Simple Recipes for Joy: More Than 200 Delicious Vegan Recipes: A Cookbook - Softcover

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Sharon Gannon is a twenty-first-century Renaissance woman, an animal-rights and vegan activist, and a world-renowned yogini, author, dancer, poet, musician, and producer.

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Foreword

Sharon Gannon’s latest book has the power to change your life; it may even save it. This is a pretty bold statement. After all, you’re holding only a cookbook, right? Wrong. Trust me, this statement is spot-on accurate. How do I know? Because Sharon’s teachings are part of the reason I’m alive. And her recipes are more than a healthy meal; they are the foundation of what’s known as functional, holistic medicine. You see, the doctor of the future is you. You know exactly what your body needs to thrive and by quieting your mind, dumping your addictions, and listening to your gut wisdom, you too will learn how to use food to transform your life.

Food literally has the power to heal and the power to poison. In my journey as a cancer patient, I’ve come to understand that health is not an absence of disease; it is a presence of vitality, sustainable energy, and joy. Health is our birthright. And yet so many of us have forgotten. We believe that our genes determine our fate and that we have no control over our lives. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The genes you were born with are not your destiny. Your daily food choices (along with your lifestyle and environment) affect your genetic future. That’s right: what you eat today can literally have an impact on your DNA. Which is precisely why many people who follow the Standard American Diet (SAD) are sick, overweight, tired, and in a state of total dis-ease.

The SAD way of living, filled with acidic animal products that are high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and cancer-causing carcinogens, processed foods, and refined sugar, strips our bodies of minerals and creates oxidative stress and inflammation. In fact, inflammation is the root cause of most chronic diseases. Inflammation is like being on fire on the inside, and this fire (or stress) comes from what we eat, drink, and think. In the case of animal products, the more we consume, the more inflamed and sicker we become.

It’s actually pretty ironic. We torture and slaughter billions of sentient beings each year because we erroneously believe that we need to eat their bodies for proper nourishment. “Milk, it does a body good,” right? “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” These messages have been strategically carved into our brains. Yet, this so-called nourishment often sends us to the grave earlier than necessary. It’s such a waste.

And who propagates these myths? The food industry. With billions of advertising dollars at their disposal, we are led to believe that meat, dairy, eggs, fish, poultry, processed foods, sugary snacks, and sodas are good for us. Because there is little regulation, we are incredibly vulnerable and often confused. As a result we blindly consume the foods that lead to heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, osteoporosis, arthritis, and so on. Let’s pause for a moment and follow the money trail. If plant-based foods are so good for us, then why can they sometimes be more expensive? Special interests do not favor broccoli. The fast-food burger is cheap because of government subsidies. And yet, calorie per calorie, there is more nourishment (vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and even protein!) in broccoli than in steak. So is cheap food a wise investment? No way. And once you learn how to shop wisely, you’ll see that a plant-based diet can fit into any budget.

It’s that simple, and yet we’re so confused. I know I certainly was. I was a hard-core omnivore and a junk-food junkie for many years. But on February 14, 2003, everything changed. Happy Valentine’s Day, you have cancer—a rare stage-IV disease with no treatment (no chemo, radiation, or surgery) and no cure. I was devastated. The first doctor I consulted suggested a triple organ transplant to remove and replace my liver and both of my lungs. Because these organs were riddled with malignant tumors, he thought it was my only hope. The second doctor suggested another radical treatment (that wouldn’t cure me) and gave me just ten years to live. I was only thirty-one years old. In an instant, I thought my life was over. I had no idea it was just getting started. I finally found an open-minded oncologist who helped me decide upon a radical approach. Watch and wait. Do nothing. Since the disease could be slow-moving, maybe I had time.

As it turns out, I did have time, and I decided to use it wisely. Next stop, Whole Foods, my pharmacy. How did I know to go to Whole Foods and stock up on plant-powered medicine? Sharon Gannon.

I started practicing Jivamukti yoga in 1991. At the time I was a young dancer, actress, and bartender with lots of injuries and “isms.” Jivamukti quickly became my church. It was a place I could go to take care of my temple and find my way home. I had never heard of veganism before studying with Sharon. I barely knew how to sit still, let alone make a bowl of quinoa! But slowly I began to listen.

When the diagnosis came, I listened at the deepest level imaginable. Here’s what I heard: “Practice yoga, learn how to take care of yourself, reduce your stress load, calm your mind, sleep, and most important—change what’s on your plate.” Influenced by Sharon’s teachings of ahimsa (nonviolence), I decided to practice kindness and compassion toward all beings, including myself. The first step was to remove stimulants like caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, all processed foods, and all animal products from my diet. After the initial detox period, I was astonished by how great I felt. For the next eight years, I researched the diets and lifestyles that were known to increase immunity, strength, and longevity. Guess what? They were all plant-based.

At this point, you may be questioning why your doctor hasn’t told you any of this information, or worse, you may wonder why he or she won’t validate these findings. The truth is that doctors don’t study nutrition in medical school. Therefore it’s our job to teach ourselves.

For nearly a decade now, I have lived a happy, healthy, and stable life in the face of a deadly disease. I still have cancer but it doesn’t have me. The diagnosis that once terrified me continues to lie dormant. Thanks to my diet and lifestyle, I’m in terrific overall health and have boundless energy, peace, and strength.

In the process of learning about the power of foods, I’ve had the privilege to share these principles with thousands of people from around the world, many of whom have been able to fully restore their health naturally without drugs, surgeries, or complicated and costly medical procedures. Like Sharon, I can’t think of a better way to spend my life than in the service of others. Because once we learn this information, we must pay it forward by spreading this lifesaving message to our families and friends.

As a nation we are getting sicker and fatter. Every day, fifteen hundred people die of cancer. Every minute a person in the United States dies of heart disease. Two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. And diabetes is growing at an alarming rate. Young people are being diagnosed with diseases common to their grandparents, and many researchers believe that the next generation will be the first to die before their parents. Health care costs are ballooning out of control, yet most of the money goes toward treating diseases that are preventable with proper plant-based nutrition. It’s easy to conclude that the leading cause of death in this country is not disease, it’s an unhealthy diet.

At the same time, our precious environment urgently cries out for help. According to the United Nations, “livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas...