Most diets would have you cutting things out from your diet; they are about denial and discipline.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When you feed yourself what your body needs when it needs it, that's love. So give your bod some TLC and sit down and enjoy a good, substantial breakfast.

I missed a tuna-fish sandwich with mayo on toasted wheat bread more than anything. Six months after I went vegan, I snuck into a deli and took one home. And, of course, it wasn't nearly as good as I fantasized. It tasted, well, fishy.

Personally, I enjoy a bowl of brown rice for breakfast most of the time.

If you want to feel more comfortable and happy, work on making the people around you more comfortable and happy.

Nourished people, people who love and care for themselves, are also more efficient and nicer to be around. When you give yourself permission to relax, people will feel more relaxed around you; your environment will become more harmonious. Balance - between work and pleasure, giving and receiving, seriousness and levity - creates a happy healthy life.

I think that food ties us to our community and our traditions, and it's the thing that makes us feel good and connected.