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November 18, 2006 ~ Growing Kids Need Meat...
Saturday.
"One of the many reasons I have always enjoyed your journal is that you are a vegan (like me)--if it's not too much of a personal question I'd love to know if your diet was a help or not during pregnancy and what sort of dietary choices you plan to make for Grove while he's too young to make them for himself. How do you handle people who mean well but make comments on your diet?" ~ Tamsin
Back over eight years ago. August. I had just become a vegetarian about a month before. Dennis, the disabled Vietnam Veteran who worked with me at the G.I. Surplus store leaned in close and said, "Oh, yeah, you'll probably be fine, but just... If you ever have a kid. Don't raise your kids vegetarian, Melissa. Growing kids need meat to be healthy."
I nodded. "Oh, don't worry Dennis. This diet is just for me. I'll probably raise my kids eating meat." I respected Dennis. He'd taught me how to light a fire without a match, and a quick method for orienting a compass to a map. He stood next to my seat every night on the bus ride home and helped me fend off men who wanted more than just a seat on the ride home. For all I knew he was right: kids need meat to grow.
Eight years and a lot of research can change your mind about a lot of things. Dennis meant well, though.
Your question is a very good one, Tamsin, and I realized upon reading it that I'd not mentioned here yet--during the pregnancy I had to switch to a more vegetarian diet than a vegan one. Pregnancy requires much higher levels of protein than normal, and since buying a bunch of protein alternatives would have broken the bank, a ton of soy would have been bad for me, and I just didn't think I could eat that many beans... I added a little dairy and eggs to my diet. Organic and free range, but certainly not vegan! In addition to the protein problem, I developed gestational anemia, and supplements were just not working to counteract it. So I started taking an herbal iron tonic and also eating eggs for breakfast every other morning. Thanks to those steps, my iron shot back up again and the midwives were no longer looking at my test results with concern.
Now that I'm not pregnant, I've cut back my egg and dairy consumption again, but I am still eating a little cheese or eggs now and then, since I'm still breastfeeding Grove. When he no longer needs my milk, I'll re-evaluate and see how I feel about my diet.
I had a few dietary priorities while pregnant. As fresh as possible, as little processed as possible, very wide variety of foods, all organic, and fulfilling the protein and vitamin needs of pregnancy (which are considerable). I didn't eat any meat, alcohol, or caffeine. No chocolate. Very little dairy, limited mostly to hard cheeses. I avoided sugar as much as possible, though I would splurge on a fruit-based dessert once or twice a week, like raspberry sorbet. It was an extremely healthy diet, and I approached it with the same will that I always had with my vegan diet, never "cheating."
Now, to answer your question. Yes, I think that a well-balanced vegetarian-almost-vegan diet during pregnancy was a huge help to Grove's and my health. Had I more money and patience, a completely vegan diet probably would have been perfectly safe, but I would warn anyone attempting that to thoroughly research how to balance such a diet to get enough protein and the right vitamins. I had extensively studied nutrition from many different sources for years before, and additionally looked into the specifics of veganism or vegetarianism while pregnant. Knowledge, in this case is essential.
Honestly, though, as far as health goes, I don't think meat or no meat is as important in pregnancy as eating fresh, non-processed foods in a wide variety. Organics are also a really good idea, especially in meat, dairy, and other foods higher in oil or fat, because pesticides and other chemicals reside in oils and fats a lot more than in other tissues.
As for Grove, well, until he's old enough to decide for himself, we're planning to give him a vegetarian, mostly vegan, diet much like the one I have now. And so far, it has all been organic, and I'd like to try to continue that if we can (though money is often a concern). I still want to read more (by the time he's no longer breastfeeding) about what nutrition is important for his growing body, though, because I certainly don't want him to miss out on anything he needs.
How do I deal with people who mean well commenting about my diet? Well, I take their concerns seriously, see if there's truth to them, and if they press, I'll tell them why I eat like I do, why I know it is safe and healthy. Sometimes it turns out that they think that since I am a vegetarian, I look down on them for eating meat, and their challenges to my diet come because they are defensive. Diet is a very personal choice. I think that everyone should make the choice that is right for them. My own husband eats meat pretty regularly, and I certainly don't think less of him for it. Usually, once that issue is out of the way, they're a lot more relaxed about my vegetarianism.
Thank you, all of you, for your messages about the rash on my hands. Many of you had some great suggestions, some of them I had already tried and others I can't try due to allergies or sensitivities, but you all also had a lot of ideas that I'd not yet heard of and am now looking into. I may not get a chance to reply to all of you individually, but I just wanted thank you for trying to help.
After the last steroid treatment when my hands were mostly healed, I started using an herbal hand cream immediately and religiously about twenty-five times a day. Since, the rash has tried to come back a few times, but been mostly kept at bay by the herbal cream. It's still pretty early to tell, but I'm hopeful that this will work. Or at least make it so that I don't have to use the steroids as often.
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