Vegan?

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Replies

  • jim180155
    jim180155 Posts: 769 Member
    Eating vegan is complicated. You need to make sure you're getting enough protein, although that's pretty easy to do since there is a lot of plant-based protein. You also need to make sure you're getting enough vitamin B12, but supplements are available. (I bought B12 supplements derived from bacteria. Not sure if that qualifies as vegan or not.) And as Ginoo pointed out, you need to make sure you get enough iron, which is again available through plants. It's all there, if you eat the right stuff. But you have to study up a bit to make sure you know what you need and where to get it.

    It's much easier to be a meat eater. Nobody worries about (or harrasses) people living on Big Macs and french fries.
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
    This is a horrible idea for your overall health. Listen to this podcast to at least give both sides a shot. It is about a recovering vegan: http://fatburningman.com/lierre-keith-the-vegetarian-myth/

    Your body needs proteins, saturated fats, vitamin B12, and other micronutrients that are much easier to get on a omnivorous diet. Your child's nutrition should be your biggest concern and vegan is NOT the best.

    I eat omnivorous and my diet is primarily plant based with high quality animal products added in.
  • truffles58
    truffles58 Posts: 1 Member
    If you're eating a healthy balanced diet, you're probably getting enough protein. I would argue that the nutrition level of healthy vegans (i.e. not junk food vegans) is probably better than that of most omnivores. Personally and aside from ethical reasons, I'm more concerned with the hormones and additives in animal products than with loss of a that protein source in my diet. This is why I try to purchase organic when I can find it and afford it.

    There are tons of great vegan cookbooks out there. A couple of my favorites are Vegan Yum Yum (also a website, veganyumyum.com) and the Veganomicon or really anything by the ladies at Post Punk Kitchen.

    Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and the New Moosewood Cookbook are both really accessible (i.e. have recipes for familiar foods). These two aren't specifically vegan, but many recipes can be adapted.

    And if you want to go really crazy and fancy, try the Millennium Cookbook from the award winning restaurant in San Fransisco.
  • 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.

    Awesome post - Thank you so much for making the point of researching! And continuing to do so :) and kudos for writing it in a nice way. There are so many people giving bad advice or being mean on these boards. It is refreshing to see someone voice their opinion in a nice way lol

    Obviously in your case, you have been practicing for a long time and know the proper way to fuel a body (and baby body) on a vegan diet.

    Vegan diets are not harmful, but you do have to be so careful in making sure that you are fueling your body with the right foods. There is such thing as vegan junk food (whole foods vegan cookies...mmmmmmmmm) And I definitely agree that the OP should see a dietician with assistance in this transition, not just for her child but for herself as well. It is a big commitment and I agree that research is key. Consult a dietitian, local vegan chef (expect to have to do alot more meal prep), friends that have been vegan for at least a few years, etc. Good luck with your journey :)
  • jjbray1
    jjbray1 Posts: 1 Member
    google the following for great recipes

    Fatfree Vegan Kitchen - She sends out free recipes and has a truckload of them on her blog - she's the best

    Happy Herbivore

    Engine2diet - also plant based

    Jeff Novick

    Dr. Joel Fuhrman

    simple tips that I use (also fairly new to being vegan) are: Baked potatoes in the microwave - top with steamed vegetables, and fat free dressing - waldron farms has some great ones.

    Black Bean burrito bowls - with corn tortillas toasted in the oven

    fat free refried beans on corn tortillas - top with salsa, guac, onion, lettuce, tomato, olives, anything you like

    quinoa with everything -

    brown rice and beans

    big salads with a few nuts, and fruits,

    stir fry and rice

    whole wheat pasta with spaghetti sauce - I like Ragu light - made without oil or just make you're own real quick

    vegan mash potatoes with almond milk, garlic

    soups

    fresh fruit

    oatmeal with flax, and chia , cranberries, cinnamon, banana etc in the morn

    all great stuff!
  • 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.

    Ha! I was wondering the same thing... :huh:

    Just a point, if momma isn't drinking cow's milk then baby is not getting any lactose. So if momma is vegan, essentially baby is vegan too. Unless you are making the point that momma is an animal so breastmilk is an animal byproduct...?

