a great resource section for further study.

Even if you know little to nothing about this sometimes complex subject, Dr. Neal D.Barnard made the unknown simple. Easy to follow. Easy read. Conrad.

Found it very useful. In particular, loved the sections on rasing your kids vegan and busting myths. If you are new to veganism or have been but not completely there knowledge wise, this is a great little read. It definitely answers all the questions non-vegans tend to throw at you.

Quick and easy to understand guide to improve your health through food. Don't look around any further, this is the best place to start.

It is very well written and clearly explains how to transition to becoming a Vegan

I am 74 years old and I've tried many diets. Now, this one works and is easy to use. No hidden items to buy!