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going vegan
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I am considering going vegan. More for health reasons than other. We like dairy and meat, but at least for the dairy we need to eliminate most of it. I have been toying with the idea for a long time, but I need a good cookbook to get me started. I want to start by doing 2 meals a week. We currently eat meatless 1 day so it won’t be a big change.
I need snack ideas and just general info.
The only book I have ever heard of is The Kind Diet and I heard it has good info but the recipes are hard to find and expensive, so I want to find something more pratical.
Thanks!!
Hi!
Finally something I know a little about. 🙂
First of all, boo to The Kind Diet. Not helpful.
I have Veganomicon cookbook. It’s great. Others I’ve heard good things about:
Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks
Vegan with a Vengeance
And 1000 Vegan Recipes got good reviews on Amazon
Snack ideas… Fruit, veggies, hummus on veggies or bread, nuts, popcorn, you can make kale chips (I’ve heard they’re fabulous and I want to try them)…
Is this for the whole family? You’ll have to watch some of your nutrients and vitamins, mainly B12.
HTH,
Dana
A couple helpful websites that have assisted me in transitioning over to a vegan lifestyle.
- http://www.hacres.com/ There are lots of meal and snack ideas in the recipe section. I also highly recommend George Malkmus’ book “The Hallelujah Diet” if you are interested in going vegan.
- http://www.drfuhrman.com/ There are recipes here as well. Dr. Fuhrman has a new book series titled “Eat for Health” which is designed for those who are new to a vegan lifestyle, it is full of menu plans and recipes as well.
I look forward to hearing other responses!
Blessings,
Heather
Thanks ladies.
I mean we will be kind of a mix. I would like to go mostly vegan recipes with some vegitarian recipes mixed in. Hubby and kids will eat meat (at least for now) 1 time a day, except those 1-2 days a week we already omitt meat. I heard it does wonders for the grocery budget too.
Two of my kiddos are under 2 (twins 14 mo). I know I have to be carefull to get them enough fat. I know they don’t need all that sat fat in whole milk but I do know they need more fat.
Something you may be able to help with is this… I can only get almond milk, rice milk, soy milk and cows milk. I can’t get coconut milk or hemp milk which I know to be more recomended for under 2’s. What is my best option. If cows milk is really my best option until we move then I will give it to them. My daughter is still nursing 1 time a day and my son about 4. I think my son is probably good to go, but my daughter might need some more? Maybe I could just start nursing her more again?
I know for me it will not be an issue, but I need to be more careful with the kids. Hubby is not a huge fan of this idea, so that is partially why we are keeping the meat and not just for the kids.
Eliminating most of the dairy and most of the meat is my mail purpose for now. I plan to go in a process and not switch us all at once. Perhaps as the kids get older and hubby get use to it we can go more vegan.
I appreciate your advice and I will look into those books and websites.
I’ll post more later but one thing for sure, I HIGHLY recommend nursing your daughter more if you’re both happy with that – there is nothing healthier on the planet for her right now
. We’ve nursed until at least 3 or 4. You could also give your twins almond milk along with mama’s milk. Almond milk is very simple to make and much healthier and cheaper than buying it in the store. To add fat to their diet, avocados, nuts & seeds are the best source. I always add avocados to dc’s smoothies – it makes them creamy. You can also make avocado chocolate pudding – adding carob powder & honey. There are so many options….Could you run all this by a doctor? I know getting B12 is a concern for vegans. I second the continued nursing! I also like oat milk and it’s also easy to make. A vegetarian cookbook we have is The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. My son was not digging our vegan meals so I have been doing vegan/vegetarian throughout the day then a “meat” dinner but I know we have a meatless dinner 1-2 times a week. (and my son drinks cow milk) Vegetarian chili is always a hit in this house. 🙂 Other good ones are pizza and black bean quesadillas but you’d have to get cheese alternatives (like rice cheese) and the more of that you get the higher your grocery bill. Greens are packed full of nutrients so we try to eat lots of those. Oh and I wouldn’t add soy products in to replace meat.
Those are just some random thoughts…
Dana
I’m not vegan but I do love almond milk and my daughter loves rice milk. 🙂 You get a lot of calcium in almond milk. Hope you find something that works for you!
