Simple Living Feature

If you want to be inundated by a wealth of wonderful information about how to live more simply, more consciously, and closer to our wonderful earth, then head on over to A Girl and Her Scout, where October is Simple Living Month.

There's tips every day, so there is a way for everyone to to reduce your ecological footprint, improve yours and your family's health and well-being, and support others who are working hard to preserve the integrity of our land, our agriculture, our animals, our air, our water, and our souls.

I am her guest blogger for part of this week, so check out my tips as well as the many others she's posted already this month.

Raising Vegan Babies

Many people wonder how safe it is raise their children on a vegan diet. We are all made to believe that we NEED meat and dairy for survival!! It can be a scary transition, because of course you want the absolute best for your child. Well, rest assured that a vegan diet is perfectly safe (and in fact much healthier than the standard American diet) for your children and for you.

Check out Keep Kids Healthy, a great website about all sorts of health issues for kids.
Another great resource is Veg Family, addressing all sorts of issues and ideas for raising a vegan family, from diet to activities to nutrition and health.
Parenthood.com has a great article, with tons of other links and resources for raising vegan/ vegetarian kids, too.

Also, check out the books I've recommended in previous posts, which all have sections on raising vegan kids!!!

You might be asking, "will my child get everything he or she needs?" The answer is a resounding yes. First, the main thing meat has to offer is cholesterol. Your bodies external intake of cholesterol should be zero, as the body makes all the cholesterol it needs to function on its own. Otherwise, the protein is the easiest thing to come by from non-animal sources. Everything is packed full of protein. Scroll halfway through this page for an excellent chart showing protein content in animal vs. plant foods.

Now on to dairy. Dairy and eggs also offer high levels of cholesterol. In addition, they can be packed full of harmful hormones and antibiotics which can actually harm your child's growing body. Otherwise, dairy is a source of calcium, and sometimes vitamin D or other added vitamins. Luckily, soy milk, and rice milk are fortified with the exact same amounts of vitamins and calcium, making for an easy switch. Even better are the natural sources of calcium and vitamins also known as fruits and vegetables. Dark leafy greens are excellent sources of calcium, as are almonds, figs, beans, rice, and many other fruits and vegetables.

It is easy to get all the nutrients/ vitamins you need on a plant based diet. The important thing is to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains. If your diet is balanced, then your children will be healthy too. Especially for nursing moms, as long as you are eating the right amounts of fruits and vegetables, and laying off the refined sugars, caffeine, added salts, alcohol, and processed foods, your baby will be super healthy and free of artificial hormones and antibiotics.

For more info on how to balance your diet and make sure you are getting the right servings, check out Vegan Health, and the many books I continually recommend (search the "vegan resources" tag on this page's side bar).

**Though I am neither a doctor nor a nutritionist, my knowledge and suggestions come from an accumulation of information acquired from the books listed in previous blogs and the many articles I reference on the blog.**

Vegan Health

When people start thinking about going vegan, some find it difficult to give up all the things they were brought up eating. So, they keep having the "occasional" meat, dairy, or egg meal. But you should rest easy: you can give it all up and still get ALL vitamins, nutrients, proteins, fats, amino acids, and flavor you need. That you ever need any amount of dairy, meat, or eggs is a myth.

Don't believe me? Do your research. The best thing I've seen lately is this amazing film called Eating. It will blow you away. And at the end is a complete list of really great resources where you can check everything out for yourself. You can order a copy for $10 here.

Also, check out these books.

Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating
by Erik Marcus

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based Diet
by Brenda Davis and Besanto Melina

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living

It is seriously worth your time to consider all the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. I really really don't like telling people what to do, and I've always had the "to each his own" mentality. But the more I learn about the standard American way of life, the more passionate I become. We are being lied to, poisoned, and deceived, and we should really take matters into our own hands.

Who doesn't care about what goes into their bodies? Our food is full of chemicals, dyes, artificial flavors, colorings, fillers, sweeteners, and animal products. Stop buying it. Let's vote with our dollars and support organic produce, whole foods, non-GMO vegetable crops. We eat for nutrition and health, and when our food is so bad that it gives us health problems that we in turn treat with tons and tons of medications, we know there are major problems. Take your life and your health back-- the holistic way. Treat yourself from the inside out. Support life in all it's facets- the life of the planet on which we live, the lives of the animals living here with us, and the lives of yourselves and your children.

::stepping down from the soapbox now::

Please, next time you put something in or on your body, really think about where it is coming from.