Happy Herbivore Blog

You've got questions... about minimalism! This is the second post in our two-part Minimalist Monday series answering your fantastic questions about minimalism.

You and your husband often move internationally. In fact, I am amazed and jealous. Do you take any furniture, appliances or bedding etc...with you? Do you have staples that go everywhere? Once you get there, do you end up spending extra money on needed items you should have kept?

Whatever doesn't fit in the suitcase doesn't go (limit 4 suitcases per person). We try to rent furnished places, so there is very little we would need to "buy" and anything we can't take with us to the next place, is donated to those who need it. I don't see it as a waste, but a gift. We recently gave away all our furniture to a family in need who has sent me several emails about how much they are enjoying our furniture and how it's changed their life. Money can't buy that warm fuzzy!

How do you let go of greeting cards? 

Scan them! 

If being a minimalist is part of the equation to work less, how do you afford health insurance without full-time employment? And, if you don't have insurance, who will pay for your medical bills? 

I don't have medical insurance. Even when I worked full-time (as a lawyer!), it was never offered to me. I rarely need to see a doctor because of my healthy lifestyle, thankfully! The only medical issue I had in the last 5 years was a dental issue and I paid out of pocket for it. My dentist was great about helping me create a cash payment plan. I also went for a routine exam 2-3 years ago, and paid cash. You can get "hit by the bus" insurance for a pretty reasonable rate.

How do you decide what is left out on surfaces, i.e., countertops, bookcases, etc.? I'd like things to look nicely decorated yet simple. Not stark and not cluttered.

I keep my surfaces totally clear, less is MORE! See my kitchen organization post for more detail.

I would love to minimalize our lives. How much clothing, how many shoes? Get real basic for me please.

See my previous MM post about sticking to a color palette and this post about shopping for clothes during weight loss, which has some great tips from Herbies about clothing.

Can you be a minimalist with kids? Kids are bombarded with heavy consumerist messages and until a certain age they don't really understand ideas like "less is more." How can you help kids understand a minimalist philosophy? 

Here are some thoughts from minimalist families, as shared on Facebook:

"I think if they are raised in that way with you as an example, they will appreciate the things they DO have more, while maybe not fully understanding it until they are grown ups. Have you ever heard a kid say, 'I have enough toys, I don't need anything else.'?"

"The toy thing is a constant evolution in our household. I purge toys that the kids (1.5 and 4.5) no longer play with. Anything that is missing a part or doesn't work = tossed. New toys require an old one getting tossed or donated. When family and friends ask what the kids want or need for holidays and birthdays we always recommend experience gifts — a plane ticket to visit, take the kids out for a meal, to a playground, swimming lessons, skating lessons, gift certificates to an art studio, etc. The kids have fond memories of the things they did with their family instead of what they were bought. My family is on a minimalist path - downsizing from a townhouse to a 2 BR condo and the kids are happier than ever. Less space = less stuff = more life!"

"For my step-son, it took a few volunteer hours at the local food bank where he was able to play with kids whose families were 'down on their luck'...some of them living out of their cars. He saw that it was possible to have fun and play all day long without an Xbox or hundreds of toys to choose from and he was able to kinda grasp the idea that not EVERY one has all of the latest and greatest toys... Each time we went he understood more and more. He wanted to rid himself of the excess toys he already had and we were able to have a meaningful discussion about his 'need' for more whenever the topic came up (like while shopping and he felt he just HAD to have something new). We donated a lot of toys and clothing to his new friends at the food bank. We also had the one 'new' item in, one 'old' item out rule."

How do you combine a minimalist lifestyle with holidays? Specifically, gifts you receive. We always get a slew of things we don't need. I'm always terrified to donate that gift my mom will ask about later!! 

I covered this a little bit in my MM post about the the 1-in, 1-out rule. That aside, we've really stressed to our families we prefer they make charitable donations in our names, or to buy us things we actually need. 

Does owning and using overpriced electronics, such as Apple products, run counter to a "minimalist lifestyle" — especially since Apple's "iGadgets" do so much "thinking" for the user?

You don't have to have "cheap" items to be a minimalist. It's more about buying what you need and purchasing more meaningfully. I have an iPhone 5.  Admittedly, it was very expensive, but I need it to do my job to the best of my abilities, so I think that's a more meaningful purchase than, say, $15 on shoes I'll hardly ever wear.

Isn't "minimalism" also performing everyday tasks and duties with the least amount of material and equipment possible, and by using the most basic and simplest of tools and machines, as well? :o)

Not in my interpretation. Minimalism is also about efficiency. A pencil and piece of paper is more minimalist, but not necessarily more efficient. On that note, technology often is more minimalist. Take the computer, for example — we can be totally paperless now thanks to scanning, etc. If we take away computers, and go back to pencil and paper since we no longer have scanners, computers and printers, is that really more minimalist? We all have to find our own balance — and interpretation — with minimalism. For me, efficiency (and the least amount of waste, including waste of time) is a big goal of my minimalism.

What do you like to give to people for gifts? 

