Alicia Silverstone

Over the summer I started thinking about becoming a vegetarian again. I didn't really eat much red meat but I did eat a lot of chicken. And the prices were really starting to rise. About this same time, I saw a rerun of Clueless on cable. I remembered reading that Alicia Silverstone had written a book, read a few reviews on Amazon and ordered it.
The first half of the book talks about all the different reasons to stop eating meat and dairy (so many things I didn't know, especially the show more environmental effects of the cattle industry) and easy steps to transition to various levels depending on your goals.

Silverstone is not preachy at all and backs up everything she writes with scientific research. But it reads like you are having a conversation with a friend. There are 3 levels; flirting, vegan, superhero. Flirting involves some small changes to reducing meat and dairy from your diet. Vegan is about replacing meat and dairy with vegan versions. They both talk about how to eat healthier and the benefits of not eating animal products. Superhero is not just eating vegan but eating whole foods, no processed foods, even if they are vegan. It also talks about eating food that is seasonal and local. Silverstone is aware that people may move in and out of the different levels and that she herself sometimes does so.
Instead of being a vegetarian, I decided I would try eating vegan. I didn't really think I would be able to stop eating cheese for good, it was a staple of my diet. But after having cheese again after being off dairy for several days, it made me feel ill. Within a month, I was done with animal products. I was easily able to skip to eating whole foods as replacement foods are expensive and it was summer and veggies were plentiful. Now I buy local, organic, and seasonal foods. I rarely eat processed foods though it is hard to avoid stress-eating sugary foods on a late afternoon workday.
I have lost weight, though this wasn't my reason for the changes. I have more energy, I feel better, and I am spending so much less money on food. Cutting out dairy also significantly reduced my seasonal allergies and I haven't had a cold since. It has to do with the mucus your body makes when eating dairy. Gross. It isn't mentioned in the book which is too bad. Allergies are horrid.
The second half of The Kind Diet is recipes. I haven't used them except for inspiration. I'm not a big follower of recipes, they usually have too many ingredients and I like to keep things simple.
This book was worth it just for the first half alone. I read it at the right time and it changed my life and this book made it so easy to do so. show less

Books like this are the reason I created a "Quackery" tag.

It's impossible to get past page one without being bombarded with warning signs on how intellectually light-weight the entirety of the book will be.

This book represents Alicia Silverstone's outright assault on science and reason, and her treatises on veganism are of the quality and veracity of the numerous email forwards inflicting inboxes with that special brand of inanity only achievable by the truly clueless.

Silverstone discusses show more her ideas on veganism as if she were explaining the concepts to an especially disinterested 5 year old child. One might be insulted by the low intellectual regard awarded to the reader if not for the idea that the author is exercising the full extent of her intelligentsia.

Books like these are the reason that celebrities should not be allowed to publish books under their own names, for no publishing house in its right mind would produce such inanity were the book not authored by a celebrity name. show less

In this nutrition and cookbook Silverstone gives you three ways to achieve permanent weight loss, feel better and be kind to animals and the planet. You can choose flirting - eating less processed and animal foods; vegan - eliminate all animal products from your diet; or superhero - basically a macrobiotic diet free of animal products, processed foods and white sugar. Silverstone discusses nasty foods: meat, dairy, white sugar, processed foods and kind foods: whole grains, new proteins, show more vegetables, and magic foods: miso, umeboshi plums, pickles and sea vegetables.
The book is written in a simple, accessible style. It's filled with nutritional information, bios of vegans, hints for lifestyle changes and advice on activism. I esp like when Silverstone tells which brands she uses. (Although, I did find, when shopping in the vegan section of the market, that vegans are a very friendly bunch that are happy to tell you which products they think taste good and which to avoid). The photos in the book are gorgeous and make all the dishes look amazing.
I have been a vegetarian for 40 years. Also, I'm a very picky eater. I read this book planning to just find a few more recipes I could add to what I already eat. I didn't really plan on switching to a vegan or a macrobiotic diet. However; I have really liked the recipes I've tried and have starting filling my pantry (such as it is) with grains and beans. I may slowly advance to a vegan diet. Giving up butter will be hard.
These are the recipes I tried:
Vegan:
1)Crispy tofu slices with orange dipping sauce -- pretty good
2) Traditional English breakfast - steamed greens, fried tomato and mushrooms, tempeh strips. I could have done without the tempeh strips (aka fakin bacon). I don't really feel the need to replace meat products in my diet. Also I expected something crispy and bacon like - this was limp and vaguely smelled like bacon.

