61. Vegan Before Six
Rating: ☆☆☆
Recommended by:
Author: Mark Bittman
Genre:
288 pages, published April 30, 2013
Reading Format: Book
Summary
Vegan Before Six or VB6 as it is referred to was written by food writer Mark Bittman after his doctor told him to adopt a vegan diet or go on medication. He didn’t want to do either, so he compromised and decided to become a “flexitarian” in which he focused on a vegan diet heavy in vegetables, fruits, and grains until 6:00 p.m. After that time he would eat however he wanted in moderation. The results were quick and impressive. Bittman lost 35 pounds and saw all of his blood numbers move in the right direction. He also kept the weight off and his health continued to improve.
Quotes
“I live full-time in the world of omnivores, and I’ve never wanted to leave. But the Standard American Diet (yes, it’s SAD) got to me as it gets to almost everyone in this country.”
“Like pornography, junk [food] might be tough to define but you know it when you see it.”
“We spend a trillion dollars a year on food, but it’s only 9.4 percent of our expendable income, the lowest percentage of any country on record.”
My Take
After reading How Not to Die, which caused me to have a light bulb moment and shifted me into an overdrive consumption of fruits and vegetables, I was curious to see if my view on eating would be changed by Vegan Before Six. I will say it did, but only slightly. I appreciated that Bittman’s dietary approach supports healthy food choices and an overall healthy lifestyle without radically changing your diet or throwing away all the food you love. I haven’t completely gone the way of VB6, but I am closer to that ideal than before I read the book, so I guess it has had a (small) impact on me.