I make donations in their name (preferably to a charity of their choice), buy them something they truly need, give them money (so they can buy what they need) or make them food :)

How in the world you can be a minimalist AND a gourmet cook? Don't you need a large kitchen full of fancy equipment?

I don't consider myself "gourmet" by any stretch of the imagination — I'm an everyday home cook at best. I can't afford fancy equipment and have a fairly minimalist kitchen. 

See my former MM posts, Minimalist Cooking Necessities and Kitchen Essentials.

If everyone in the country is a minimalist, do you think the economy will fall apart? 

I'm no economist, but I'm inclined to think our economy would improve drastically if everyone become a minimalist or "minimized" in some way. So many people are living beyond their means putting themselves in debt, overextending themselves, etc. We've seen so many financial crises in the last few years and I have to believe cutting back would help. Plus if everyone became a "minimalist", we would be taking a giant step away from the "consumerism" society and mindset we're currently living in. We'd get away from the toxic attitude that bigger is better, that whatever we have isn't enough and we must always seek more, more, more. I lived abroad for a while and it was wonderful to be away from that. Further, a reduction in waste (not just spending, but in physical waste like unused goods) would also help our environment.

My partner is fretting my "downsizing." Most everything I put in a charity pile he insists we may need someday and absconds with it. What to do?

Read my MM post about clutterbugs (those that can't let go of stuff). If both you (and he) understand why he feels this way, you can work to overcome it and really start to remove, reduce and reuse. 

Exciting news, Herbies! Dr. T Colin Campbell and Dr. Howard Jacobson's new book, WHOLE, has been released! and it's already a New York Times Bestseller! I got a chance to read this amazing book a few months ago and I can't recommend it enough. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to share an excerpt of the book with you today AND I'm giving away THREE copies of the book! 

(p.s. Fun fact: Dr. Campbell and I have the same publisher!)

So what's the difference between The China Study and WHOLE? 

Dr. Campbell: The China Study was basically a summary of the evidence and what I thought it showed. It was based on my own career, of course, but also involving the work of others. Whole, in contrast, is to count why. In other words, the China Study was: Here's the scene, here's the evidence, here's what we think it says. And Whole is sort of an explanation of why this evidence actually works. It really has a dramatic effect on health - even more than I thought when I finished writing The China Study. I mean I was pretty confident in what I was saying, of course, but nonetheless, since that book was published, what we now know about this is just truly dramatic."**

I also was interviewed by co-author Dr. Howard Jacobson about living the plant-based lifestyle, which was a BLAST. And you can listen to the interview! (The link downloads an mp3.) And don't forget to check out The China Study Cookbook, which was recently released as well.

An excerpt from WHOLE:

Making Ourselves Whole

“If a little bird were to take a grain of sand in its beak from the seashore and somehow manage to fly it to the furthest quasar in the universe, and if it returned and repeated the process until all the sand of the oceans both from the beaches and the bottoms were gone, eternity would be just beginning.”—Anonymous, written on the wall of the Maté Factor Cafe, Ithaca Commons, NY

If this book does nothing else, I hope that it convinces you that we need to change the way we think about health. We must recognize nutrition as a cornerstone of our health-care system, not a footnote. We must also recognize the limitations of our reductionist paradigm and learn to accept the validity of evidence beyond what that paradigm allows us to perceive. If we are truly to understand the meaning of nutrition, its effect on the body, and its potential to transform our collective health, we must stop seeing reductionism as the only method by which to achieve progress and start seeing it as a tool, the results of which can only be properly evaluated within a wholistic framework. And we must be willing to embrace wholism beyond the realm of nutrition. The body is a complex system; bodies gathered together in societies are even more complex; and human life, interwoven with all of nature on this planet, is complex beyond our imagining. We cannot afford to ignore this complexity any longer.

I realize that what I’m proposing here is a tectonic shift in the way we think about nutrition, medicine, and health. The process may not be easy. But it is possible. I know, because this shift is one I experienced myself over the course of my career.

My doctoral dissertation, written over fifty years ago, was on the greater biological value of animal-based protein. I believed then, as firmly as any meat-loving cattle baron, that there was no better, more beneficial food than the protein we received from meat and milk. But as you have seen here and in The China Study, my position today is very different. I am now convinced that there is no healthier way to eat than a whole food, plant-based diet, without added fat, salt, or refined carbohydrates.

For me, the source of that shift was evidence—the empirical, peer-reviewed evidence produced over many years by my own research group. It was bolstered in later years by the evidence produced by my colleagues in clinical medicine, who have been independently and convincingly documenting the WFPB diet's [Editorial Note: WFPB= whole foods, plant-based. Dr. Campbell loves his acronyms, just like me :)] ability to reverse serious diseases in ways unmatched by pills and procedures.

But this shift in thinking required more than just evidence. It also required a shift in my understanding of the body, and therefore in the way I understood evidence related to the body’s functions. And this shift is one that I hope this book will help you achieve, as well.

