Living Lively: 80 Plant-Based Recipes to Activate Your Power and Feed Your Potential – A Teen Activist's Vegan Cookbook and Self-Improvement Guide for Conscious Living

by Haile Thomas

Nominee, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work


“Thomas's body positive, social and economic justice-oriented ethos, rich writing, beautiful photography, and accessible recipes are perfect for anyone looking for an antidote to the typical vegan evangelism that often shames people for their food choices.” - Shondaland


By a superstar nineteen-year-old activist and motivational speaker, a unique cookbook and inspiring guide that combines 80 delicious, wholesome, super-powered plant-based recipes with a "7 points of power" manifesto to inspire the next generation of leaders toward self-reflection, critical thinking, and unlearning toxic ideas. 

When her father developed Type 2 diabetes, eight-year-old Haile Thomas began a journey that would change her family's dietary habits, improve her dad's health, and radically transform her life. Haile’s family began looking into ways to improve his condition without having to rely on medication with dangerous potential side effects. Inspired by her mom’s research, and fueled by her love of food, Haile learned everything she could about nutrition. After seeing how dramatically she and her family were able to change her dad’s health, she chose to expand her reach to make the biggest positive impact possible in the world—particularly in underserved and at-risk communities. At 16, she was the youngest to graduate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition as a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. Now a social entrepreneur, speaker, and activist Haile is an advocate for conscious living who promotes resilience, positivity, and a healthy, nourishing lifestyle to young people everywhere.

Haile believes that to productively work toward our best selves, we must first fuel the vessel that supports us—our bodies. By incorporating healthy, plant-based dishes into our daily routine, we can boost qualities such as confidence, happiness, and positivity, giving us the energy we need to change our lives and the world.

Haile’s delicious, nutrition-packed vegan recipes boost brain power, calm the body, and provide energy. Some of the sensational food in Living Lively includes:


Golden Dream Turmeric Berry Chia Pudding
Fruity Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge
Potachos (Potato Nachos) with Green Chile Cheese Sauce
Straight Fire Mac N' Cheese
Korean Jackfruit Sloppy Jill
AB & J Swirl Brownies
Shortcut Sweet Potato Pie Boats
Living Lively combines these recipes with advice and insights from Haile's life as well as other dynamic, relatable young women, Gen Z leaders who are activating their power every day, including environmentalist and animal rights activist Hannah Testa, dancer and actress Nia Sioux, entrepreneur and mentor Gabrielle Jordan, global activist and sustainable fashion entrepreneur Maya Penn, and self-love advocate Luisa Gaffga. They promote not just physical nutrition but mental and emotional engagement, by paying close attention to the messages we receive from society, our personal relationships, and more to think critically about how they affect us and our outlook on the world.

These tools are specifically targeted at positive resistance, growth, and joy in what Haile calls the “7 Points of Power”—wellness, world perspective, media and societal influences, thoughts and spirituality, education, relationships, and creativity and giving. Beautiful and uplifting, Living Lively empowers us to take strong, positive steps to nourish ourselves, each other, our communities, and the planet.

 

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food, Cooking

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2020

Reviews

[Kaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was just a plant-based cookbook. It's so much more! Almost like a self-help book instead of your normal cookbook. About half the book is filled with Haile's "7 points of power." These include wellness, mindset, relationships, societal influences, education, world perspective, and creativity. Each section has lots of advice and an action plan for how to use these points of power to make yourself feel your best. The recipes are varied and look delicious. This is a good resource for anyone interested in veganism/plant-based food. It would make an EXCELLENT gift for beginner teen chefs!

[Mystical Enchantress · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers so much self-reflection questions. Great for journaling prompts. It explains how to detox not just your body but your thoughts, social media, toxic people around you and so on.

[Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad to see there are lifestyle vegan books, but if prefer just the recipes and less about the author and their journey. I'm sure she's well intentioned and trying to stand out, but overall I wasn't interested.

That said, there are interesting recipes and the food looks great.

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haile Thomas is super cute and I really like her and feel like I'd very much enjoy her in person. Buuuut, I was honestly there for the cookbook, and almost half of this is like a workbook, but on glossy cookbook paper, so...kind of confusing? I was not really expecting that, and am just not a workbook-type person, I guess.

There are a few things I am really interested in trying (Red-Hot Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce (does not contain actual Red Hots), Jamaican Jerk Bahn Mi Pizza (so many foods all in one!), Potachos with Green Chile Sauce (potatoes + nachoes, how could you go wrong?), but a lot I'm just not really that interested in. Bowls always sound like they should be super easy and lazy, but they always seem to have sooooo many things in them, and I don't really do smoothies or oatmeal or bread (I know--weirdo!).

So...I don't think this book is totally for me, but if Haile Thomas ever wants to hang out, I'm in!

