One of the funniest women comics around thinks that her new restaurant is the breath of fresh air the restaurant industry needs.
Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia De Rossi have teamed up with Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and film producer Steve Bing to open a vegan restaurant. The unnamed eatery will be located on Ventura Boulevard in San Fernando Valley, California. The menu will be designed by Tal Ronnen, who is best known for catering the wedding of DeGeneres and Rossi. Ronnen was also the chef responsible for the food for Oprah’s Vegan Cleanse and cooked the first vegan meal for the U.S. Senate.
Vegans do not ingest any animal products. They avoid all forms of dairy, meat, honey, and eggs, as well as fur, leather, wool, down, and cosmetics or chemical products tested on animals.
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By Dana Schultz of MyLittleCelebration.com
Veganism.
Either you get it or you don’t.
Whichever camp you may fall into, this animal-friendly diet is growing in popularity faster than I can change my pants in the morning. As word of its benefits have spread, more and more people have become curious about it. Are you among the curious crowd? The enthusiasts? Or perhaps calling out “Why, why?” in utter confusion at the concept?
Well, not to worry as this article acts as a quick guide on what veganism is, the ‘why’ behind it, and how someone interested in going vegan might make a smooth transition into the diet. That transition is made all the easier with a few favorite recipes.
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If you’ve ever wished that you could swing through a drive-thru to pick up your favorite fast food without the side of “dieter’s remorse” that accompanies a double cheeseburger, then you’ll be on board with the latest trend: fast food without grease, salt or guilt.
This week, Chicago-based Lyfe Kitchens, owned by two former McDonald’s executives, opens its first store in Palo Alto, Calif. with further plans for as many as 250 outposts nationally over the next five years, joining other health-focused quick service restaurants including Chicago’s Ful 2 Live and the California based Native Foods Cafe.
“It’s going to be great tasting, satiating, familiar foods,” the company’s chief communications officer, Mike Donahue told the LA Times, “with no [genetically modified foods], no additives, nothing processed and everything under 600 calories.”
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Being a vegan certainly isn’t easy. Just ask Bob Harper, veteran trainer from The Biggest Loser. Bob himself follows a vegan diet, and with his contestants often discovering they have obesity related diseases like diabetes and high cholesterol, it’s not hard to see why Bob pushes a diet that eliminates red meat, eggs and dairy.
The first concern that comes to my mind when I think of a vegan diet, however, is where the protein and calcium will come from. The substitutes for protein in meat, eggs and dairy in a vegan diet can come from legumes, nuts and beans. The calcium that normally could be obtained from milk and cheese would require a calcium and vitamin D supplement, but what about your conjugated linoleic acid?
Never heard of it? Most haven’t, but it is an important concern if you go vegan. Conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, are a group of fatty acids that are found in dairy products and red meat. Conjugated linoleic acid is a fatty acid that our body can not make on its own, so supplementation for vegans is essential.
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By Becky Striepe for Care2.com
There’s a common misconception that a vegan diet is also an expensive one, but I don’t think that has to be the case at all! Sure, if you eat lots of fake meat products and load up your cart with out of season veggies, a vegan diet can definitely break the bank. If an omnivore ate nothing but filet mignon and fancy cheeses, that would get pretty expensive, too, right?
The keys to stocking a vegan pantry without maxing out your food budget is pretty simple: eat real food, and cook from scratch when you can. Does that seem easier said than done? Don’t fret! Here are some tips and tricks for eating a healthy, vegan diet without spending too much money or giving up too much precious free time.
1. Cook from Scratch
Cooking from scratch probably sounds time-consuming, but with a bit of planning it’s very easy to work this into your schedule. Pre-processing your food can go a long way. I don’t mean canning, though. I mean soaking beans and chopping veggies. When you get home from the store, cut up your veggies before you put them away in the fridge. If you know you want to make a bean dish, soak the beans overnight to speed up cooking time. It’s so much easier to make a meal after a long day when some of the prepwork is already done.
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