Vegan?

jessica182517

So i never in a million years thought i would think about going vegan! I love meat, BUT i stumbled across a youtube chanel by freelee the banana girl. And that let to a video she posted by Gary Yourofsky about being vegan and why he became vegan ect. It really opened my eyes and had some really amazing points that totally made scence!!! So i think i would be willing to give up my chicken and salmon yes im kinda sad about it BUT if being vegan really will help my body and most importantly my 2 year old to be the healhiest possible why not?!? My daughter only wants to eat fruits and veggies for a reason right? sometimes she will eat eggs or chicken but thats it and not very often! All she likes is veggies some fruit and milk (we can go for almond milk if we do vegan) So my question is for anyone who is vegan can you please give me any tips, advice , meal ideas for me and my family since we really have no idea where to start becuase we really do eat a lot of meat it is our main source of protien and im a little scared to cut it out. Thanks

dayone987

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

magerum

eric_sg61

I always base my life changing decisions on youtube videos and netflix documentaries. It is true that one is born every minute........

Pearsquared

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

TheGymGypsy

Congrats on deciding to go vegan! It's a wonderful and very compassionate decision to make. I would recommend doing a lot of your own research and not taking too much stalk in Freelee, who is not a nutritionist. Make sure you take a B12 supplement, and that you eat enough protein from greens/ nuts/ beans etc.

FredDoyle

I'll never understand how people can look at that Freelee the ED girl and think, "I'm gonna emulate that"!
Kooky.

DamePiglet

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

veganbettie

My baby has been vegan since conception and is 19 months now....he is so far perfect in every way health wise. I've been vegan for almost 7 years.

That said, I am very careful with how we eat, AND he is still breastfed, so he is getting a lot of nutrients from me. Really he doesn't eat a lot of food anyways.

I will have to say that most people get enough protein, that it's rarely an issue, you just need to make sure your diet is varied, we eat a lot of beans, and leafy greens.

And I've based my life changing decisions off of research. Keep researching.

Kenazwa

My doctor recommended vegan to me several months ago because I have a few chronic conditions associated with inflammation. I only took the leap one week ago, however. There is a web site called the 21 day jumpstart that is helping me a lot.

I hope you find benefit.

Collier78

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

So this...like VeganBettie said keep researching and do what is best for you not what a youtube video says is...

RaeLB

A plant-based diet can have many health benefits but it can also have health consequences - i.e. vegan diet ≠ health & omnivorous diet ≠ health - just like any other diet it all comes down to individual choice on what you put into your body.

HOWEVER, A really good reason to go vegan is for the love of animals.

I know plenty of people who were raised vegan from birth with no health problems. With any major shift in diet you just have to make sure you're very intentional about getting the macro and micro nutrients that you need.

Join this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/45-happy-herbivores

peabean26

Our family is not vegan, but we are vegetarian and don't eat fish (some vegetarians do). One place to start would be to get some cookbooks from Isa Chandra Muskowitz. We use her recipes all the time and they are delicious. My daughter is 5 and has been vegetarian her whole life. She just isn't interested in meat at all. In fact, she won't eat any meat substitutes that taste too much like regular meat (like smart dogs). She does eat eggs and cheese, and takes a multivitamin. For meat substitutes we use tofu, tempeh, seitan (home made is much cheaper than store bought stuff!!), Quorn, tvp, and beans. There are lots of options, once you start cooking without meat you see the potential in so many ingredients.

One thing I would caution, about freelee, aka the 'banana girl'. She proposes a diet of 90% fruit, which I don't believe is healthy for a growing child. If you want to go vegan please do some in depth research first. I always advocate for going vegetarian first, since the leap from omnivore to vegan is just enormous and challenging if you are not familiar with the ingredients typically used.

http://www.theppk.com/books/isa-does-it/

veganbettie

HOWEVER, A really good reason to go vegan is for the love of animals.

^^^ This.....trust me....if you're going vegan for health reasons, or to lose weight or whatever....that's good. and it is a healthy life style if you make sure you're eating decently...but it's really really easy to gain weight on a vegan diet and it's really easy to become a junk food vegan, there are a LOT of processed vegan foods out there that are delicious, and not so good for you.

People that become vegan for the love of animals, rarely struggle with the "diet", it's a lifestyle change, and it is wonderful. You just need to be smart about it. Learn nutrition, learn what you NEED to eat. Be healthy. Please don't use this as a fad diet. It gives us lifestyle vegans a bad name.

jessica182517

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

AJ_G

My baby has been vegan since conception and is 19 months now....he is so far perfect in every way health wise. I've been vegan for almost 7 years.

That said, I am very careful with how we eat, AND he is still breastfed, so he is getting a lot of nutrients from me. Really he doesn't eat a lot of food anyways.

