Six years ago, an overweight, pre-diabetic Mark Bittman faced a medical directive: adopt a vegan diet or go on medication. He was no fan of a lifelong regimen of pills, but as a food writer he lived—and worked—to eat. So neither choice was appealing. His solution was a deal with himself. He would become a “flexitarian.”
He adopted a diet heavy in vegetables, fruits, and grains by following a healthy vegan diet (no meat, dairy, or processed foods) all day. After 6:00 p.m. he’d eat however he wanted, though mostly in moderation. Beyond that, his plan involved no gimmicks, scales, calorie counting, or point systems. And there were no so-called forbidden foods—he ate mostly home-cooked meals that were as varied and satisfying as they were delicious.
He called this plan Vegan Before 6:00 (VB6 for short), and the results were swift and impressive. Best of all, they proved to be lasting and sustainable over the long haul. Bittman lost 35 pounds and saw all of his blood numbers move in the right direction.
Using extensive scientific evidence to support his plan, the acclaimed cookbook author and food policy columnist shows why his VB6 approach succeeds when so many other regimens not only fail, but can actually lead to unwanted weight gain. He then provides all the necessary tools for making the switch to a flexitarian diet: lists for stocking the pantry, strategies for eating away from home in a variety of situations, pointers for making cooking on a daily basis both convenient and enjoyable, and a complete 28-day eating plan showing VB6 in action.
Finally, Bittman provides more than 60 recipes for vegan breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, as well as non-vegan dinners that embrace the spirit of a vegetable- and grain-forward diet.
Author
Mark Bittman
When Mark Bittman writes and talks about food, America listens. In his weekly New York Times food column, his monthly New York Times travel features, his bestselling cookbooks, and his award-winning public television series, Bittman grabs our attention–and keeps it. Bittman’s bible of cooking, How to Cook Everything, has sold over a million copies. Dubbed “the new, hip Joy of Cooking” by the Washington Post and winner of both the Julia Child and the James Beard Awards (plus several others), it’s a must-have book for every American Kitchen, the favorite of millions of American cooks. In 2005 Broadway Books published his eagerly awaited follow-up: The Best Recipes in the World. His weekly cooking column, The Minimalist, is followed by more than two million readers, including home cooks and professionals, and has profoundly influenced American cooking since its inception. (Three award-winning cookbooks have resulted from his column: The Minimalist Cooks at Home; The Minimalist Cooks Dinner; and The Minimalist Entertains. These three will be published in an omnibus paperback edition in the spring of 2007, entitled Mark Bittman’s Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times.) And when Bittman branches out, his fans follow: his recent New York Times piece on the best of Tuscan food was the paper’s travel section’s best-read article ever, reaching nearly three million readers. In the late ’90s, Bittman formed a best-selling collaboration with the internationally celebrated chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Their classic book, Jean-George: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, won a James Beard award and is widely considered to be among the most accessible chef’s cookbooks ever published. That was followed in 2000 with Simple to Spectacular, the groundbreaking cookbook that shows readers how to master a basic recipe then take it in almost limitless directions. Bittman’s PBS series, Bittman Takes on America’s Chefs, was awarded the Best National TV Cooking Series of 2005 by the James Beard Foundation. In April ’07 his second series, The Best Recipes in the World, will premiere. In the fall of ’07 Wiley will publish the groundbreaking How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and Bittman is currently completing the revision of How to Cook Everything, to be published in fall 2008, the tenth anniversary of the original. A regular on NBC’s The Today Show and NPR’s All Things Considered, Bittman has been profiled in newspapers and magazines including Food & Wine, Real Simple, People, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News and more. Mark Bittman is working on his first novel, and is a licensed pilot who continues to humbly cook dinner for friends and family several times a week.
Learn More about Mark Bittman