Best Fast Vegan Dessert: Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I’m going to make these tomorrow for friends who are stopping by for dessert. Chocolate chip pancakes are so divine and since they are served hot from the griddle, they feel sort of gourmet-ish.

It’s easy enough to make these from scratch, but obviously even easier to use a mix. If I’m making them just for my husband and me for a little treat, I try to be as healthful as possible by using a whole grain mix. If it’s for company, I want them to be super light and fluffy so I go with a standard white flour mix. (This is dessert, after all, hopefully following a very healthy dinner!) Pancake mix is usually vegan, but do a quick label scan; the more “complete” mixes can contain milk or even egg powder.

Prepare the batter according to package directions, using plain soymilk and egg replacer. I'm using Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer these days, but I also like EnerG brand.

For each batch of pancake mix, stir in around ¾ cups of vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips (this is according to taste, of course; you can’t go wrong with a little bit more) and ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

Melt around 1 tablespoon of vegan margarine in a non-stick skillet and cook the pancakes according to package directions. Serve immediately with sliced strawberries and just a drizzle of maple syrup.

Some Thoughts on Swine Flu: A Vegan Perspective

In the midst of a potential swine flu pandemic, we are being reassured that it’s okay to eat pork. News releases from the government and industry declare that swine flu is not transmitted by eating pork, and my fellow dietitians are busy advising consumers about safe pork cooking practices.

Pork is safe? Doesn’t this miss the point completely?

We have factory farms because there is no other way to satisfy appetites of Americans and other westerners for meat. Among their other horrors—which include environmental destruction and horrendous animal cruelty—factory farms are breeding grounds for disease. So now we have swine flu. And the response from the farm industry and even from health experts is to encourage people to engage in the very habits that caused it in the first place.

It may be true that you can’t get swine flu directly by eating a piece of bacon. But the only real protection from swine flu and other viruses poised to make the leap from animals to humans, is to do away with factory farms.

(Please make sure you check my examiner column today, too. It’s a short article on my two favorite brands of vegan sausage!)

Vegans and Mortality

I had a question from a reader about the 2005 study on German vegetarians that showed higher mortality for vegans compared to other health-conscious eaters.

The researchers asked nearly 2,000 subjects about diet, exercise and smoking habits, and then followed up over a period of 21 years, tracking deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other causes. Overall, the death rate was similar for lacto-ovo vegetarians and meat-eaters (most of whom had moderate meat consumption), but higher for vegans.

But while that fact was reported in some news media, the researchers didn’t even mention it in their discussion of the findings. There were only 60 vegans in the entire study, just a little bit more than 3% of the whole study population. Given the size of that group, it’s not possible to draw any conclusions about effects of vegan diet and it’s clear that the researchers didn’t consider this to be a very important finding.

It’s important to always be careful with epidemiologic studies of this type. They show associations, but not cause and effect. And they are prone to any number of confounding variables. In this case, the researchers noted that the questionnaire used to assess dietary intake was not an especially strong one so that “fine” differences among diets were not detected.

Also, many subjects may have changed their diets during the follow-up period. Who is to say that some who were vegans at the start of the study weren’t chowing down on Big Macs ten years later? With a large study group, these kinds of issues are less important—but again, the number of vegans in this study was small.

Based on limited research overall, there is no reason to believe that vegans who follow well-balanced diets are at greater risk for chronic disease. We also don’t really have much data to support the idea that vegan diets protect against most diseases compared to other vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diets.

The strongest and most compelling reasons for going vegan are based on ethics and animal welfare. But vegans can also feel assured that their dietary choice is a healthful one.

What Does It Mean To Be Vegan?

To me, being vegan is about finding the best way to live that is both healthful and humane. I often feel greater kinship with near vegetarians who are striving to live more ethically than with those who eat a strictly vegan diet for reasons of personal health.

Here, and in my examiner column, I choose to focus on diet—practical, health and philosophical aspects—because this is the area in which I have expertise. And diet has a huge impact on animal suffering. But being vegan is not about “what should I have for dinner?” It’s about “what choices can I make today to minimize animal suffering?”

