Vegan for Her: The Woman’s Guide to Being Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet

When I became vegan a few months ago, I bought a bunch of books, and the most useful of all of them -- from a nutrition standpoint -- was  Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet . That book was incredibly helpful for me in terms of understanding how to make sure that I met my nutritional needs.When I saw that Virginia Messina, one of the co-authors of _Vegan for Life_, had this new book out, I was really curious about it, but wasn't sure if it would have enough new information to warrant purchasing it. I asked a reviewer about it in the comments section of his review, and took his advice to order it. I'm very glad I did!Virginia Messina is the primary author, but JL Fields contributed the recipes and the chapter called "Veganism beyond the Plate" to it. In the introduction, Messina explains that this book is discusses "how to eat to lower your risk of breast cancer, diabetes, and heart disease; manage hunger and eat intuitively; protect your skin and brain as you get older; boost your mood; and deal with PMS, cramps, infertility, and painful conditions like arthritis and migraine headaches." The book also includes chapters on being a vegan athlete and finding your "happy weight" naturally through intuitive eating and a vegan diet.If you're new to a vegan lifestyle, the first section opens with information about how to transition into it. Even though I've been eating this way for a few months, I still picked up new tips.Also, I found it interesting that Messina mentions that she previously worked for Dr. Neal Bernard's Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). The PCRM group has a free program called the "21-Day Kickstart" that helps you make the transition to vegan eating by offering meal plans and daily emails with motivational tips. Whereas the Kickstart program encourages you to go vegan all at once, Messina offers the suggestion of transitioning more slowly to a vegan lifestyle in this book, which I find to be more helpful. (Dr. Bernard's book  21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health  is a good book to check out if you're interested in the program, but you can do the whole thing for free.)Unlike Dr. Joel Furhman's program in  Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, Revised Edition , Messina also encourages her readers to eat whole grains and oils in moderation.Messina and Fields have also set up a free forum for vegan women. I've only taken a quick glance at the nascent site, but it looks like it'll be a great resource once it gets more traffic and visitors.I also really liked JL Fields' chapter on how to pick out vegan-friendly shoes, clothes, and beauty products. She explained a few concepts, like what the logos mean on bottles, that were really helpful, and gives a list of vegan-friendly brands like Abba and Aubrey.If you already own _Vegan for Life_, you probably don't need this book since VFL covers similar information, but if, like me, you're interesting in learning as much as possible about a vegan diet and how it specifically affects women, I'd definitely recommend adding this book to your library since it complements VFL so nicely. If you don't own either and are trying to choose between them, I'd say to go with this one since it covers a lot of similar information as _Vegan for Life_, with, obviously, more information that is focused on women's unique nutritional needs.

