Simple Recipes for Joy: More Than 200 Delicious Vegan Recipes - Hardcover

Gannon, Sharon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1583335595 ISBN 13: 9781583335598

Publisher: Avery, 2014

Synopsis

More than 200 delicious vegan recipes from the world-renowned founder of the Jivamukti yoga method and the New York City Jivamuktea Café
 
Since 1984, Jivamukti yoga has been synonymous with a new way of living: peacefully, healthfully, and consciously. Jivamukti’s dedicated instructors and message of kindness have inspired a global revolution. In 2006, Sharon Gannon and David Life opened the Jivamuktea Café to complement their yoga school as a living expression of how compassionate spiritual activism can be put to practical use. It, too, was an immediate success. The peaceful ambiance, the camaraderie, and, most of all, the delicious, hearty fare struck a chord with patrons who were thrilled to eliminate meat and dairy from their diet without sacrificing taste.
 
Thousands of customers—including Russell Simmons, award-winning film director Darren Aronofsky, and Eco Spokesmama Chloé Jo Davis—have become devoted fans of Gannon’s cruelty-free burritos, chocolate mousse, and flower salads. Now, for the first time, Gannon presents the secrets behind the café's acclaimed menu—and also showcases her own home cooking, with recipes she’s been making for family and friends for decades.
 
Stalwart vegans—as well as the millions of vegetarians and omnivores who eat vegan part-time for its health and environmental benefits—will embrace Gannon’s accessible, delicious, and spiritually powerful recipes.

About this title

About the Author:

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. She lives in Woodstock, New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

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 emissions, a bigger share than that of transport. Livestock now use more than 30 percent of the Earth’s entire land surface. As forests are cleared to create new pastures, it is a major driver of deforestation, especially in Latin America, where 70 percent of former forests have been turned over to grazing. The livestock business is also among the most damaging sectors to the Earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops.”

Now, this all may seem depressing at first, but it’s also thoroughly empowering if you’re willing to do something. But know this: We can’t wait for change. We must be the change. You can change the world from your kitchen. You can lead a peaceful plant-based protest, but only if you’re willing to buck the broken system and take a compassionate stand for yourself, the animal beings, and the precious world around you.

Take it from me: prevention is the only lasting cure. No matter what your circumstance, actively participating in your health, spiritual wealth, and happiness is a revolutionary act. Join the revolution today. Read this book, try the delicious recipes, and tell everyone you know to do the same. Listen to Sharon. She is a true visionary, a pioneer, and a compassionate mother to many beings. I’m so grateful to her for teaching me how to heal. Now she will teach you.

Peace, love, and veggies,
KRIS CARR, bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Diet and Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips

Introduction

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in New York City, and Union Square is as hectic and bustling as ever. People pass our Broadway entrance looking harried, barking into cell phones, lugging overstuffed briefcases, tugging toddlers’ hands. But inside the Jivamukti Yoga School, the creases of worry on the people’s faces fade away. After a peaceful yoga class, many of them step into Jivamuktea Café for a Chakra Rainbow Smoothie, a Burrito Verdura, or some Spirulina Millet. They linger to talk—laughing quietly, reading, or simply sitting—at home in the tranquillity and joy that abounds in this place.

Serving them, I am filled with gladness. I learned long ago that if I wanted to find enlightenment, cooking was the first step, and that if I was in search of joy, there was no better way to reach it than by providing for others. Yogis, who live by the nonviolent yogic principle of ahimsa, naturally gravitate toward the all-vegan, cruelty-free menu at Jivamuktea Café; and the simple peace and joy that fills them as they sit down to eat infuses the entire room with happiness.

As a child, I asked my mother, “If killing is wrong, isn’t it wrong to eat animals?” My mother replied, “It is okay, because they are raised for that.” Like most people, she felt that eating enslaved animals was normal and acceptable. Due to what they eat, many human beings on the planet today consciously or unconsciously cause tremendous harm to themselves, to the environment, and to billions of animals.

For most, what they eat is influenced by unconscious habits, ignorance, and mass media advertising rather than common sense, kindness, or joy. I have been reminded time and time again of the power of the printed word. Cookbooks, food critics, and celebrities can have a huge influence on what people choose to eat and whether or not restaurants stay open. The animal-user industries of course are well aware of this and pay a lot of money to get celebrities to endorse their products. Remember the milk mustache? And it’s worked; most of us have become so civilized that we can’t think for ourselves. Common sense is not so common. We have relinquished our innate sense and sensibilities, giving them over to the advertising agencies and food critics to manipulate our appetites.

In fact, we too often have no appetite outside of what we have become programmed to crave. As we have dissociated ourselves from nature, we have also become disconnected from the natural intelligence of the body. We can no longer feel what our bodies really need; we live in our heads, and our heads have been thoroughly programmed by our culture. We have allowed our own bodies to become so polluted by and addicted to junk food, tainted animal flesh, and milk products that we cannot even tell anymore when we are consuming something poisonous and injurious to our health. We have allowed “Food Inc.”—corporations and the animal-user industries, which have in many cases become more powerful than governments—to decide what’s available and affordable to eat. In America, Froot Loops (a highly processed, high-fructose, genetically modified, corn-based breakfast cereal) is cheaper to buy per serving than a piece of real organic fruit! Everything that is good for us and good for the environment has been stigmatized with the label alternative, while foods that are harmful to our health and the health of the environment are called normal or standard, and that is sad.

Some people may argue that they have a right to eat meat and dairy products, saying that it is nobody’s business what they do. When a person defends their right to eat meat and dairy products, they are failing to realize the devastating impact that such a diet has upon the environment and all of the life on this planet. It is fair to assume that most meat eaters are not eating meat because they want to cause harm to an animal or the environment; it is most likely more a matter of not thinking further than what appeals to their appetite at the moment. I think meat eaters generally view veganism as no more than a dietary preference, similar to preferring chocolate over vanilla, not realizing the life-and-death seriousness of the issue. When you are a meat eater, you generally don’t bring consciousness to your food choices. Of course some do, like people who eat kosher or halal food, or Catholics who abstain from meat on Fridays, or others with food allergies to gluten, peanuts, etc. But nevertheless, out of the worldwide human population of seven billion, very few meat eaters bring any significant level of awareness to the food on their plates. For the vast majority of people, food choices are a matter of habit, convenience, and personal preference rather than ethical considerations. They will just eat whatever is being served, whatever appeals to them on the menu, as the flight attendant asks, “Chicken or beef?”

When we become aware of the atrocities that are being committed against defenseless animals, many of us feel saddened and even overwhelmed. We feel helpless to do something about it all. Confronting or even discussing the issue with our family and friends can feel overwhelming, not to mention the helplessness we may feel against the forces of government or multinational corporations. How could any of us make a difference in a world where the majority of human beings feel it is not only normal and okay to eat animals but it is our God-given right as the dominant species to exploit the weak?

It is a fact that our consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy is excessive, yet our culture is founded upon the excessive enslaving and exploiting of animals for food. This way of life started around ten thousand years ago, when human beings began to domesticate animals and exploit them for material gain as part of the shift from a nomadic lifestyle to a more sedentary one.1 So the good news is that eating animals and animal products is not hardwired into us—it is cultural, something we have learned. Behaviors and habits that are learned can be unle...

About this edition

• Publisher: Avery
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1583335595
• ISBN 13: 9781583335598
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352