Superhero/macrobiotic:
1) Kim's red radiish tabbouleh - Good. I love radishes though
2) Pan fried mochi - also yum. Another reviewer stated this was as good as french toast. It's no where near that good but I still really liked it. I've just tried the plain version but have cinnamon raisin to try next.
3) Azuki beans with kabocha squash - very good, almost stew like. Great on a cold day.
4) Baby bok choy drizzled with ume vinaigrette - pretty good. I really loved the ume vinaigrette and the gomashio that is drizzled on the bok choy. I'm trying to find more foods in which to add these two ingredients. I used store bought gomashio instead of making my own. I don't own a suribachi to make my own.
5) Maple roasted lotus roots, sunchokes and leeks. Loved the maple syrup and garlic mixture, esp on the sunchokes. You have to make sure the lotus roots are sliced thinly, (use a mandolin if you have one.) so that everything else in the dish doesn't burn while you wait for them to finish cooking.
6) Braised daikon in mirin and shoyu - pretty good. The liquid measurements in this recipe are way too much. The first time I tried it using her amounts and the liquid never was absorbed. The second time I used much less water - just enough to cover the bottom of the pan - and it worked much better. Smells and tastes like baked potatoes.
7) Mochi waffles with lemon walnut rice syrup - pretty much the same as the fried mochi above. Cut into strips and placed in a waffle iron. The lemon walnut rice syrup is very good. I like the rice syrup plain as well.

As I said above I'm a picky eater. I think I've liked more recipes in this cookbook than any other that I've tried. However; I like more vegetables and more variety than these recipes offer. Some of the ingredients are hard to find, even here in NYC. Overall I enjoyed this book; it's friendly conversational style and the hints - diet and lifestyle- and the recipes. Recommended for those looking to lose weight or change to a vegan or macrobiotic diet. show less

It may sound like hyperbole, but this book has really been life-changing.

I’ve been a vegetarian, for ethical reasons, for several years. Additionally, I am a staunch believer in animal rights and try to always buy from PETA approved, cruelty-free manufacturers. So I’ve known for a long while that, despite my love of cheese, ice cream and eggs, I would have to give up dairy in order for my lifestyle to align fully with my principles.

I received a copy of Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind show more Diet for my birthday this past November and have never looked back. Reading the text, written in an approachable, no-nonsense style, made the decision seem so obvious and the recipes made the change effortless. While I have many vegan cookbooks (and I love them all), it was Silverstone’s "Superhero" (aka macrobiotic) recipes that truly changed the way I relate to food. At first, it’s hard to believe her superlatives (everything is "yummy" or "nourishing" or "energizing") but, once you start cooking - darn, if she isn’t right every time.

Believe me, I was skeptical when I purchased my first pack of mochi (pg 236), a hard, plastic-like block of cooked sweet brown rice, but once I sliced and pan-fried it as instructed, it was sticky, sweet and delish. Drizzled with a bit of the recommended brown rice syrup, this stuff is better than French toast. I swear! And when I was slicing the burdock root for stew called Kinpira (pg 272) the strange astringent smell it gave off actually scared me a bit, but once it had been sauteed in the sesame oil with the carrots, it was truly amazing. There’s so much here to love. I’ve enjoyed the simple steamed baby bok choy (with umi plum vinaigrette), the azuki bean stew, Sicilian collard greens and sweet brown rice porridge. And I’ve only just begun!

The reason this is such a revelation to me is that I own an older macrobiotic cookbook by Lima Ohsawa and it isn’t particularly user friendly. The ingredients seemed very foreign and the recipes weren’t made to be appetizing, but more like a medicinal prescription. The Kind Diet, with its gorgeous photography and the author’s friendly, colloquial encouragement, make macrobiotics, and many of the same recipes, incidentally, much more appealing for a Western audience.

This book made going vegan (not to mention giving up nearly all pre-packaged foods and white sugar/flour), for both me and my hithertofore omnivore spouse, a breeze. Not only do we feel good that we are no longer supporting factory farming, but we feel healthier and more energetic. As an added bonus, his borderline cholesterol dropped 25 points in three months! It’s true.

For anyone looking to improve their health (or the health of the planet) through dietary changes, any ethical vegetarian seeking to make the leap to veganism or any fan of the lovely, adorable [and kindly] Ms. Silverstone…this book is a must. show less