What I like best about this book is that it presents to you the most current nutritional information and takes a really realistic approach to healthy eating. This is not a diet book, and it’s not a fad book, it’s also not a restrictive eating book. It outlines how you can optimize your nutritional intake, and healthify your diet without making it complicated. The research is sound, and the information is good, unlike many, many other vegan books this book doesn’t exaggerate vegan health claims, but instead it gives you a practical well-rounded stack of information. It also doesn’t pass judgements, I hate that some vegan health books take a really judgmental ‘perfectionist’ attitude to health and nutrition. I personally don’t find that helpful, in fact I think that kind of rigid, fanaticism does more harm then good in the long run. Luckily that attitude is completely absent from this book.The writing style was fluent and easy-going. Nutrition is not always the most interesting topic but Virginia Messina writes in a way that is informative and interesting without being preachy or dry.her style is matter of fact, and down to earth, it’s easy to understand, and easy to remember which in turn makes it easy for you to relate it back to someone else. JL Fields who contributed the recipes as well as a Chapter entitled “Vegan Beyond the Plate” has a similarly engaging style. It also must be said that I really like that this book is woman-centered, and woman specific. That means virtually everything in the book is applicable - except the pregnancy chapter which you can skip if that isn’t something you need to know about. - and relatable. I find that inspiring and empowering.If you need to know how to best meet your nutrient needs as a woman, if you need to know what foods are best to eat for what reasons, or are looking for some help in controlling or preventing chronic disease this book is a good primer. It’s also a really good introduction for anyone out there who isn’t vegan already, or anyone who may be newly vegan. For long time vegans this makes a nice, easy resource to have on hand for quick fact-checking or to remind ourselves once in a while to make sure we’re meeting our nutrient needs.Despite my enjoyment of this book it must be said that I found some parts repetitive. The constant reminders to make sure we’re taking our Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D, and DHA and EPA got a little old after a few times. The book is not particularly long only 236 pages if you aren’t counting the recipes and the resources and my memory is not near bad enough to need to be reminded of these issues a dozen times in such a short span. Also though I think this is a great resource for new vegans or the vegan curious it’s probably not going to be overly helpful to any long-time vegans who are interested in something a bit more in depth. If you have a basic understanding of nutrition and veganism nothing in this book is going to be too surprising. It still makes a good reference but don’t expect to learn anything that’s going to blow you out of the water.My only other complaint is that this book seems to have been written from the perspective that the reader is in need of a more healthful diet, or weight-loss, and so it does not offer any real, useful tips to those of us who are already eating a healthful diet, but want to find ways to maximize it. It also does not offer suggestions for what one should do if their cholesterol is too low, or their blood pressure is too low. Perhaps these are not common complains in our gluttonous society, but I do know a few vegans with extremely low cholesterol and it can be a problem, one I think would be addressed in a chapter on cholesterol in a vegan health and nutrition book.As for the recipes I have not yet tried any, as I do not need help in this area of my life. Though I took a glance through them, and many of them look to be pretty basic and standard healthy vegan recipes. Simple enough for a new vegan, or a new cook to master and enjoy. Personally I’ve never been a fan of basic cooking but quite a few of the recipes do sound interesting and creative - cinnamon tofu for example. If/When I try any of the recipes I’ll make sure to edit this review stating so.Overall this is a good resource for any new vegans or vegan curious people. Especially those who may be suffering from the common health problems and have little to no knowledge of nutrition. If you’ve been vegan a while and are reasonably healthy you may not get as much out of this book, but I still think it’s a nice resource to have. If more in-depth or detailed information is what you’re after however I’d recommend you look elsewhere.

I enjoyed reading this as a new vegan. Two books arrived and they were so nice to refund me and tell me to keep the second book. I gave it to my niece and within a week she transitioned into a vegan diet. We've both been plant-based ever since. I appreciate the essentials listed here and the approach to veganism specifically for women.

I love this book! What I appreciate most is that it breaks down what women in particular need to be aware of nutritionally when on a vegan diet. There were a couple of vitamins and minerals I wasn't aware that I was lacking in my diet and this book helped me find ways to easily add them in.

This is great! I haven't finished reading the whole book but it has a lot of helpful information when starting out. I love how it breaks things down for you, for example, how much of certain foods you should be eating according to calorie levels. It's been very helpful so far.

I found the nutritional information during pregnancy especially helpful, and I have pregnancy-specific vegan books.This was just clear, with amounts, and to the point I guess.Otherwise I did not gain much more information, but I have been vegan for years.

Great information - not biased, but well studied and helpful. A treasure. If the recipes were perfectly suited to our restrictive diet - I'd give it a 9 :-). I have been a vegetarian for over forty years and eaten a mostly vegan diet for well over a decade - being four years into all vegan eating at this point. I find it to be a great resource - reminding me of things I know and teaching me new ways to look at my vegan diet (and self). Wonderful job.

I liked the book because it goes through all major aspects of female health and nutrition in the context of veganism. I also enjoyed the recpies mentioned in the book. In comparison to other books about veganism, it focuses more heavily on health than recipes or ethical considerations of this style of eating. It is quite a thick book which is a plus for me :).

Fantastic book if you're female & thinking about becoming vegan, all information is laid out in the most easy to understand way.

Was quite disappointed with this book, there is some useful info in the first chapter but nothing you can't find for free with a simple google search.For somebody with her experience I was expecting a lot more information, tips and advice.Not worth the money.

perfect :) Thank you

Really good book would recommend to anyone !!!