Vegan for Life, for vegans and other health-conscious eaters

The subtitle says it all: Everything you need to know to be healthy and fit on a plant-based diet. Registered dietitians Jack Norris and Virginia Messina serve up an easy-to-read guide that helps you thrive on the healthiest diet around.

And when I say you, I mean pretty much everyone. Find helpful chapters for athletes, children and teens, pregnant and nursing women, and folks over fifty. There's even a chapter on making the transition even if your transition takes you no further than Meatless Mondays.

The chapters on nutrition earn Vegan for Life a place among my regular reference books. Learn about how and why to get iron, zinc, calcium, and what Norris and Messina call "the gorilla in the room": vitamin B12.

The authors set out to bust ten myths about vegan diets, from

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition

I've never picked up a book for Idiots or Dummies before, but know that books so labeled are wildly popular. The intention is good: introduce an intimidating topic in a friendly, simple way. I like the summaries at the end of each chapter that point out "the least you need to know." The book covers basic nutrition: what are carbohydrates, protein, and oils ... and why should we care? Ditto for vitamins and micronutrients. The book's author, Julieanna Hever, recommends a vegan, whole-food diet and is endorsed by Dr. Neal Barnard, with an introduction by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study.

But perhaps because this book is for idiots, it glosses over controversial topics without backing.

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