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Posted TODAY, 4:51 AM Updated TODAY, 4:52 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) - Ever thought about going vegan? While the term might make you think "absolutely no meat or dairy" there are no rules when it comes to your diet.

You can even be "vegan-ish!" Here are some mostly plant-based and completely tasty holiday recipes. 'Tis the season for food, food and more food!

But if you want to stay healthy this holiday, Chef Mielle Chenier-Cowan Rose says load up your plate with more veggies and less meat.

She was a vegan for 12 years, but decided to include some meat and dairy when she realized she was lacking certain nutrients.

"My biggest mistake was being black and white, like I thought it was all or nothing," Chef Mielle Chenier-Cowan Rose told Ivanhoe.

Mielle's cookbook is about being vegan-ish. That's incorporating mostly plant-based foods into your diet, like this festive holiday polenta torte.

First, add olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs and garlic to four cups of water or organic chicken broth if you want to add a little meat. Bring to a boil and add polenta.

"As you put the polenta in, you want to make sure the water is rapidly boiling," Mielle told Ivanhoe.

Excerpt from:
Chef's Corner: "Vegan-ish" Holiday Foods

Aubry Walch grew up on Guam and moved with her family to Minnesota when she was a teenager. Her memories of the island include the tropical temperatures, the fiestas and a dinner table filled with five different kinds of meat.

I didnt eat my first vegetable until I was 10, Aubry says. I got a cold cut combo salad and that was first piece of lettuce Id ever eaten in my life.

By the time she turned 18, however, shed become a strict vegetarian. And her younger brother, Kale, is now a vegan. Yes, Kale is his real name, but he wasnt named after the vegetable.Kale wasnt even available on Guam at the time, so the family had no idea what it was until they saw it in the produce aisle in Minnesota.

Both siblings stopped eating meat in their late teens, but their choice was motivated by environmental and ethical reasons, not because they didnt like the taste. They missed meat so much that they set out to try to make vegan alternatives for their favorites. The first recipe they perfected was bologna.

Growing up, one of my favorite foods was bologna and rice, Kale says. My dad would pan fry bologna with fried rice and I really missed that. So bologna was the first thing I made when I went vegan.

Vegan bologna turned out to be just the beginning. The siblings now sell a wide variety of meatless meats at Minneapolis farmers markets: ribs, salami, bacon, pepperoni, hot dogs, beer brats, pulled pork, Italian sausage, teriyaki beef jerky and more. Their business is called The Herbivorous Butcher, and they sell out every week even the bologna.

We tell everyone: this is the only bologna in the world where you actually know whats going in, Kale says.

Their meatless meats are made with vital wheat gluten, assorted spices and different ingredients to mimic the texture and taste of real meat pinto beans and sun-dried tomatoes for Italian sausage, pineapple juice for ham.

The meat they have yet to perfect, though, is Spam. Its something of a white whale for the pair.

Spam is a big favorite on Guam. Its estimated that the average Guamanian consumes 16 cans of Spam per year. US troops first brought the canned meat to the Pacific island during World War II, and the indigenous population, the Chamarro, incorporated it into many of their dishes. Its even available at McDonalds on Guam. Spam is also ever-present in Minnesota, home of Spam Town, USA Austin, Minnesota, where Hormel is headquartered.

See the rest here:
A sister and brother dream of making the perfect vegan Spam

Designer Cornelia Guest shares her passion for animal-free products through several fashion and food-related endeavors.

The New York-based socialite, who was named Debutante of the Decade in 1986 during the International Debutante Ball and counts some of the most illuminating cultural figures past and present as good friends (Truman Capote and Andy Warhol frequented her family parties back when Guest was just a teenager), has since embraced her passion for all things cruelty-free and created several product lines that project her chic stance on veganism and animal-friendly fashion.

Guest designs a vegan handbag line which is carried by Bloomingdales, a vegan cookie line, a vegan catering and events company, plus she authored a cookbook in 2012 called Cornelia Guests Simple Pleasures: Healthy Seasonal Cooking & Easy Entertaining. Her most recent endeavor is a capsule collection of cruelty-free jackets with socially conscious online clothing brand, Project Gravitas, projectgravitas.com.

The Cornelia Guest for Project Gravitas collection includes three cruelty-free jackets made of faux leather, with prices starting at $295. The Olive is a bomber-style jacket, The Nelson a cropped, motorcycle-inspired blazer, and The Lyle is also motorcycle-inspired, but with edgy zippers and texture on the arms and shoulders. Guests designs are the first collaboration for Project Gravitas, which often features powerful female entrepreneurs wearing the brands dresses on its website.

With an aim to erase the crunchy stereotype often associated with vegan products, Guest has brought her luxe background and aesthetic to synthetic leathers in the hopes of bridging the gap between high-end and flat-out hippie.

Project Gravitas and I share a passion for creating beautiful and meaningful products, Guest says. Living a cruelty-free lifestyle doesnt mean you have to compromise on luxury or quality.

Its clear that Guest hardly compromises, having originally launched her handbag line in 2011 after not being able to find any that were both vegan and chic.

By Melissa Magsaysay - Chicago Tribune (TNS)

2014 Chicago Tribune

Read more here:
Designer and vegan Cornelia Guest launches cruelty-free jacket collection

Story on the Gold Coast health movement after Christmas and New Years. Vegan fitness model Amanda Fisher. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Source: News Limited

THE Gold Coasts health lifestyle craze is set to spur people into going vegan and vegetarian to combat post Christmas kilos.

But experts warn people not to go cold turkey after stuffing themselves with turkey, saying going vego in the wrong way can actually make your health worse.

The citys healthy lifestyle movement has got more people turning to paleo and clean eating diets, eating out at raw food cafes opening up across the city.

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Vegan fitness model Amanda Fisher. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS Source: News Limited

The latest Roy Morgan Research revealed that the number of vegetarians was on the rise with 1.6 million non-meat eaters in 2009 increasing to 1.9 million in 2013 almost 20 per cent growth over the four years.

Fitness model and personal trainer Amanda Fisher, who has been a vegetarian for 10 years and a vegan for the past three, said while many people chose to go meat-free as a new years resolution, they often suffered dire health consequences.

Going vegetarian the wrong way can actually make your health worse off, warned Miss Fisher, of Bangin Bodz Personal Training.

You dont get immunity and added health benefits just because you switch to vegetarianism when I transitioned to vegetarian I actually became overweight and unhealthy not quite what you would expect.

Here is the original post:
Fitness fads to shift festive fat