Question about NT

[wish]

Just by reading these posts I've learned a little about the Nourishing Traditions book....it sounds great and really healthy! My question is can you be vegetarian and use the book?? I don't eat meat, fish or eggs and I can't drink milk (lactose intolerace) but love cheese and yogurt. Could I still follow these ideas? It sounds nice and meaty, my husband would love it. Also, is the raw milk safe for kiddos? Thanks!

[tboroson]

Raw milk is absolutely safe for the kiddos. That's all my kids have ever had!

I don't think you can follow the core principles of NT and be a vegetarian. But, I still think there are a lot of ideas and recipes in the book that would be helpful to you. For instance, a lot of the ideas about sprouting and fermenting. Both are ideas you'll find some vegetarian resources, too, I think; particularly raw vegan resources. But, I was vegetarian for, oh, 15 years, and never encountered those ideas. Granted, that was pre-internet - I've learned a lot more about vegetarianism since the advent of the WWW, and I'm no longer veg

[just6fish]

My kids all do raw milk and love it! I agree with pp on the NT meat and veggie thing. We do a lot of NT. You may be able to check the NT book our of your local library to see what you think before buying it

[caedmyn]

I think you can follow NT and remain vegetarian, as long as you are eating some animal products (like the cheese and yogurt). You might find that as you get more involved in NT you want to start eating more animal products, though, and that you feel better as you add them in.

[newcastlemama]

I was a strict vegetarian until reading NT and other books last month.....it changed the way I see food and the information I was getting since childhood! www.westonaprice.org is the website associated with the book.

There are really cool recipies in the cookbook....try and check it out....it has how to make just about anything from scratch! I personally think that being a strict vegetarian/vegan would be pretty difficult after you read the book and other info. There are grain recipies and nuts where you learn about soaking. The issue is that most recipies call for an animal product in one way or another---eggs, whey (milk), butter for cooking vegetables.

Best wishes and happy eating,
Jennifer

[Janelovesmax]

I think there is one mommy on this board who follows NT, but still a vegetarian. Soaked grains, fermented veggies etc...
However, I do think that animal products are very important for optimal health and I know that this point is very arguable and debateable. But that's just my opinion from reading some nutritional books. Not just NT, but "The Maker's diet", "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration", etc...

[joliebebe]

I dont eat meat, eggs or fish but follow the WAP diet apart from those things. Ive never eaten meat in my life, but we've always had raw dairy products. I dont think the NT/WAP way stresses *only* meat, but animal products, which of course include butter, milk, whey, yoghurt etc. So personally I believe you are able to follow it, if you include plenty of raw dairy products.
Just my 2 cents.

[JaneS]

I constantly meet people from WAPF and my raw milk co-op in real life that were lactose intolerant and can drink raw milk.

[rstump]

Yes many people who have been labeled lactose intolerant can drink raw milk.

Basically you are not lactose intolerant you are MISSING the lactase...the opposite enzyme. It is killed during pasteurization but the lactose stays.

Raw milk contains BOTH so it is easily digestable.

[kmamma]

I don't see how it matters whether NT allows for vegetarianism or not. If you're of East Indian descent for example, a native diet would be pretty vegetarian and that would be the only diet that's right for you. Then it wouldn't matter to you if somebody said that they were cured of cancer because they ate lots of meat (in that case it was probably due to the fact that that sort of diet was right for their body type).

The problem I see is that many people believe that one diet can work for everyone. I wish this was stressed more in Fallon's book, but what foods are good for OUR bodies is entirely individual. For me, NT is a "way" of looking at the food we eat, not a prescription of what foods to eat. There's a lot of meat recieps in the book but that doesn't mean everyone needs the same amount of meat, or any at all for that matter. NT is more of a hodge-podge of food preparation ideas from all around the world. There are many recipes I need to avoid, like heavily spiced ones (I'm a protein type).

But, if you want to find a diet that will work for you, I would not let ethics come in the way. If you truly feel healthy eating vegetarian, then that must be right for your body type. But if you're not feeling that great (even after incorporating some NT principles into preparation), you may benefit from re-evaluating your take on vegetarianism and whether that's in your body's interest.

I recommend reading "The Metabolic Typing Diet" by Wolcott. Goes hand-in-hand with NT, but goes far beyond in recognizing our individual differences.