Sadly the nutritionists here seem to be uninformed. When I listed nursing as dairy (ther wa sonly a dairy section)for my twins they were not impressed!
I know a bit about soy and I will stay far away from it. My oldest now 7.5 could not do dairy at all and the doc said to give him soy milk etc. I did so thinking that is what was right after all the doc said to. Then I researched it and cried that I had been giving him soy for over a year! That is when I started questioning what docs told me and now I always go with a game plan concerning the kids being sick etc.
Friday is Pizza night. I currently use dairy cheese and will probaby keep it that way. We use very little cheese or milk as it is so 1 night of it I feel is okay. My oldest can now do dairy but I have, since the issues, given very limited amounts to all my kids. My middle 2 didn’t even drink milk until they were 1 1/2 and my twins have never had it. If they have too much I see big issues. With 1 serving a day they seem fine.
I plan to start eliminating things until eventually we are eating vegan all the time or 95%. I am sure it will be a long process, but I am up for it. Pkus I want to do it right and make sure the kids are getting all that they need to grow healthy ans strong. I won’t jump into anything like this again…as I did with the soy milk.
From what I read so far giving kids, mainly toddlers B12 is a good idea to be “safe”. Since we are still going to eat meat a few times a week I think I will hold off on that. I believe I read if you are eating meat 3 times week you are fine on that. I will look into it more though because that might be different with toddlers. My youngest 3 would happily eliminate meat from their diet, they are not big fans, so any advice on feeding toddlers vegan is ver welcome.
I will look into making the Almond milk and oat milk! The kids would love to do that I am sure.
Heather- what is the best way to add in nuts & seeds for my twins? My daughter has only 2 teeth! 🙂 My son would prpbably be fine the crew them but not her. It takes her forever to get through a rice cake and they are not even hard.
Dana- do you think the doctor would be a better source than the nutritionist? I have actually only talked to the nutritionist about it and like I said before they did even consider nursing as a factor in nutrition of the twins. Which I knew was not right. My son would happily nurse all day, but my daughter not as much.
Sorry I am being very chatty about this today. I have been thinking about this for a year now and just finally realized that I need to do it instead of thinking about it.
You know I don’t know about doctors versus nutritionists. That’s a good question. How crazy the didn’t count nursing as nutrition. Weird!
We began our health journey by eating a meatless meal every other night. The tendency when one goes meatless(vegetarian) is you can overdue the dairy..We eventually went total vegetarian then vegan (no dairy) That didn’t go over well as it is soooooooo restrictive, what else was there to choose from to eat?? and quite honestly I have a full plate, and to add more restrictions to our lives seemed crazy. We have returned to going meatless every other night, and no milk , we use coconut, rice or almond milk. I personally choose to eat very very little meat, but this stems back from childhood memories, of being very poor and mother couldn’t afford good cuts of meat, not to mention she wasn’t a good cook. When I would come home from school, the first thing I would smell was something awful and it was called meat… So being vegetarian was very easy for me, my husband on the otherhand had a German mother who lived to cook so he was my meat and potato man.. Now that we have been 1 flesh for so long we have found what works for us as a family and for our health as well.
Now about cookbooks, someone mentioned Moosewood, they are vegetarian (they do include fish recipes) but not vegan, they rely on dairy.. Moosewood isn’t far from me, actually I worked once upon a time right across the street from them, so you can guess where I spent my lunch hours… mmmmmm. I have managed over the years to pick up many of their cookbooks used , they have one called simple suppers, meant for the harried cook. that might be a good one.. Right now I put my computer to use when looking for recipes, I look in my refrig and say, oh, I have brocoli, what can I do with that, go to the puter and type in vegetarian main dish recipe brocoli and voila, i get many to choose from. (this way I save money on cookbooks and have more money for books to curl up with )
One word of caution about diets (someone mentioned Hallelujah) Be careful, although we can glean many good things from some of their articles, I would be careful about calling something so restrictive and smattering it with biblical verses and calling it God’s Way… Just this a.m. I came across this in 1 Tim. 4v.3-5forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with Thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer..