    And before anyone blasts this post.... I have a background in nutrition, child development, and I am a former human milk tech for a local hospital. I did my homework on this one :)
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
    Thank you to everyone who has answered my actual questions :) I will be looking into this a lot more before i just cut meat out of my diet, like i said originally i eat a lot of meat chicken, fish, steak and yes bacon but i would like to give this a try so please quit bashing my post and if you have something rude to say about me or my decisions please keep it to yourslef and leave, if you dont like vegan then why did you click on the post that says vegan??

    Bashing you and disagreeing with you are two entirely different things. This is actually a pretty tame thread. I don't even have kids and my first thought was to check with the pediatrician. Well that and the banana girls is a nut job who is really just masking her own eating disorder behind her self-proclaimed miracle diet.
  • Blue801
    Blue801 Posts: 442
    Fortunately, there is a lot of scientific support for plant-based diets in written and video form. Yes, there is a lot of bull**** too but that can be navigated through.

    Fortunately plant-based =/= vegan. You may want to focus on a plant-based diet which still includes the meats you mentioned in your original post. I know we have farms in my area that provide cruelty free meets and eggs if animal welfare is your concern you can look into your local suppliers.
  • live2dream
    live2dream Posts: 614 Member
    “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” — Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association)
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    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.

    Ha! I was wondering the same thing... :huh:

    Just a point, if momma isn't drinking cow's milk then baby is not getting any lactose. So if momma is vegan, essentially baby is vegan too. Unless you are making the point that momma is an animal so breastmilk is an animal byproduct...?

    And before anyone blasts this post.... I have a background in nutrition, child development, and I am a former human milk tech for a local hospital. I did my homework on this one :)

    Yes, I was making that point. Humans are animals. Human byproducts are animal byproducts so by definition a baby that is breastfeeding is not vegan. This refers back to my point that animal based proteins have a better amino acid profile for muscle synthesis and contain more of the essential amino acids that a growing baby needs. Human breast milk falls into this category.
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
    Fortunately, there is a lot of scientific support for plant-based diets in written and video form. Yes, there is a lot of bull**** too but that can be navigated through.

    Fortunately plant-based =/= vegan. You may want to focus on a plant-based diet which still includes the meats you mentioned in your original post. I know we have farms in my area that provide cruelty free meets and eggs if animal welfare is your concern you can look into your local suppliers.

    There is a lot of scientific support for veganism but I used the word plant-based diet as in a diet that focuses on plants without animal products rather than veganism which is beyond food as it involved politics and ethics. I use plant-based diet to describe health vegans.

    You may want to research the real conditions of so-called "cruelty-free farms".
  • live2dream
    live2dream Posts: 614 Member
    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.

    Ha! I was wondering the same thing... :huh:

    Just a point, if momma isn't drinking cow's milk then baby is not getting any lactose. So if momma is vegan, essentially baby is vegan too. Unless you are making the point that momma is an animal so breastmilk is an animal byproduct...?

    And before anyone blasts this post.... I have a background in nutrition, child development, and I am a former human milk tech for a local hospital. I did my homework on this one :)

    Yes, I was making that point. Humans are animals. Human byproducts are animal byproducts so by definition a baby that is breastfeeding is not vegan. This refers back to my point that animal based proteins have a better amino acid profile for muscle synthesis and contain more of the essential amino acids that a growing baby needs. Human breast milk falls into this category.

    LOL drinking milk from another species is not vegan because it is exploiting an animal who's milk was supposed to go to her babies and those babies are killed so a human can drink the milk. But drinking milk from your own species is completely normal. All species of animals drink breast milk until they are weaned. When you are an adult, there is absolutely no need for it.
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member


    Yes, I was making that point. Humans are animals. Human byproducts are animal byproducts so by definition a baby that is breastfeeding is not vegan. This refers back to my point that animal based proteins have a better amino acid profile for muscle synthesis and contain more of the essential amino acids that a growing baby needs. Human breast milk falls into this category.