I will have to say that most people get enough protein, that it's rarely an issue, you just need to make sure your diet is varied, we eat a lot of beans, and leafy greens.

And I've based my life changing decisions off of research. Keep researching.

How can your baby be vegan if you're breastfeeding him? Kind of a contradiction. Sounds to me like he's getting most of his diet from animal based sources...namely you.

The point about most people getting enough protein, you were joking right? That's got to be a joke. Most people don't get nearly enough protein. Most people just get barely enough protein so that their muscles don't atrophy on a constant basis, I wouldn't call that getting enough protein.

Blue801

Do not put your child on any Freelee Durian Rider or 80/10/10 crazy diet! That is child abuse. If you must swallow the vegan snake oil and feed it to the child do as an above poster said and make sure you go for a balanced nutritious Vegan diet that provides everything a growing child needs. Freelee needs to be shot.

jim180155

I tried veganism for a couple months starting last November, but by February I was purposely adding some meat and dairy back into my diet. Full veganism didn't seem right for me, but trying it for a few months was a good thing, I think. I now ordinarily only eat meat at dinner, if at all, and it's usually chicken or fish, whereas before all three meals would have been centered around meat, usually red meat.

I'd advise you to ease into it. Find vegan dishes you enjoy. Learn to eat LOTS of raw fruits and vegetables. And don't assume that vegan automatically means nutritious - lots of junk food is vegan. As you eat more plants, cut back on your meat and dairy. And track your food and macros on MFP to make sure you're getting your targeted protein. Once you've drastically cut back on animal products, start taking a vitamin B12 supplement.

PennyM140

My son didn't care for the texture of meat at two years old either, with the exception of shrimp. Now that he is four he eats a wide variety foods including all types of meats, fruits, and vegetables.

I'm not saying not to go vegan. If you want to that's totally your choice.
I personally wouldn't force it on my child though. And she will probably start eating more meat as she gets older if you chose not to restrict her from it.

RaeLB

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

I would go see vegan doctors and read resources on raising vegan children. If her doctor isn't vegan they will likely have a lot of ignorance about plant-based diets.

jessica182517

Also, i do not look at freelee as some goddess with all the right ideas and amazing information i think she can be kind of rude toward fat people actually. I know she just wants everyone healthy ect. but i just stumbled across her videos and the one she posted by gary is really informative and if you have not seen it and want to make rude comments about me and my thinking about making this decision please check it out first http://youtu.be/KE-Yb6MVl8c

I am not looking for people to make smart *kitten* comments about me and the way i found out more about this vegan lifestyle which BTW i just started looking into NO i am not going to only use youtube to find my information i am not stupid so please do not make rude remarks about me. I would just like some more info from people who are vegan, who have become vegan or have at least tried it out. If you do not have anything to do with being vegan please stay out of the topic. I just want some views from real people this is "part of my research on the topic" why not look into what other real people are doing rather than just looking at facts on the internet?

eric_sg61

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

I would go see vegan doctors and read resources on raising vegan children. If her doctor isn't vegan they will likely have a lot of ignorance about plant-based diets.

So a doctor who doesn't agree with you is ignorant?

live2dream

A plant-based diet can have many health benefits but it can also have health consequences - i.e. vegan diet ≠ health & omnivorous diet ≠ health - just like any other diet it all comes down to individual choice on what you put into your body.

HOWEVER, A really good reason to go vegan is for the love of animals.

I know plenty of people who were raised vegan from birth with no health problems. With any major shift in diet you just have to make sure you're very intentional about getting the macro and micro nutrients that you need.

Join this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/45-happy-herbivores

I second this! Join our group. If you post about veganism in the general forums, you generally just get a bunch of bacon comments cause people just love saying that word for some reason. LOL anyway, There are a ton of healthy vegans.. we've almost tripled in population in the United States in the past year or two. But I agree that you can also be an unhealthy vegan just like you can be an unhealthy omnivore. Eating whole foods and not a lot of processed foods is much healthier. Although, you may want to use some substitutes to transition if you need to.

I know a few people who went vegan after watching Gary Yourofsky's best speech ever. He is extremely logical and really awesome for all he does for the animals. Freelee has some good points, but I don't follow her every word.

Best of luck! :flowerforyou:

AJ_G

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

Animal based sources of protein contain different amino acid profiles than plant bases sources do, specifically higher concentrations of essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce itself and must get from food including Branched-Chain Amino Acids which are important for skeletal muscle growth, especially in a growing child. Your definition of "healthy food" is flawed and you need to do your research into nutrition before putting your child on a diet that you think is healthy because you've read a few articles written by questionable sources...

bajoyba

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Agreed.