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did have to skim a lot of this because it was due back at the library (a common refrain for me right now) but I really enjoyed this book and its recipes. Thomas has such a joy and hope for life but also a streak of realism that I very much appreciate. The recipes looks tasty and fairly easy plus I very much appreciated the substitutes offered if you couldn't find certain ingredients or weren't trying to be 100% vegan with every recipe. It's going on the list of books to give to graduates for sure as it's more a journaling/lifestyle book that would work well for a young adult during a transition period.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to decide whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. I decided on 3 because I probably won't use half the book even though the other half is fantastic. This is 2 books in 1 and as I bought this on-line, I did not realise this when I bought it and possibly wouldn't have bought it if I'd known. However, I'm glad I did as the recipes are great. The first half of the book is Haile's history and then loads of exercises on self reflection/love/empowerment. There are even spaces to write in which is a shame for such a quality produced book. Who would want to spoil the book by writing in it? A lot of the exercises are personal and I wouldn't necessarily want my family to read the thoughts I'd written. I feel this should have been published as 2 books thus the reason I went for 3 stars instead of 4. There are a lot of breakfast recipes and so far I have tried Fruity Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge, Nutty Quinoa Parfait and Golden Dream Turmeric-Berry Chia Pudding, all with great success. The turmeric/berry pudding was fiddly but super delicious and beautiful to look at so worth the effort on a weekend. My family like everything I've made so far and want me to continue trying the rest of the recipes. There are colour photos (Hooray!); something I think is essential for all cookbooks. This is a great book (some of you might like the 'self' half, just not for me) especially as Haille is so young. I hope she goes on to write more recipe books as I am enjoying the recipes in this one.

[Lavender Panchoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this book at the library and literally sat through this morning to nearly night reading it. I mainly got this book because I’m a vegetarian and wanted to gain a broader spectrum for recipes and ideas. However, I wanted to see if I could get it from a brown skinned woman preceptive since I’m also a brown skinned woman. So far, this book is really good and writes from a place of experience, insight, and what their given circumstances were. I really appreciate the honesty the author had when writing how she got to being vegan and what her reasons were.

Some of the recipes I will be taking and incorporating into trying it. In truth this book is good for anyone with Caribbean roots and you chooses to go plant-based but still wanna keep someone of their West Indian traditional meals intact with some minor changes. Great Read and self-loving.

[mrsboomreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half cookbook, half workbook and guide to Living Lively, this book is modern, informative, fun, and functional! Reading through part one felt more like having a coffee house conversation with a friend. Haile Thomas clearly explains what inspired her to educate herself (and countless others) on plant-based eating and wellness.

And the recipes! I’ve already tried one - Pink Power Smoothie Bowl - and can’t wait to make others, marked by numerous page flags. This book would be a great intro for someone curious about plant based eating, but is also another terrific resource for those who have already made that change (myself included!).

[Dray · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few cookbooks I have read where i enjoyed the narrative even more than the delicious recipes. Haile has a positive spirit that is infectious. her guided questions, mostly centering around gratitude are fantastic but her spirit really infuses the entire book. So grateful I had the chance to read it. Thanks!

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wasn’t what I expected, but in a good way! The first half was really nice, I loved all the self-help stuff. And the recipes looked SOOO good, plus the make-your-own recipes were a nice touch. I’m not even vegan but this book inspired me to lean towards veganism, and I’m thinking about trying it out!

[Kristina]

Oddly marketed as a cookbook, but when you open it you find that it's actually a book of "tools to activate your inner power- Plus 80 delicious plant-based recipes." Would honestly do better in the self-help section.

[Bobble · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pro: Positive and empowering section for goal setting and self reflection
Con: Ingredient heavy, maple in almost everything recipes and effort heavy

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Jan Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

In sorting favorite new recipes, I've discovered that a number of them have come from Haile Thomas's cookbook. While I'm not her target audience, I admire her optimistic outlook and enthusiasm for causes she supports. That, and I'm addicted to her chill dough--golden oat cookie dough bites--and her spiced maple hot cocoa, which has introduced me to the delights of garam masala. Not only are her recipes good eating, they are also good for you. The book itself is partly activism for the environment, social justice, health, and happiness; partly a guide for personal growth; and partly a cookbook. Since Thomas's recipes are vegan and the book contains a number of elements that a simple cookbook wouldn't, this volume is not for everyone. But, for the person to whom its features appeal, it is a gem.

[Jo-anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Food has such a powerful connection to the state of the spiritual & physical well-being of of we humans and our world. This book is a great starting point for those who want to reclaim their ownership of their personal wellness. Haile Thomas provides a ‘spring clean’ for the body, the mind and our relationships. As a POC she explores her perspective that she is more than enough, not defined by her colour & reminds us that “we can decide how our experiences will impact our lives. There are “80 plant-based recipes to activate your power & feed your potential”, activities to assist with personal reflection and information providing ‘medicine as food, ethical and environmental support for plant-based eating.

[DeAnna Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently received this book from William Morrow and I love it! It’s part Cookbook, part Journal, and part lively insights. It’s also entirely plant based. Haile seems like such a genuine person and I really enjoyed reading about her food journey and perception of life. I also really loved her recipes, and as an avid toast lover my heart instantly connected to her section on toasts 😂. I would recommend this all around and I’ll have my eye out for Haile and hope she comes out with more book infusions in the future.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have the hardback version, not kindle but can't find that option. I bought this book for my daughter but read it and tried some recipes before giving it to her. I love how this is divided in two parts: living and eating. As for the recipes, I was blown away by some of her sauces. They are worth the price of the book. And I'll never eat grilled cheese without dipping it in a sauce ever again!

[Lisa Eirene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not for me. It was mostly a self help/empowerment type book, less about vegetarian recipes which is what I was looking for. I found myself skipping the first half and then when it got to the recipe part I wasn't in love with the recipes. Nothing really grabbed me.

[Christina F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely story, inspirational, good recipes

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great approach to eating and cooking.

[Robin Voll]

Some good recipes and vegan shopping lists. Over 100 pages of it are not a cookbook, which is fine, but it should have a different title.