Frankie’s Vegan Spare Ribs
This recipe sounds tasty, and not too complicated. The meat substitute is seitan. It does call for a food processor, and about an hour of total baking time, which is not too bad. There is a BBQ sauce recipe that goes with the ribs.

Carolina-style Barbeque Sandwiches
From Vegetarian Times, this one I would like to try, but it calls for a lot of cider vinegar. In fact, in the comments section, most said it was too much and they reduced it, “I just made this recipe and after reading the above posting I reduced the apple vinegar to around 1/4 C.” The sauce is supposed to be tangy, and mustardy. The sandwich uses seitan as the protein source. (If you want the sweeter Kansas City BBQ sauce, here is a recipe for Big Al’s K.C. sauce.)

Sweet and Spicy Barbeque Tofu
A simple but appealing recipe for comes from About.com. The only issue I see is the call for 3/4 cup brown sugar. That seems like too much, and could be reduced to maybe 1/4. Also it mentions using 3/4 cup orange juice concentrate, which could be enough sweetness by itself. Marinating takes 2 hours, but everything else is quick.

Eggplant BBQ with Fresh Chive Vinaigrette
This recipe sounds the most original. It also doesn’t require much time. When can you say you last barbequed an eggplant?

Brazilian Beach Skewers
For people who do eat cheese, there is an intriguing recipe using Halloumi, which is a middle eastern cheese usually only made from goat and sheep milk. You can probably get it at a middle eastern grocery store, and some supermarkets might carry it. (A simple recipe once you have acquired the Halloumi.)

BBQ Seitan Ribs
SusanV of the FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog has a recipe for ribs that sounds good, though it is not entirely fat free. This one requires you have your own sauce. She says it is easy to make, but the recipe requires something called liquid smoke.

Who says non-meat eaters can’t have any fun with a grill? The culture of barbecue may be obsessively meat-centric, but I’ve known many a vegetarian who can perform magic with hot coals, some sauce and a squash. I’ve thrown together plenty of vegetable marinades in my day, here are a few of my favorites. The chemistry is simple–mix the marinade up and let your vegetables marinate in a shallow dish from between 30 minutes to an hour before grilling. For larger quantities, double the ingredients.

Spicy Orange & Cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon orange marmalade
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Asian
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Brown Sugar & Bourbon
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Lemon & Garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Maple & Wasabi
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon wasabi

By Dr. Frank Lipman

There do not appear to be any other benefits of dairy (apart from being the source of whey protein) and to make matters worse, dairy seems to have detrimental effects to your health. Milk should be for calves (baby cows), most humans have a problem digesting it. I cannot tell you how many patients I have seen over the years whose chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, chronic sinusitis and allergies cleared up when they stopped eating dairy. When people come to see me in my practice and I put them on a diet, I almost always remove dairy.

1. Dairy cows are fed the wrong food, which not only changes the nature of the milk but causes health problems for the cows. They are fed soy, corn, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, which contain all sorts of things including chicken manure and citrus peel cake, laced with pesticides. These foods are not appropriate for cows, who are ruminants and should be feeding on green grass in the spring, summer and fall and on green feed, silage, hay and root vegetables in the winter. Unfortunately most dairy cows are kept in confinement, given antibiotics and hormones, and never see green grass their entire lives.

2. The milk is pasteurized. Pasteurization is the process of heating a liquid to a high enough temperature to kill certain bacteria and disable certain enzymes. It destroys enzymes, vitamins, denatures fragile milk proteins, kills beneficial bacteria and promotes pathogens. Even calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly and many die before maturity. Pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s to combat TB, infant diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and dirty production methods. But times have changed and modern stainless steel tanks, milking machines, refrigerated trucks and inspection methods make pasteurization absolutely unnecessary for public protection.

3. In some cases, milk is ultra-pasteurized to get rid of heat-resistant bacteria and give it a longer shelf life. Ultra high temperature pasteurization is a process that takes milk from a chilled temperature to above the boiling point in less than two seconds. This process is utilized for the boxed milks that can be kept at room temperature

4. To make matters worse, milk is homogenized. Homogenization is a process that breaks down butterfat globules so they do not rise to the top. Homogenized milk is harder to digest, so proteins that would normally be digested in the stomach are not broken down and instead are absorbed into the bloodstream. Often the body reacts to these “foreign proteins” by triggering the immune system, causing inflammation. It can even trigger auto-immune problems. Homogenized milk has also been linked to heart disease probably because of the fat globules that are dispersed by the process.

5. In addition to being chemically altered into something that hard to digest and causes problems, today’s milk usually contains steroids, antibiotics, pesticides from treated grains, bacteria from infected animals, and genetically engineered growth hormones.

So if you do drink milk, I suggest you look for pure raw milk from grass fed cows (which is hard to get in most states unfortunately), because it may not be the milk per se, but how milk is chemically altered that causes the problems.

Follow Dr. Frank Lipman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lipmo .

Frank Lipman MD, is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC a center whose emphasis is on preventive health care and patient education. His personal blend of Western and Eastern Medicine combined with the many other complimentary modalities he has studied has helped thousands of people recover their energy and zest for life. He is the author of the recent Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again (2009) and Total Renewal; 7 key steps to Resilience, Vitality and Long-Term Health (2003).

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By Katie Leavitt, Tonic

Most people are aware that adopting a meatless diet is not only good for the body, but good for the planet. It cannot be denied, however, that vegetarians and vegans often get stereotyped as granola-crunching hippies with a chip on their shoulder. Fortunately, the veggie lifestyle has become largely mainstream and accepted for what it is, a healthy and environmentally-friendly alternative.

For men, though, it is has been a bit harder to shake the stigma associated with adopting a plant-based diet. Often they are thought of as wimpy or feminine because animal protein supposedly makes you big and strong. However, “hegans,” are slowly coming out of their shells and embracing the lifestyle, shamelessly. Men are frequenting vegan restaurants and cooking vegan food for their friends, family and co-workers. The Boston Globe highlighted a number of these men in a recent article, but perhaps the most intriguing of them is Rip Esselstyn from Austin, TX. The firefighter and triathlete who helped his fellow firefighters to lower their cholesterol and get healthy with his “plant-strong” diet. In regards to his lifestyle, he said, “Sure there is a stigma attached to it, that it’s for yuppie, tree-hugging, emaciated weaklings. That is far from the truth. I like to say that real men eat plants.’’

Whether fully vegan or not, making small steps to incorporate more vegetables, fruit, protein-rich whole grains, legumes, and nuts, while reducing animal proteins, has been shown to reduce cholesterol and lower the risk for cancer and heart disease. It also is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

To prove that vegetarians can be just as strong and manly as any meat-eater, check out professional Ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier, bodybuilding and gold-medalist ski jumper Andreas Cahling, wrestler Chris Campbell, NBA player Anthony Peeler, track star Carl Lewis and four-time Mr Universe Bill Pearl to name a few.

Tonic is a digital media company dedicated to promoting the good that happens around the world each day. We share the stories of people and organizations that are making a difference by inspiring good in themselves and others.

At Tonic, we also see ourselves as a service company — one that strives not only to inspire our readers, but to equip them with the resources to make a difference.

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