I’ve given much thought to the next steps that individuals who are sufficiently convinced by what I’ve shared, both here and in The China Study, and who want to help create change, might take. The most important step is to change the way you eat. The diet is simple: eat whole, plant-based foods, with little or no added oil, salt, or refined carbohydrates like sugar or white flour. (Though it may take some research, there are cookbooks out there that will fit your needs—more of them now than ever before.) There is nothing more convincing than experiencing the change for oneself. That crucial shift in the way we think about our health will happen, one person at a time. Eventually, policy will begin to change. Industry, deprived of the income produced by ill health and our ignorance, will follow.

It’s time for us to begin a real revolution—one that begins by challenging our individual beliefs and changing our diets, and ends with the transformation of our society as a whole.

You've got questions...

Q: My daughter and I are doing a 5K tomorrow and I haven't run since joining the meal plan. Any post-workout/run suggestions for food or drink?

A: Make sure you hydrate after the race. Some people feel queasy after running and can't stomach solids, so a liquid is the best option for the first half hour or so. A friend of mine is a marathoner and she likes to drink smoothies after long runs (10+ miles or more), but she waits 30-45 minutes when her stomach settles down a bit more. There isn't really anything special you need to eat, you just need to rehydrate and replenish the calories you've spent (make sure you include healthy carbohydrates to refill your glycogen stores). Also, make a healthy choice — greasy food, etc. after a race makes for a gagging experience :P

There's also a recipe for "homemade gatorade" that I call Herbisport on happyherbivore.com that you might want to check out for the race! Good luck!! Have a great race!!

Q: My period started and I couldn't help myself — somehow I always crave so many more heavy salty fatty foods. And, of course, chocolate. And the healthy kind doesn't satisfy and I fall off the vegan wagon. What do you recommend for not going too overboard? Do more vegan women experience this? Do I need a supplement?

A: I'm not a doctor, but I'm going to guess it's a food addition you're battling — especially if you just recently went plant-based. If you were craving peas, that would be one thing, but you're craving junk ;) That's probably not the body saying it needs a nutrient ;)

I used to crave chips and brownies when I had my period but after I was plant-based for a while (and broke all my food addictions and habits), it went away. Unfortunately with food addictions, you just have to break the cycle.

You could also try to appease your cravings by eating a small piece of dark chocolate (maybe salted dark chocolate?) or bake up some healthy baked french fries and sprinkle them with salt. Or nibble on kale chips, just to help you get through it. You could also make the single-serving vegan chocolate brownie! Resisting is hard, but in the end makes it easier. 

For more info, see my posts about curbing emotional eating and food cravings and addictions.

Q: I have been trying to make homemade hummus for awhile now and just can't seem to get it right. I have tried several recipes, and it just tastes bitter or something — horrible aftertaste. I use tahini. Do you have any ideas that could help me get this right?

A: Hmm... I'm not sure why it would taste bitter unless one of your ingredients has gone bad. Have you tried making it without the tahini? That could be the problem (tahini can go rancid). Are you using coriander (cilantro)? Some people have a taste sensitivity to cilantro (also called coriander), and maybe that's what's causing the bitter taste. Are you using cumin? Some people don't like that spice either. It's hard to say without knowing exactly what you're putting into the hummus. Try making the hummus with just the chickpeas and a little lemon. Then add flavors little by little from there. You can use my recipe for hummus on the blog or the hummus recipe in HHA, which is slightly different. Engine 2 also has a great fat-free hummus recipe. 

Q: I'm transitioning into a plant based lifestyle. I would say that I am about 90-95% there. Since getting serious with the plant-based diet (almost 2 months), I often feel like I have become more forgetful. Has anyone else you know experienced this? I have read that it could be a lack of B12 (I know, meat eaters can be also deficient in B12), but before I start blaming that, I was wondering if you knew of anything else it could be? If it is a lack in B12, could you recommend any food items that I could incorporate into my diet?

A: If you suspect you have a deficiency, make an appointment with your doctor to have yourself tested. If you are deficient, your doctor will probably give you a B12 shot (that's what happened to both of my meat eater friends who were deficient). You'll also want to take a supplement regularly, so talk to your doctor about which B12 supplement she or he recommends. While some foods like cereal, almond milk and nutritional yeast are fortified with B12, it may not be enough — and while I'm not a doctor or nutritionist, I don't think eating more of them will necessarily fix your deficiency. I would go to a doctor ASAP. Your memory (brain!) isn't something you want to mess with :) It might also be a symptom of something else not related to diet — you never know. Take care of you :) Feel better. For more information on B12, read Dr. McDougall's newsletter on B12.

Q: I just recently found out I'm allergic to to a few things and now I have no clue what to eat. Can you help? It must be gluten free, corn free, dairy free, soy free, and peanut free.

A: The meal plans! You can just leave off corn, and use rice tortillas instead of corn tortillas when we call for them. Our meal plans are always gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free and peanut-free (or you can sub almond butter or sunflower seed butter in the rare instance we use PB). For more info, see my Herbie 101 Series post about allergies and my post on allergy-free cooking.