Frequently Asked Questions

Answered Mostly with Questions

I hate tofu and sprouts.

That was a question?

Where do you get protein?

Where do elephants and cows get it? Why does the average American eat twice as much protein as they need? Do we so often call meat “protein” to avoid associating our food with dead animals? Have you ever met anyone with a protein deficiency who was not just starving for lack of food?

Seriously, when one eats whole food, plant-based, everything one eats except for fruit has the right amount of protein for the energy content in it.

What’s the best meat substitute?

Why eat fake meat that is not much healthier than real meat, when you can eat real plants that offer a bigger variety of better tastes and better nutrition? Isn’t it better not to inadvertently fool observers into thinking you are eating meat?

What do you do when you eat out?

Have you seen this great blog, “How Not To Starve?”

What supplements do you need?

Vitamin B-12. Vitamin D if you aren’t sure you get enough sun.

What about fish?

Can we agree that fish are animals, not plants? That they are endangered by over-fishing, and made unsafe to eat by pollution and genetic modification?

What about honey?

Honey seems to be a kind of Vegan purity test. If you oppose the exploitation of bees, may I suggest agave nectar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or date syrup?

Where do you get iron (or most other nutrients)?

Beans and greens.

How can I eat WFPB if I can’t cook and don’t want to learn?

Can you boil water? Check out LeafSide. There are many other sources of easy to make or home-delivered WFPB meals.

What about “may contain traces of milk” on food labels?

If it’s not an ingredient, but just a disclaimer, and you aren’t specifically allergic, I wouldn’t worry about it.

What about gluten?

There is gluten in whole wheat and some other grains. For most of us, there is no reason to avoid it. If you want to avoid gluten, use other grains, like rice, quinoa, and corn.

What about foods’ glycemic index?

Type-2 diabetes is a disease cured by eating whole food, plant-based. The glycemic index of, say, white potatoes, doesn’t make them unhealthy, unless one loads them with stuff like sour cream, cheese, butter, and bacon.

Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane?

I like the answer on the t-shirt, “If riding on a plane is flying, then riding on a boat is swimming. If you want to fly, get out of the plane!”