    Actually, having a diet with a variety of grains, legumes, and vegetables can provide all of the essential amino acids our bodies require.
  • jolarocknrolla
    jolarocknrolla Posts: 236 Member
    Truffles58 - great rec on the Veganomicon, we made their Lasagna over the weekend (ok, it took us FOREVER, it felt like a triathalon of cooking! but we did their tofu ricotta w/ spinach and made a "meat" layer with roasted eggplant, mushrooms and spicy italian seitan ... and a homecooked sauce w/ roasted onions and red peppers). i'm hungry just posting about it.

    I do feel like i've Leveled up my Vegan cooking skills :D
  • cherrypi
    cherrypi Posts: 3 Member
    Hi there, my kids (now 19 & 16) have been vegetarian since birth, theyve never eaten meat or fish. My husband has been vegan for years and I eat meat.

    Having veggie kids is pretty easy, you just need to put a little more effort in. When they went through the inevitable hating vegetable stage I just pureed veg to make pasta sauce, its amazing what you can hide with a blender!

    Vegan is just one step on but again requires alot of thought and planning, I cook alot of curry, pasta, mexican, thai and roast dinners! I work full time so there are times when we just have junk, my husband loves pizza with no cheese - apparently its quite common at dominos.

    id suggest investing in a couple of good, easy cook books, I love hugh fearnly wittenstalls veg every day, riverford farms veg cookbook and delia smith. I also google alot for inspiration (bbc good food is great). What really got me started was getting a veg box delivered from a farm, you have no idea whats being delivered so have no choice but to find something good to cook.

    good luck, its not an easy option but also is nowhere near as hard as you think.

    cherry x
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
    “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” — Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association)

    Word.

    Here is the academic paper for everyone who wants to read it: https://www.vrg.org/nutrition/2009_ADA_position_paper.pdf
  • RoseGoldDinosaur
    RoseGoldDinosaur Posts: 133 Member
    I love Freelee the banana girl! Her videos are great and she hits the nail on the head with a lot of topics. If I were you I'd try going vegan the conventional way before switching to raw or 80/20 or anything like that. Vegan is tough as it is. I was vegan for 3 years. It didn't work for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you. Obviously it's working for Freelee! Just have to find what works for you! And don't listen to the haters- hater gonna hate! I say give it a try and find out for yourself :wink: LUCK!
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Thank you to everyone who has answered my actual questions :) I will be looking into this a lot more before i just cut meat out of my diet, like i said originally i eat a lot of meat chicken, fish, steak and yes bacon but i would like to give this a try so please quit bashing my post and if you have something rude to say about me or my decisions please keep it to yourslef and leave, if you dont like vegan then why did you click on the post that says vegan??

    Bashing you and disagreeing with you are two entirely different things. This is actually a pretty tame thread. I don't even have kids and my first thought was to check with the pediatrician. Well that and the banana girls is a nut job who is really just masking her own eating disorder behind her self-proclaimed miracle diet.

    +1

    There's not been any bashing of the diet.

    Plenty of people are making sure you don't have the popular misconception that going vegan automatically means you're choosing a healthier diet, and that you're aware that going vegan means you're going to need to be very careful you're getting your nutritional needs met. Plus, a great deal of concern that you might put your child on a diet that could easily (and inadvertently) turn out to be very bad for her. That's not bashing.

    Clearly lots think Freelee (or whoever) isn't a good source on info. But that's not bashing veganism, just one individual who may or may not be a nutjob - I wouldn't know.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member


    Yes, I was making that point. Humans are animals. Human byproducts are animal byproducts so by definition a baby that is breastfeeding is not vegan. This refers back to my point that animal based proteins have a better amino acid profile for muscle synthesis and contain more of the essential amino acids that a growing baby needs. Human breast milk falls into this category.

    Actually, having a diet with a variety of grains, legumes, and vegetables can provide all of the essential amino acids our bodies require.

    The amount of grains, legumes, and vegetables that would be required to equal the essential amino acid intake required for a baby would be absurd, especially when the concentration of those amino acids is very high in breast milk for the reason that a growing baby SHOULD be drinking breast milk. Also, a baby can only consume so much volume in their stomach in a given day. I'm not debating that it's possible to get the required amino acids from non animal sources for an adult because if you eat enough you can get there but it's a completely different story for a baby.
  • thatpixichick
    thatpixichick Posts: 77 Member

    ^^^ 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. :D

    THIS THIS THIS.