Vegan Diet Question.....?

Question

I was reading the answers that where given to someone about questions she had about feeding her baby whole milk. There was one answer that caught my attention, the person answering mentioned that her and her family where vegan. I've heard of those diets, and I would love to start my children on it, because I know it's a healthier way of eating.
My questions are the following: What does that type of diet consist of? What do you feed your children? What do you feed your babies? What types of milk? Where do you shop for food? And all other type of help, advise, suggestions or additional information would be greatly appreciated.
I'm pretty sure I can find tons of information on the internet, but would like an insiders personal opinion. If you can also provide good websites that I might use, that would be great as well.
Thank you in advance for your help.

Answer 1

true "vegan" is not healthier ....... because you need calcium and cheese and milk are by products of animals so they would be excluded ;
but I am starting my son off on just first veggies and formula so it a kind of vegetarian diet ....... but my opinion of Vegan is that it is as insane as any other "fundamentalist religion" ; there is a healthy "inbetween" betweenst all extremes .......

but be careful of those that call themselves "moderates" they tend to be extremists in sheeps clothing ......

Answer 2

This'll get me a thumbs-down or six, but if you really want a healthy diet, consider switching to being partially vegetarian but eating fish as well. (Sometimes called 'pecestarian,' but no mind.)

I'm vegetarian and always have been, and the only thing that bothers me nutritionally is that fish have a lot of healthy goodness that isn't so easily replaceable from other sources. Some years ago I was sick with something too complicated to go into here, and I got a lot of quite mainstream doctors saying, "Do you eat fish? Eat more fish..."

Anyway, that's not what you asked.

For web sites, I don't have any vegetarian/vegan-specific ones that I use. If I want a recipe, I just hit epicurious.com or similar, and either use the search engine there to specify 'vegetarian,' or (more frequently) just adapt the recipe. It's trivial to use, say, vegetable stock where chicken stock is called for, and you can use hearty vegetables (portobello mushrooms, eggplant, even potatoes) to replace meat in a lot of recipes. A recipe for beef roasted and served with sauce can be used to roast a vegetable and serve it with sauce, after all.

I probably eat a lot more pasta than the average omnivore, and I eat too much cheese. If you do change your diet, beware of eating too much cheese pizza, mac and cheese, etcetera; a lot of new vegetarians do that.

My baby is too young for solids, but. Feeding a vegetarian baby is not too complicated, and a Google for "vegetarian baby" will get you more info than you can possibly use. Cut out the meat, but make sure the protein and iron intake is good.

I do not eat soy/tofu or imitation meat products. Yuk.

I usually go to a separate greengrocers instead of just doing all my grocery shopping at a supermarket; if you eat a lot of veg, it's a lot nicer if it's high-quality veg. Some supermarkets have such lousy, limp and bland produce that it's no wonder so many people eat poorly; I wouldn't eat that stuff either. I also make some side trips to bulk/health food stores to stock up on grains and legumes. I buy good bread from a local bakery, too. Read the ingredients on Wonder for why.

Milk is, well, breast for the baby, and 1% 'filtered' (can you get that in the States?) for me. If I lived in the States, I'd probably get organic what with the bovine growth hormone thing. NB that vegans do not drink milk -- I think I saw the question you're referring to, and I think the person asking was pulling people's legs; why, I don't know, but NO vegan drinks milk, or makes the mistake of thinking milk is vegan. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy and egg; vegans do not.

Answer 3

Vegans are strict vegetarians, avoiding all animal products, even those that don't cause the animal's death, such as milk, eggs, cheese, gelatin, and honey.

With a vegan diet, you have to seek protein and fat from alternate sources, instead of from meat and dairy. Protein can be found in tofu, legumes, peanut butter. Healthy fat is available with avocados, olive/canola/flax oil, flax meal, soy yogurt/pudding, and nut butters. Alternate milk can be found via soy, rice, or almond milk. Vegan moms generally breastfeed, as there's only one vegan formula on the market and it is hard to find sometimes.

Most grocery stores are adding organic sections that carry items that list themselves as vegan friendly as well. Alternately, there are stores such as Whole Foods or Wild Oats that cater to both organic food lovers and a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.

You need to pay closer attention to the vitamins and makeup of your foods as a vegan, to ensure that you have an adequate intake of nutrition. Many vitamin supplements contain animal byproducts, so you have to look for one that caters to vegans, such as Veglife.

Vegan is the extreme end of being a vegetarian. If you're looking into becoming a vegetarian for the healthier lifestyle, it may be easier to go vegetarian first, then ease into the full vegan outlook over time.

Answer 4

I shop at regular grocery stores as it can be quite easy to find vegan food there-- Frozen fruits and veggies (I prefer them over "fresh" and canned), beans, tofu, bread, etc. For instance, today for breakfast I had Trader Joe's fiber Os (from the Trader Joe's grocery store), and the Wal-Mart equivelant to Honey Nut Cheerios with soy milk. For lunch, I had leftover Progeresso Tomato Soup from yesterday's lunch that came from Meijer and some lentils that I either got at Kroger or Wal-Mart. I also has a slice of whole wheat bread from Meijer (it's a store brand) with Smart Balance spread.

For me, this is not a diet, but part of who I am. I went vegan for moral reasons, over health. The health benefits were just an added bonus.

My daughter is crying, so I'll just give you a list of my favorite sties:
http://veganoutreach.org
http://www.vrg.org
http://www.mercyforanimals.org
http://www.chooseveg.com
http://www.vegweb.com (this is mostly recipes)
http://www.veggieboards.com (Generally, the people there are willing to help out new people and anybody with questions.)
http://www.vegansociety.com (This is a UK site, but still very informative.)
www.vegsource.com
http:/www./thevegetariansite.com
http://pcrm.org
http://www.vegfamily.com/
http://www.vivausa.org/

I have more, but these are some of my favorites. Also, just do some searches such as "vegan health", "vegan recipes", "vegan cooking" "vegan sources of____" (fill in blank of desiered nutrient, such as protein)....

I hope this has been of some help.

Answer 5

Peta's web site has alot of info they also have links to other sites they can tell you where to find vegetarian/vegan food and they also have recipes on there as well. go to their web site and look into it.