User:Deubug/The Kind Diet

The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight and Saving the Planet is a vegan cookbook written by actress and animal rights activist Alicia Silverstone.

Background
While writing The Kind Diet, Silverstone turned down acting offers for stage and screen to focus on the book, which took three years to write. The book details Silverstone's transition to veganism and The Insider comments: "is about living your life healthy and happy, to the full, while taking care of 'mama' Earth!"

Patrick Healy of The New York Times writes that The Kind Diet, which recently was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover advice, how-to and miscellaneous books repudiates Silverstone's early career, when she played blonde babes. Healy continues, quoting Silverstone: “The karma of turning vegan is amazing. And then to get this sudden weight loss, and my skin is glowing and my nails are strong and my eyes are white — it was wonderful." In an interview with Raakhee Mirchandandi of The New York Post she says: “The difference to me is that there are nasty foods and kind foods. Foods that are nasty literally are aging you and depleting you — meat, dairy, sugar, processed foods.”

Content
Silverstone's autobiographical and, according to some reviewers, humorous book, "The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight and Saving the Planet", offers readers dietary and self-help tips. Silverstone says: “This is a journey, you know.” In “The Kind Diet,” she promises to help you feel great, lose weight and save the planet. she pairs arguments for veganism with pictures of cute chicks (the poultry sort) and piggies, and wraps up with recipes for dishes such as radicchio pizza with truffle oil, pecan-crusted seating and egg salad sandwiches made of tofu.

 NOTES: 

''' What's your advice to people who don't want to give up meat and dairy entirely? ''' That's exactly who the book is for. I know not everyone's going to go all the way, but I want people to know that making even a few changes does have an impact. They can start just by increasing the amount of whole grains they eat each day—like quinoa, wild rice, and couscous. Then you can do simple things—like, if you eat chicken and beef four times a week, cut down to just once a week at first. All of these choices can make a significant difference. Are there any non-vegan foods that still tempt you?

When I see oysters or scallops at a restaurant I sometimes get a little, like, "awwww." But once I gave in and had a taste, and happily confirmed they're not better than anything I'm eating now. The thing I was really sad about when I went vegan was that I'd never have a chocolate peanut butter cup again [they're typically made with milk chocolate], but then I came up with my own amazing recipe

Goodreads

Diet Review

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

The Kind Life Website

Good Housekeeping

WebMD

http://naturalhealthwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Aliciamerged.pdf

FaceBook

Huffington Post

Wall Street Journal

Vegans
In a 2009 survey, advocates at the not-for-proft Vegetarian Resource Group reported that about 1 percent of Americans are vegan, roughly a third of the people reported being vegetarians. A separate survey last year by the same group found a similar breakdown for Americans ages 8 to 18. That makes veganism something short of a fad sweeping the nation like low-carb once did. Consider that while Kraft Foods reports that it shipped out more Boca Original Vegan Burger Patties and Boca Ground Crumbles last year, the increase was a modest 1 percent. Still, there are plenty of signs that vegans have pushed beyond their old, exclusive cocoon that once inspired celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain to mock them as the “Hezbollah-like splinter faction” of vegetarians. It’s too soon to declare that America is having a vegan movement. After all, a scant 1.5 percent of the population is vegetarian, at most, according to food researcher Harry Balzer, a senior vice president of the NPD Group, a market research company. And the number of vegetarians who take the no animal fesh diet that much further by shunning dairy and eggs, and sometimes honey or refined sugar, is simply too small to count, he said. But you wouldn’t know that by looking at cultural indicators. Vegan cookbooks make the bestseller lists (Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet,” and the “Skinny Bitch” series). Vegan or anti-big farm documentaries such as “Food, Inc.,” “Forks Over Knives,” and “Farmageddon” grab high-profile attention. Former omnivore Bill Clinton considers himself vegan. So many CEOs have gone vegan (Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, casino magnate Steve Wynn, hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons) that Businessweek identified a new group - “power vegans.”

Publicity
Silverstone appeared at the Boston Book Festival to discuss her book in Oct 2009. She spoke about being into food: "I don’t ever remember not being into it. My dad cooked, but he wasn’t a fancy chef. We had a lot of Yorkshire pudding growing up, and roast potatoes and pork chops. We’re Jewish, so I don’t know why we were eating pork chops, but, anyway. . ."

Actress Alicia Silverstone and her “The Kind Diet” book were featured everywhere from The Wall Street Journal to Rachael Ray’s talk show. Actress and environmental activist Alicia Silverstone discussed her journey and lifestyle as a vegan, while explaining how nutritional choices affect the planet, to an audience of more than 700 people at the University of Central Florida Thursday. Silverstone, who is also the author of “The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet,” noted the many benefits that can be gained from a plant-based diet during her presentation, which was part of the UCF General Education Program Unifying Theme: “The Environment and Global Climate Change.” The program was organised by the UCF Global Perspectives Office.

Sponsorship
Earth Balance organic and non-GMO Project verified soy milk endorsed The Kind Diet: “We are happy to build on a great Whole Foods Market relationship, and are excited to promote a plant-based diet by featuring a recipe from Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet on every package of our soy milk.”

Awards
When actress Alicia Silverstone became a vegan and an environmental and animal activist, she signed [Jessica] Porter on to co-write The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet. It ascended to the New York Times Best-Seller List last year, and Porter felt empowered by her research for the book that sparked ideas for more writing. It also joined the top 20 most popular books on Amazon Canada, and became a best seller hardcover, non-fiction work. Michael Hill writes: Actress Alicia Silverstone added a dose of star power to the vegan cause more recently with “The Kind Diet,” a no. 1 best-seller. Not everyone, however, raves about The Kind Diet: "And the worst? Well there’s plenty to choose from but Alicia Silverstone’s humbly named The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet is perfect for anyone who likes their recipes with a dash of self-righteousness and a smidgen of stating-the-bleeding-obvious. Here, Alicia shares her insights on cooking rice: “Wash rice. Soak rice.Put rice in a pot. Add water. Boil on high heat. Cover. Turn the heat down. Simmer, remove and serve warm.” Ground-breaking stuff. Still, we shouldn’t scoff, because according to Silverstone, “by following the Kind Diet, you will become more sensitive to all the important things in life—like love, nature, and your deepest, truest self.” And you’ll know how to cook rice."

Future Plans
Two follow up books are planned: The Kind Mama and The Kind Diet Cookbook.