Do we need some new terminology to describe that difference? How can the word vegan mean someone who chooses a particular diet to protect their health and also mean someone who avoids all animal products—dietary and otherwise—to protect animals?

Vegans and Diabetes

Dietitian Jack Norris has published an excellent overview of research on vegan diets and diabetes on www.veganhealth.org.

Please note Jack’s comments about fat in his discussion of the findings. I agree with him that adopting a very low fat diet over the long term may not be advisable. I’m also not convinced that severe fat restriction is helpful in managing diabetes; other research suggests that replacing carbohydrate in the diet with monounsaturated fats improves diabetic control. Higher fat diets may also improve blood cholesterol (as long as the diet is still very low in saturated fat).

Finally, weight loss is among the most powerful ways of improving diabetes control, so it’s very hard to draw any conclusions about impact of various dietary factors when the subjects lose weight. With that said—it makes sense that vegan diets would be a good choice for people with diabetes since they tend to have a lower glycemic index and are high in fiber. And vegans (on average—but certainly not always!) have a lower body mass index.

Here is a link to Jack's blog which links to the article.

Good News About Vegan Bone Health

Just published this month in the journal Osteoporosis International, a new study revealed that bone health was similar between vegan Buddhist nuns and omnivore women even though the vegans had much lower intakes of calcium and protein.

The study involved 105 vegan nuns and 105 omnivore women in Viet Nam. Average calcium intake was 375 mg per day for the vegans and 682 mg for the omnivores. (Some of the vegan women did use very small amounts of milk in meals.) Vegan women also had low protein intakes averaging around 35 grams per day compared to more moderate intakes of 62 grams for the omnivores.

Bone density between the two groups was similar—slightly lower in the vegans, but not to an extent that was statistically significant. Prevalence of osteoporosis was slightly higher among the vegans. Overall, there was little difference between the two groups.

Before you toss your calcium supplements out the window, though, there are a few things to keep in mind. Many factors—diet, lifestyle, and genetics—affect bone health. We can’t automatically make recommendations for western vegans based on this study. Other studies have shown bone density to be lower in vegans compared to omnivores when calcium intakes were different.

This study adds to the pile of interesting—but confusing—data we have on bone health and diet. Personally, I am still aiming for 1,000 mg of calcium per day along with lots of exercise, plenty of vitamin D and a moderate sodium intake. At least until the data are more clear and more compelling. What is clear however, is that bone health is complex; it’s not all about calcium.

Fruits and Veggies, Vitamin A and Vegan Diets

Vegan diets usually include some excellent sources of vitamin A--but it many take a little bit of planning to make sure you get enough on a regular basis.

While vegans don’t have any preformed vitamin A in their diet (it’s only in animal foods), it can be synthesized from compounds called carotenoids found in plant foods. The best known and most biologically active carotenoid is beta-carotene.

As recently as ten years ago, nutrition researchers believed than 6 micrograms of beta-carotene produced one microgram of active vitamin A. But newer research on absorption of carotenoids shows that it actually takes twice that much—12 micrograms of beta-carotene—to produce a microgram of vitamin A. That means that vegan intake of carotenoids is actually only about half the amount reported in earlier studies.

Vitamin A content of foods is measured as retinol activity equivalents (RAE) which is the amount of potential vitamin A activity in a food. Recommended intakes for vitamin A are 700 RAE for women and 900 RAE for men.

Meeting vitamin A requirements may actually be a little bit of a challenge unless you consume at least one very good source of this vitamin every day. The best foods for vitamin A are leafy green veggies, sweet potatoes and, of course, carrots.

In addition to making sure you’re getting enough of these vitamin A-rich foods in your diet, it’s also important to include small amounts of fat with meals and to cook some of your vegetables to enhance absorption of carotenoids. This is one more reason why raw foods diets and low fat diets are not the best choices for vegans.

Here are the best sources of vitamin A with the RAEs shown for each.


