[email hidden] (Cathy Weeks) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Did he say that the vegan diet was unhealthy (incorrect) or that YOUR vegan diet was unhealthy?
You didn't provide a week of typical menus for us to determine if you have been providing your son
adequate nutrition. Your son CAN develop properly without meat/milk/eggs, but it takes a lot of
planning and work to provide him with good nutrition, without those items.
I know a family of (strict) vegans, whose children are among the healthiest I've encountered. Their
mother, however, does make them complete healthy meals from scratch, every day. For example, instead
of baby food, when we see them for lunch, her baby has soybeans, carrots and spinach put through a
food grinder and nurses. Her older son will have whole wheat bread with almond butter, a large
salad, and rice milk or soy milk. They're definitely the healthiest kids at our lunch group. But I
know she goes to a *lot* of trouble to make all the foods they need.
Quoted message said:Advice? Well...if you are for real, which I highly doubt, go buy a few more vegan cookbooks, and
make sure your child gets enough fat and protein.
I doubt the reality of this poster, too, and I wonder where some of the responders get the idea that
veganism is inherently dangerous, but....
There's a great site for vegan recipes at www.vegweb.com Everything is rated, too, so you get a
general idea of the feasability of your choice before you try it.
My friend sent us there when my daughter was diagnosed with milk (all dairy) and egg allergies.
It's been helpful to us, easy to use and has a lot of 'substitute' type items for people just
beginning this type of diet, or in our case, forced to use it, and I think these things are good
especially for kids.
My daughter is also, due to her allergies, diagnosed failure to thrive, and is very small
(obviously) and we have a hard time getting her enough fats and protein. She has a supplemental
beverage that has no animal products (to the best of my knowledge. I'll check again tonight and if
it *does*, I'll follow up). It's not the most delicious thing, and it's very expensive, but it has
30 cal/oz.. It's called Neocate, and while it's not a prescription, I think you do need to have a
doc call the pharmacist to get it ordered.
Quoted message said:I disagree with the other posters, a vegan diet isn't inherently dangerous. Quite the contrary, IF
DONE RIGHT, it's quite healthy. But, it's difficult to do properly. I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian,
in part because it's just too much darn effort to make sure that fat and protein levels are
adequate with a vegan diet. Oh, and I just can't quite bring myself to give up cheese, which is
one of life's great delicacies! My 18-month old is an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and is quite healthy.
I can't wait to see if my daughter outgrows this milk allergy (or weans)so we can have cheese again!
Good luck!
Tina.
P.S. -- If you find a reasonable Dr., which shouldn't be hard if you're anywhere near a major
metropolitan area in most of the computer accessed world, you can get a letter, on hospital
letterhead just in case your son actually does look sick, but isn't. It can help in some
situations, I've heard (My daughter also has a bleeding disorder -- some of the families we've
met have been confronted by family or neighbors or whatever, and this has helped them).
