In my final Vegan MoFo post of 2012, in which I have tried to offer tips and tricks for vegans in the kitchen,

I am delighted to share, finally, more about the book that I am working on with the fabulous Virginia Messina!

Virginia Messina, MPH, RD is a dietitian and public health nutritionist specializing in vegan nutrition. She is co-author of Vegan for Life, a comprehensive guide to vegan nutrition.

Ginny has worked as a dietitian for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, taught nutrition to dietetics students at the university level, and served as director of nutrition services for a medical clinic serving 50,000 patients at George Washington University. She is a former co-author of the American Dietetic Association’s position on vegetarian diets and of the first textbook on vegetarian diets written for health professionals and of peer-reviewed papers on vegan nutrition.

Her goal is to share the best and most up-to-date information on vegan nutrition and to make ethical eating an easy and realistic option for everyone. She writes about a variety of issues related to health and animal rights on her blog The Vegan RD and as the National Vegan Examiner at National Examiner and consults with a variety of organizations on nutrition.

Ginny has conceived a book concept that will serve all kinds of great tips…for vegan women! Take it away, Ginny!

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Not only I am happy to finally be talking about the book that JL and I have been working on since last January, but I’m especially happy to unveil the project on JL’s blog!

Our book is called Vegan for Her, and it’s an idea that has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years now. There are so many reasons why there needs to be a book that addresses issues of special interest to vegan (or potential vegan) women.

There are all of the obvious topics related to a woman’s reproductive cycle, like fertility, pregnancy, and menopause and how diet affects hormone changes throughout a woman’s life. And then so many questions about soyfoods and their effects on breast cancer, PCOS, and other aspects of women’s health. Diet also has an impact on things that aren’t necessarily exclusive to women, but that are more common in women like migraines, fibromyalgia, depression, and osteoporosis. Even heart disease deserves some extra attention from women. (Did you know that more women than men die of heart disease?)

And then there is the whole issue of vegan diets and weight management. Both JL and I are committed to bringing a perspective to this topic that is sane, compassionate and realistic. So this book doesn’t deliver a “go vegan, get skinny” message; instead it offers some choices regarding approaches to weight. And it explores the benefits of trading in an obsession with body size for a healthy lifestyle built around principles of compassion for yourself and for animals.

Above all, I wanted this to be a practical book, packed with tips for healthy eating, realistic menus, and really good, really easy recipes. And who better to provide those recipes than my friend JL? I asked her to sign on to this project because I love her compassionate and fun style. I also love her honesty, and that she promotes healthful eating without getting all punitive or obsessive about it—and that she has no fear of vegetable oils!

Oh, and then there is JL’s wonderful animal advocacy and the fact that she always seems to be on top of the latest in vegan fashion. So, she’s going to contribute a chapter that helps readers take their vegan lives beyond the plate.

Our book is being published by Da Capo, a company with a commitment to producing vegan books, and it’s expected to roll off the presses in early summer of 2013. You can actually pre-order it on Amazon.

JL and I have some plans that will help you make the most of the information in the book, too, so stay tuned for more.

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Thank you, Ginny, for spilling the beans! And for inviting me to collaborate with you on such an important project! It is a true honor.

So friends, as I conclude my Vegan MoFo 2012 posts, my final tip is that you will get all kinds of tips from Ginny and I next summer, when Vegan for Her is published!