The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues and Applications: .

by Ginny Messina, Mark Messina

The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets, Third Edition highlights trends and research on vegetarian diets and translates the information into practical ideas to assist dietitians and other healthcare professionals in aiding their clients. Evidence-based and thoroughly referenced, this text addresses diets throughout the life cycle with chapters devoted to pregnancy and lactation, infants, children, adolescents, and the elderly, and highlights the benefits of using vegetarian diets in the treatment of hyperlipidemia, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Full of vital information on vegetarian nutritional needs and healthier, more satisfying diets, the Third Edition can be used as an aid for counseling vegetarian clients and those interested in becoming vegetarians, or serve as a textbook for students who have completed introductory coursework in nutriation.

Genres: Vegetarian, Food, Health, Nonfiction, Reference, Vegan, Cooking

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Interests: books, animals, my cats, your cats, all other cats, gardening, piano, vintage 1930s-40s textiles, animal rights, vegan knitting, vegan cooking.

Favorite books: My "always and forever" favorites: the Betsy-Tacy books, Jane Austen, Fannie Flagg, I Capture the Castle, Lonesome Dove, To Kill a Mockingbird.

I'm a dietitian and public health nutritionist, specializing in vegan nutrition. I share vegan and vegetarian info through my blog (http://www.TheVeganRD.com) and online columns for Suite101.com and as the Seattle Vegan Examiner.

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an indispensable book for all vegetarians. There’s no other comprehensive book out there that provides so much information about nutrition and the vegetarian diet(s). This is an incredibly well researched book: Saying the references listed at the end of every chapter are lengthy is an understatement. The 3 authors all have advanced degrees in nutrition/2 are registered dietitians.

I read the 1996 1st edition of this book cover to cover, and was incredibly impressed. The current 2nd edition gives various updated information including the addition of 4 new chapters (on fatty acid/omega-3 needs of vegetarians; the role of phytochemicals in the diet; the role of soyfoods in the diet; the role of carbohydrates in healthy diets, and this latter chapter also has information about the glycemic index).

This vegetarian positive book is also so refreshing because when I took nutrition in college, the R.D. professor I had was appalled by my vegetarian diet, even though when I figured my stats they showed I was getting more than adequate nutrients, and this was long before I became a vegan or knew what veganism was; that professor would have had a fit, and no helpful suggestions, had I been a vegan then.

There is information about types of vegetarian diets, about nutrition for all stages of life infants to elders, much about specific nutrients, and also practical applications are given for managing various medical conditions, and there are even tips about vegetarian food preparation and those are especially helpful to vegans who want to find substitutions for foods normally used in baking such as eggs, etc.

For those interested/curious, this book is very vegan friendly, but also honest about such things as the need for vitamin B12 supplementation.

This book is sufficiently interesting to be read straight through, and it also has a good index and helpful chapter descriptions so it’s easy to use as a reference book as well. Could be used as a text in college level nutrition classes, but it's easy for lay people to understand and no knowledge of chemistry is needed.

[Happyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guide on determining plant sources for various nutrients and planning healthy vegan and vegetarian diets according to dietary need. Written for dietitians, it may be too dense for those without a scientific bent. For dietitians, it's a great resource for counseling guidelines and current research references.