contemplating going vegan
Posted by lynne04 on Oct 19, 2009 · Member since Oct 2009 · 1 posts
Hi everybody :)
I'm a young mom with a 4 year old boy, and I am thinking about going vegan.
Our diet is centered around fresh veggies and fruits, and whole grains and legumes. We eat moderate amounts of eggs, cheese, milk, yogurt. Meat is eaten once or twice a week.
I definitely want to eliminate the meat, and don't see any concerns with that, as I used to be a vegetarian for about 6 years before getting pregnant.
Most of my concerns are about my son and ensuring that he is getting adequate nutrition for growing body!
Any tips on transitioning him (and I) to a vegan diet, and how to ensure we're getting everything we need for our health? Thanks!
Good for you! Very exciting. In general, I can say that if you continue to eat a diet based upon whole foods like you already seem to, you will only get more of the nutrients you both need by going vegan. For example, if you are concerned about iron, you will get much more on a vegan diet than on an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet (dairy has no iron).
My daughter is 6 and has been vegan all her life--and she is the picture of health, despite the fact that I don't really even try that hard! Other than basing our diets mainly on whole foods & trying to get veggies and fruits in her diet daily, that is.
I have a book that is perfect for new vegans, and although it sounds like a plug, it may help you a lot in your transition, as I hear that often from new vegans. It's at www.radianthealth-innerwealth.com.
I also do a blog at www.rhiw.blogspot.com with lots of posts(including many on healthy kid tips) that may assist you with nutrition advice and ideas.
Sounds like you're already doing great, and this shift can only improve your health. Simply finding lots of vegan foods you both like will make it easy too.
I hope this was helpful--I've been traveling all weekend and am a little loopy--I need to get to bed! ;)
Good luck!! Your son is lucky to have you.
Nice to meet you! Welcome to VegWeb...best of luck in your transition.
Welcome to Vegweb, Lynne.
Please please please do yourself the favor of reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. It's a great source of facts concerning why a plant based diet completely free of animal proteins and fats is the only way to go. When you see what he writes about dairy you'll never touch the stuff again and you'll be very happy that you are getting your child off of it early.
welcome!
Going Vegan...Best thing I ever did!!! Here are a Few Links for You!
Why I don't have any kids of my own, Please feel free to ask me anything about Veganism!!!
Take Care.
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/treatmentguides/veganchildren.html
http://wedonteatanimals.com/home.html
http://www.veganfamilyfavorites.com/index.php?src=
My kid's 17 now... wish I'd veganized earlier-- he has better eating habits than most kids his age, but also has some things in his diet that I wish I hadn't let be 'normal' in our kitchen, during his earlier years... you're more on top of things than I was!
I ate eggs & dairy up til recently, but this year have transitioned absolutely OFF of any factory-farmed animal anything... the thing that helped me most, especially with dairy, was reading everything I could find about why some folks choose NOT to eat it. It didn't take long before I just plain didn't want any, & developed the same 'Eeew!' response to eggs & dairy that I have to eating meat... makes it SO easy to avoid!
I started out just googling 'why not dairy'... notmilk.com was a good jumping-off point, too. With eggs, the main thing for me was learning to bake without 'em... there are some great egg substitutes/ baking recipes here, and veganbaking.net has lots of good info, also...
I can't help with pediatric nutrition, but I know there are MANY MANY folks on this site who can... I'd check out the 'Stroller Derby' forum here, for a great vegan parent community...
I can definitely tell you the HUGE energy boost I noticed when I cut all animal products out of my diet... With a 4-year-old, that could come in very handy!
;)