[liam's mom]

I've been starting to do a lot of research on food. My whole life, I've eaten meat--that's how I grew up. My DH was vegetarian for many many years, and now we find ourselves slowly moving in that direction. Of course since i had my ds, I'm even more conscious of what I eat, and what sort of things I'd like him to eat as he gets older. (Right now he is ebf.)

I'm considering cutting out most dairy and meat, but I'm not sure what to eat in place of it.

: I just read a thread about how too much soy isn't good for you...What the heck sort of stuff can we eat if we choose not to eat meat or dairy and too much in the way of soy products isn't healthy?

I'm sorry if I sound ignorant about all this. But I'd like to make the best choices possible for my family, and I'm feeling confused about where to look for information about all this.

 

[Erin Pavlina]

I had much the same questions when I first went veggie.

Please pop over to www.vegfamily.com for a wealth of information on what to eat and making the transition. There's also a good book on the subject, if I do say so myself, called Raising Vegan Children in a Non-Vegan World, of which I am the author.

But you don't need to eat soy, there is plenty of other things to eat. Soy won't kill you, just eat it in moderation. It has many health benefits as well.

Take things one step at a time. Substitute first. I betcha there are substitutes for just about everything you used to love. we've got vegan cheeses, meats, and other dairy-like products that are heavenly.

Check out the list of vegan products to whet your appetite. And visit the Vegan Recipe section as well.

 

[allys jill]

though don't be fooled by just making subsitutions left and right because you *will* then wind up eating a lot of soy. many of the vegan "cheeses", "meats", and other "dairy" products are full of soy or are, at the very least, quite processed. cheese is cheese, and it's a whole food. while it is arguable whether dairy (esp. homogenized and pasteurized) is good for people to eat, it's not much of an argument that raw milk is a whole food. butter is easy to make at home. take some cream and shake it up. voila...butter. i'll suppose that you'd be hard pressed to make "earth balance" which is what many vegans that i know like to eat in place of butter. it's a blend of oils (canola included) and seems like a fake food to me.

take a look at the ingredients in something like this product http://www.imearthkind.com/Nutritional%20Info.htm
and ask yourself if you can produce that at home.
don't make the mistake that i did as a vegan and try to eat subs for everything. just stick to real, whole foods if this is the choice you want to make. animal food or no, you'll be much healthier steering clear of this stuff, IMO.
believe me or not, foods are NOT healthier simply because they don't contain animal foods. this stuff is truly fake food.

 

[MamaMonica]

Subbing the fake meats and cheeses does put a lot of chemicals into your body- many of them contain lots of soy and gluten which are big problem foods for many people.

Beans are an excellent substitution- they can be cooked in so many ways and are a whole food.

The dairy is tough one- dairy causes problems in so many people but it tastes so darn good and is hard to give up. I've found that since eating some eggs and chicken that my cheese craving has evaporated- it was the protein I craved.

 

[Potty Diva]

It's amazing what foods are available that are vegetarian!

We recently made the switch to vegetarian and love it. This is our third week. We have chosen not to include meat substitutes in our diet, but we do eat dairy, a nd as soon as Mark gets a raise weare going to organic milks and cheeses.

Take for instance tonight we are having a vegetable cheese pot pie. Add your 4 or 5 choices or fresh diced veggies, egg noodles, cream sauce, and a homemade pie crist, and wha- la(oh and mozzarella cheese. bakes in 12 minutes

With a little huunting you can find great meals even your toddler will love

 

[liam's mom]

Thank you all so much for the suggestions and links! I'm looking forward to reading more about this. It's funny how as we grow, we consider (and do!) things we never would have thought about at a different place in our lives. Having my son has really helped me to examine my diet. I started thinking about it for his sake, but it's for my sake too!

Anyway, thanks.

 

[bebe luna]

Soy really is a good food and can be very good for you! Just not highly processed soy or soy as an exclusive replacement for meat.
The best choices for soy are fermented soy products, such as, tempeh, tofu, yogurt, miso, tamari, and soy milk made from fermented beans. Unprocessed soy beans such as the green soy bean (edamame) and black soy beans (great in place of black turtle beans) are also very healthy choices.
Just stay away from eating a lot of soy cheeses, protien bars, vegi burgers, isolate powders, deli meats, soy hot dogs, etc.

Other great meat alternatives are:
beans
seeds and nuts
seitan (as long as you are not wheat sensative)
eggs (as long as you aren't going completely vegan)
protien powders for smoothies amde from rice protien or whey

 

[hazeldust]

i have been slowly improving my diet since the birth of my first baby four years ago. i still regress once in a while but lately i have been making some progress. i feel that the ideal diet consists of fruit grains seeds and veggies. i grew up on processed foods and it has taken me a long time (and i am still learning!) to learn how to eat. here are my latest discoveries:
-as simple as this sounds i always try to keep a variety of dried fruit,and raw nuts and seeds natural org. nut butters and crackers. these are for the times when a meal is far from ready but tummies are rumbling, just grab a handful of seeds or spreadsome nut butter on crackers for a quick energy boost to get ya by
-i love to cook and am always trying new recipes. veggie recipes are so quick compared to meat recipes. my favorite thing right now is the soup section from How It All Vegan (cant remember the authors off hand-they are two young hip chics picture on the cover) i just recently made spicy cream of tomato soup. the next day i made millet for the first time and just added a bunch to the soup and wallah! a GREAT WAY TO EAT grains- mixed into a simple soup. so easy too.
-our local coop has these great soup mixes in bulk, different combinations of legumes and grains. you just follow simple instructions add whatever veggies you have on hand and season with spike, braggs or whatever to taste.

my advise is to take it slow let yourself get used to different things and dont force something you really do not like simply give it a chance also sometimes it just takes finding the right way to prepare a veggie or grain that makes all the difference. good luck!