Blessings
KK
Try a little at a time and don’t think of the I can’ts but of the I can’s. Our family is mostly vegan and have been for the last 6 or 7 years. Was always vegetarian before that. Both of our girls have been raised vegan and there are no health issues. They are just as healthy and smart as any other kid. When I say mostly, I mean that we aren’t so hard nosed on it to make life miserable. We go to Taco Bell and eat a bean burrito and don’t worry about the cheese on it. If we go to someone’s birthday party and they have ice cream, we have a little.
When I make cookies, I substitue 1 Tablespoon of applesauce for each egg and have never had a problem with them turning out ok. I think I add a little extra applesauce for the peaunut butter cookies, but just note the consistency of the dough. You don’t taste the applesauce either.
Don’t expect the “substitutes” to taste anything like the real thing. In fact, don’t even use for now if you don’t want to.
Think of all the recipes you already know that are vegan and start using those and then trying new things. Stir-Fry, Spaghetti (doesn’t have to have the cheese on the top), salads, soups, rice and beans, baked potatoes (you can but beans or a gravy on top instead of cheeses), lentils, etc.
You can look online for recipes, too. Now that I have faster internet I have been doing that to find new recipes to try. And just type vegan in front of it to find a vegan form of the recipe.
For your children, make sure they are getting a variety of things. Include avacado, nuts, nut butters, beans, etc. My kids love peanut or almond butter with a little molasses mixed in with apples to dip in it.
As for a doctor or nutritionist, you have to find one that actually knows something about being vegan. Not all do and not all are willing to discuss it. Some will be out right against it, others will accept it and some actually know something about it.
Best wishes on some yummy recipes!
Thanks ladies I do see all of your points and appreciate your advice. I do hope to be like you pangit. I plan to convert to mostly vegan at home. My cousin never eats at family events and some she skips all together because they are vegan. I want to be fine with going to a friends house and eating what they prepare for us or being with my family for Thanksgiving.
My kids love rice and almond milk. I will give the applesauce tip a try and peanut or almond butter with molasses, I am pretty sure they will love that!
I see what you mean kainklan. The dairy is really a necessary thing for health reasons which I mostly don’t use anyway. As I said above about 1 serving a day they are fine with. The meat is a health first and price second type thing. We will keep eggs for the kids for the time being.
pangit Thanks for the encouragement about the kids. That is of course a big concern for me.
I will look into simple suppers. Thanks
My hubby is German and was raised there. Very much a meat eater as is his family. He is not a fan of this idea so it will have to be a slow process. I was planning to switch our meals to 3 meat meals and the reast vegetarian or vegan. I might try the every other day thing at first though. That is a great idea.
You all gave me so much info and ideas to sift through. I will have plenty to keep me busy while hubby is gone!
I did read that dairy should only be consumed in raw organic yogurt form. I cannot be that picky at this point.
I am not sure where you are located, but I would suggest that you find a naturopathic doctor in your area. He/She should be able to help steer you in the right direction and provide valuable nutritional information for you and your children. (I am a bit biased given that I am an N.D.
) If you need helping locating an N.D. locally, let me know and I will see if I can help.Good Luck!
I second the recommendation for 1000 Vegan recipes. It’s excellent. Also, the use of avocado and nuts and seeds is excellent. I have read the new furhman books, but found them a little unrealistic for me and my family.
Blessings on this journey!
Love,
amy
We aren’t vegan and aren’t planning to be, but I thought many of you might find this blog interesting and helpful.
http://healthyindulgences.blogspot.com/
It doesn’t claim to be a “vegan” blog, but I know many of the recipes would be considered vegan because of the ingredients. I am planning to try a few of the recipes, especially one for a chocolate cake made with black beans! My best friend said it was really yummy.
Lindsey
. We’ve nursed until at least 3 or 4. You could also give your twins almond milk along with mama’s milk. Almond milk is very simple to make and much healthier and cheaper than buying it in the store. To add fat to their diet, avocados, nuts & seeds are the best source. I always add avocados to dc’s smoothies – it makes them creamy. You can also make avocado chocolate pudding – adding carob powder & honey. There are so many options….
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