Apricots, 3 raw (102)

Hubbard squash, ½ cup mashed (236)

Cantaloupe, 1 cup chunks (270)

Collards, ½ cup cooked (386)

Kale, ½ cup cooked (442)

Spinach, ½ cup cooked (472)

Butternut squash, ½ cup cooked (572)

Carrots, ½ cup cooked (665)

Sweet potatoes, ½ cup cooked mashed (1291)

Update on Vegan Mushroom Strudel: The Whole Wheat Version

I made my yummy mushroom strudel yesterday with a few changes. As noted in the comments on that post, I found a whole wheat phyllo at the local food co-op. For this special occasion recipe, I'm perfectly happy to use the refined flour version, but I thought it would be fun to try something new. And my only dinner guest was my husband who, in addition to his other excellent qualities, will eat pretty much anything. I never really have to worry about recipe disasters.

To counteract the somewhat drier aspect of whole grain flour, I replaced the olive oil in my recipe with a combination of olive oil and melted coconut oil—a healthy saturated fat source. I would have used all coconut oil, but I find it to be (surprisingly) bland and thought it needed the added flavor from olive oil.

I did experience a slight cooking crisis at the start of the process when I couldn’t get the first layer of phyllo off the stack without tearing it into many pieces. Apparently, whole wheat phyllo is a bit stickier than the traditional kind. But once I got the feel of it, I was able to peel off tissue paper-thin layers like a pro.

The result was wonderful! The flavor is definitely a little different—somewhat more whole wheaty. But it was flaky and luscious and a big hit at my little dinner party. And also for breakfast this morning.

Celebrate Easter and Spring with Vegan Mushroom Strudel

Mushroom Strudel is my favorite company dinner and I’m making it this weekend for Easter. It’s adapted from Moosewood Cookbook, an older collection of recipes that definitely puts the "lacto" in lacto-ovo vegetarian! It was super easy to veganize, though, and I’m really happy with the results.

Traditionally, strudel recipes are made with phyllo (also spelled filo) dough layered with lots of melted butter. But olive oil works very well and, in fact, the instructions on the phyllo package say that it’s fine to use oil. The filling substitutes were easy—I used Tofutti brand Better Than Cream Cheese and Better Than Sour Cream.

If you’ve never worked with phyllo dough, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is and how quickly you can put together a meal that looks very fancy.

A couple of quick notes about working with phyllo: The key to success is to keep the phyllo from drying out. The sheets of dough are like very, very thin sheets of delicate paper. After unwrapping the stack of sheets, cover them immediately with a tea towel or a sheet of waxed paper. Each time you remove a sheet from the stack, re-cover it with the towel or paper. Don’t worry if the sheets break or tear; you can still use them and your strudel will look just fine.

Here is my recipe for Mushroom Strudel. (I'm serving it with baby potatoes and carrots roasted with garlic and rosemary and a tossed salad of baby greens. The strudel is rich, so this is all you need for a very satisfying meal.)

Vegan Mushroom Strudel

10 leaves of phyllo dough (find this in the dessert section of the grocery store’s freezer section)
About ½ cup olive oil

1 pound mushrooms, finely chopped in a food processor
8 oz Better Than Cream Cheese
1 cup Better Than Sour Cream
1 cup plain bread crumbs (I think seasoned would be just fine, too)
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (or 2 tablespoons dried)
2 scallions, thinly sliced (use lots of the green portions)
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sauté the mushrooms until they are tender. Remove from the heat. Stir in the cream cheese, sour cream, bread crumbs, parsley, and scallions. Mix thoroughly so that the cream cheese melts. Set aside.

Unwrap the phyllo dough and cover it with a towel or waxed paper. Peel off one layer of the dough and place on a large cutting board or any clean surface. Using a pastry brush, brush the single sheet of phyllo with olive oil. Peel off another sheet of phyllo and place on top of the first. Brush with olive oil. Repeat until you have a stack of 5 sheets.

Spread half of the mushroom filling log across one end of the stack.

Starting at this end, roll the phyllo up like a log. Tuck the ends over to make a neat little package. Using a serrated knife, score the strudel about 6 times across. This will make it easier to cut into pieces after it’s baked. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of poppy seeds on top.

Repeat the process to make a second strudel. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until just browned on top. This should serve 6 people, but of course, it depends on how hungry they are!