 

[tricia80]

Just thought i would say a few things here about the substitutions.... im a vegan... i tend to eat alot of soy and so does my daughter and we r perfectly healthy... im always very much into researching what i put into my childs stomach as well as mine..since i wanna be around for a long time.... There are alot of subs that are not full of all these additives and evil things out there.... i go to a regular grocery store.... and i can get soy free and gluten free subs because celiac diseases are more prevalent now in our society.... also make sure its Organic and Non GMO or any part as some call it... "frankenstein food"... many cultures have always been predominately eating soy products for centuries and have less cases of cancer etc... also...just because a person has an MD or RD or anything behind their name does not guarantee anything...most of these fad diets come from dr's... research and get different info from different sources...thats just my 2 cents....in the end you decide what to give your family... and whatever you choose just make sure its healthy and it's your decision...2 each their own....

 

[Bearsmama]

We are a veg house (I do eat fish 1-2x/month and DH is a vegetarian). We eat lots and lots of food.

On our normal menu is: pastas with oil and veggies, faux meat sauce (made with veggie crumbles), or just plain tomatoe sauce (crushed toms, paste, onion, thyme, carrot, garlic).

Polenta with veggies
Veggie burgers/dogs and beans/veggies for quick meals.
Homemade pizza
Frittatas (eggs and veggies started on stovetop and then broiled in oven)
Refried beans
Black bean chili
Pad Thai
salads
Burritos
Grilled veggies and hummus on tortillas
Faux sloppy joes
eggplant casserole
baked mac and cheese
sweet pot risotto

I have a brother who still asks, after over ten years of eating this way"What do you eat all week?"

 

[crimsonbadger]

I'm so glad you asked this question. I'm having a MAJOR problem with food planning. I was a fish-eating otherwise vegetarian for 7 years until I got pregnant, started reading about mercury in fish, and freaked out. THen, to get iron, I started eating ('organic' or naturally raised only) meat, but stopped eating fish. Now ds is 2, and I just don't feel good about cooking ANYTHING!

We don't live near a Whole Foods and have little (in the winter, no) access to fresh, organic veggies. And I hate cooking conventional veggies because I feel like they're poisoned by pesticides.
I don't want to make frozen 'organic' food because it's processed and I don't know how much of the original vitamin content is still in there.

I'm afraid to cook meat because the animals are shot full of who knows what kind of drugs & hormones.
I'm afraid to cook fish because of the mercury -- and because I'm horrified at what I read about our oceans' diminishing fish supply.
I'm afraid to cook fresh conventional veggies/fruits because of pesticides
I'm afraid to cook frozen organic foods because they're often processed and I've heard freezing sucks out the vitamins.

Not to mention the fact that ds is a horribly, horribly picky eater.

I'm STUCK. we live in a big city, have no garden -- and I just don't know how to feel good about what I feed my family! Does anyone have any strong opinions about how to weigh the relative plusses and minuses of different kinds of imperfect foods? I'm worried that I'm becoming paranoid, and that my poor little ds is getting an imbalanced diet because of my hang-ups.

 

[Potty Diva]

Speaking of Polenta- I thought it was cheese :LOL until I found a recipe for it and now love it. We have polenta with some veggie italian dishes.

 

[Potty Diva]

Quote:

Originally posted by crimsonbadger I'm so glad you asked this question. I'm having a MAJOR problem with food planning. I was a fish-eating otherwise vegetarian for 7 years until I got pregnant, started reading about mercury in fish, and freaked out. THen, to get iron, I started eating ('organic' or naturally raised only) meat, but stopped eating fish. Now ds is 2, and I just don't feel good about cooking ANYTHING! We don't live near a Whole Foods and have little (in the winter, no) access to fresh, organic veggies. And I hate cooking conventional veggies because I feel like they're poisoned by pesticides. I don't want to make frozen 'organic' food because it's processed and I don't know how much of the original vitamin content is still in there. I'm afraid to cook meat because the animals are shot full of who knows what kind of drugs & hormones. I'm afraid to cook fish because of the mercury -- and because I'm horrified at what I read about our oceans' diminishing fish supply. I'm afraid to cook fresh conventional veggies/fruits because of pesticides I'm afraid to cook frozen organic foods because they're often processed and I've heard freezing sucks out the vitamins. Not to mention the fact that ds is a horribly, horribly picky eater. I'm STUCK. we live in a big city, have no garden -- and I just don't know how to feel good about what I feed my family! Does anyone have any strong opinions about how to weigh the relative plusses and minuses of different kinds of imperfect foods? I'm worried that I'm becoming paranoid, and that my poor little ds is getting an imbalanced diet because of my hang-ups.

Have you trtied just eating seasonally? Meaning eating only the vegetables the are currently in season?

Sincee becoming vegetarian I make everything from scratch. We do eat some frozen veggies(because something I just can't get here

)

The only thing I can't make at home (yet!) is pasta, although I would love a pasta press for christmas. I have however made cheese ravioli and they were huge and yummy.

There are so many great things that you can throw together. The about ravioli was thrown together with a homemade marinara dauce that took 30 minutes to cook and simmer, and some polenta or baked bread slices smothered in garlic butter and wa-la a meal. Oh add a favorite veggie

Tonight I am making a really easy veggie pot pie. The most difficult parrt, the pie crust.

Crimson~ You have to make a choice, weither frozen organic or conventional veggies. You have to eat. The best thing to do is to choose the healthiest out of your options and go with that. Or you could eat meat and die sooner :LOL