I'm a vegetarian for personal reasons, and I love it, but if you make the decision to eliminate any major food groups from your diet, you need to do a lot of careful research to make sure you can continue to fuel your body appropriately and make sure it gets the calories and nutrition it needs.
Keep in mind that Freelee is a low-fat, fully raw vegan, which means that she eats very little fat (oils, nuts/seeds, avocados) and does not heat any of her food. Because this diet consists almost entirely of foods that are very low in calories, fully raw, low-fat vegans generally put a lot of effort into eating varied diets and typically need to consume a very large volume of food during the day to meet their body's needs. I can't speak for or against this way of eating because I haven't done it myself and haven't done enough research to comment on it one way or another. But as someone else mentioned, Freelee is not a dietician, and personally, I think she's a little crazy... lol

But again, if you decide to give the vegan thing a shot, just make sure you know how to fuel yourself. As a vegetarian, I have my macro percentages set at 40% carbs, 35% fat, and 25% protein, and that protein goal can be difficult to meet. I get my protein from eggs, beans, nuts/seeds, nut butters, cheese, yogurt, soy foods (tempeh and tofu especially), protein supplements, and the occasional meat substitute, along with quite a lot of green veggies.

live2dream

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

I would go see vegan doctors and read resources on raising vegan children. If her doctor isn't vegan they will likely have a lot of ignorance about plant-based diets.

So a doctor who doesn't agree with you is ignorant?

No, but not very many doctors are educated in this. If they were, they would agree with it I'm sure!

jolarocknrolla

My husband went Vegan three years ago ( i eat occasionally non-vegan meals but it's rare). My advice is to go slow on this, maybe start of incorporating 80% vegetarian dishes and do a "Vegan Weekend" and see how you like it. Vegan *can* be very healthy, but just because it's vegan doesn't make it healthy, i know plenty of unhealthy vegans who eat vegan junkfood, eat fried things and stuff themselves with pastas etc. Do your research first, figure out what vitamins you need to take (just go to the library and get some books about this) and a few vegan cookbooks. There is some up-front cost in terms of buying things like vitains, nutritional yeast and a good vegan protein powder (i use a pea-protien powder from Truenutrition, its cheaper than anything from GNC and non-gmo pure protein without a lot of filler, i like the chocolate peanutbutter cup flavor).

Vegan cooking can be amazing and delish, but it generally takes a lot more work and preparation, i can't just decide to cut meat out and not replace it with things that will give you equal nutritional value (some people have mentioned going to see a nutritional expert, this is a good idea! )

jessica182517

ok again i will be talking to my childs dr before doing anything! I will not let my child not recieve all the nuritents that she needs! If she wants to eat a certian way when she is older fine. I did not come on here asking for parenting advice, i was asking about the vegan lifestyle...

eric_sg61

All I can say if your young child is going vegan please go see a dietitian that specializes in pediatrics.

I second this.

Third this. And if you don't, then don't make your kid go vegan. That's potentially harmful.

I WILL be talking with my daughter ped before i make any decisions on her food/diet as i always have! I want her to be as healthy as possible and would not do anything to put her in harm, but i do not see why going vegan would be any harm to her what so ever! Its HEALTHY food, veggies and fruit and beans and other things that we are ment to eat, she dosent really like meat yet anyway sometimes she will eat chicken or eggs but i will be talking with her dr before i give her or stop giving her anything.

I would go see vegan doctors and read resources on raising vegan children. If her doctor isn't vegan they will likely have a lot of ignorance about plant-based diets.

So a doctor who doesn't agree with you is ignorant?

No, but not very many doctors are educated in this. If they were, they would agree with it I'm sure!

ummm no they wouldn't agree

dayone987

Also, i do not look at freelee as some goddess with all the right ideas and amazing information i think she can be kind of rude toward fat people actually. I know she just wants everyone healthy ect. but i just stumbled across her videos and the one she posted by gary is really informative and if you have not seen it and want to make rude comments about me and my thinking about making this decision please check it out first http://youtu.be/KE-Yb6MVl8c

I am not looking for people to make smart *kitten* comments about me and the way i found out more about this vegan lifestyle which BTW i just started looking into NO i am not going to only use youtube to find my information i am not stupid so please do not make rude remarks about me. I would just like some more info from people who are vegan, who have become vegan or have at least tried it out. If you do not have anything to do with being vegan please stay out of the topic. I just want some views from real people this is "part of my research on the topic" why not look into what other real people are doing rather than just looking at facts on the internet?

I posted out of concern for your child's well being. Nutrition in children is so crucial to brain development (and other things too of course) and sometimes there's no going back. .
In your initial post you did not mention anything about talking to her doctor first., so i am glad to hear that you will be doing that.

Tpope66

I seen that same video and you are right it does open your eyes and reallllly makes you think about what is happening. Never mind the nay-sayers.. People fear what they do not understand.. I have been thinking pretty hard about the lifestyle change myself. Right now I buy free range chicken and grass feed beef and I talk to the farmers and butchers to find out how they handle the killing process.