For Vegans, Good Health is Good Activism

As a dietitian, I end up saying a lot of things that some vegan activists just don’t want to hear. When I write that some vegans don’t get enough calcium or that getting adequate zinc might be a challenge, it can sound kind of negative.

But a big part of promoting a positive image for veganism lies simply in being healthy. When scientific studies uncover health problems among any group of vegans, it discredits plant diets and gives people one more excuse to eat meat or drink milk. That’s why choosing to believe that you can get all the vitamin B12 you need by eating whole organic foods or sea vegetables has the potential to hurt farm animals. So does insisting that vegans have lower needs for calcium than meat eaters.

It's also why I am super picky when it comes to recommending nutrition resources for vegans. I want all vegans to have the best information possible. That’s partly because I’m a dietitian, but also because I’m an activist. My own nutrition website is designed for people who are just getting started with vegan diet, and who need something super fast and easy. For more in-depth information on vegan nutrition, the single best source on the web is Vegan Outreach's Vegan Health by dietitian Jack Norris. You’ll also find some good and interesting information on Dr. Winston Craig’s website.

Obviously, we can’t manage every single aspect of our health. Some things fall victim to genetics or environmental factors that are beyond our control. But we can at least make sure we're eating balanced diets. That means letting go of wishful thinking, working with actual facts and being practical. But that’s what activism is all about.

Vegan Diets Make Sense Even For Those Who Promote “People First”

Over the weekend I read a negative piece about vegan diets that claimed, among other things, that vegans are “anti people.” The author noted that we humans are the only ones in a cerebral position to consider matters of food choice—which lends us a certain status. Part of our decision-making, he noted, has to be about where to draw the line. He believed that when we place the rights of animals on a par with the rights of humans, we diminish humanity.

His complaint wasn’t with those who choose vegan diets, but with those who want others to choose veganism. Well, I guess that latter group would include me. But do my attempts to promote vegan diets diminish humanity?

All vegans have heard that silly question: “How do you know that plants don’t suffer when you eat them?” My response is that I don’t know it for an absolute fact. But I do know that humans need to eat plants to survive. I’m in favor of feeding our families in a way that ensures their health and well-being. We must eat plants or we die. On the other hand, we may like to eat meat and eggs and dairy—but we don’t need them to survive. So I can promote the health and welfare of my own species without hurting animals.

My role as a vegan dietitian is to help people understand that vegan diets are nutritionally adequate. I’m not an ethicist. But as someone who counsels about food choices, I feel some obligation to point out all of the impacts that diet has—not just on personal health but on the world around us: animal suffering, the environment, and effects on food availability for the rest of the world. What people do with that information is, of course, up to them.

We do have a certain status in the world because of our ability to think about a host of philosophical issues. We just have to decide whether that status entitles us to do as we please or obligates us to consider the welfare of others. It’s hard to imagine how taking a stand against animal suffering could possibly diminish humanity.

Vegetarian and Vegan Diets Do Not Cause Eating Disorders

A study published in this month’s Journal of the American Dietetic Association found a higher incidence of eating disorders among young girls who follow vegetarian diets. This isn’t news, and it’s not a concern for vegetarians, either.

Over the years, a number of studies have found that a relatively high number of girls with eating disorders are vegetarian. But there is no evidence that following a vegetarian diet causes eating disorders. It's actually pretty silly to think that giving up meat could cause someone to develop anorexia!

Rather, it is likely that girls with eating disorders often choose vegetarian diets as one of many ways to control food intake and mask their eating disorder. Previous studies bear this out.

However, a number of news and food industry sites, including the industry website Food Navigator, placed their own spin on the story—suggesting that the study showed vegetarian girls to be at increased risk for problems like anorexia and bulimia. There is just no evidence that this is true.

Eating disorders are serious, and family members should watch for symptoms. Red flags include the following:

Refusal to eat, excuses for not eating, skipping meals

Extreme weight loss and denial of weight loss

Denial of hunger

Emotional apathy

Rigid meal and eating rituals

Repeated weighing

Complaining about being fat

The Mayo Clinic offers a more comprehensive list. Vegetarian or vegan diets do not cause eating disordera!