hi all! need help returning. pleeeeeaasse!

[NancyKYates]

Hi all!

My name is Nancy. I am a married, mother of two incredible boys. I could not have custom ordered better kids. They are GREAT!
Anyway, I am 39 years old. My oldest boy will be 9 in December. Before I got pregnant with him, I was completely vegan. I had adapted to the lifestyle. I loved the way I ate. I felt great about myself. I had tons of energy. I was confident and happy!

When I got pregnant with my first, I started reading all the pregnancy books. They seemed to all point to meat and dairy being the best sources of protein and calcium, and ALL the problems you would have without it. I got SO freaked out, I started eating meat and dairy again. I swelled up (weight gain) in record time. I have not been able to break these nasty habits since, just out of laziness of forgetting how to prepare things, and not knowing how to still feed the entire family what they want while I eat vegan.

Married with children people, if your family is NON-vegan, how do you do it?? I have gone up a lot since I was vegan and I am miserable and have no energy.
Below is a pic of me. On the left is me when I was vegan. On the right, closer to now. It makes me sad.

[RedWellies]

Hi Nancy. Wow! That pic on the left is AMAZING!! But don't despair, you may not get back to that look but if you want to, I'm sure you can lose a few pounds. Try this area for vegan parenting advice, this area for dealing with non-vegans and this area for weight advice. Read around this forum and you will pick up lots of ideas and inspiration I'm sure. Good luck and stick at it!

[rianaelf]

I just wanted to say that you have the right to cook what you want for your family and if you are a vegan noone should expect you to cook non vegan food so be brave and tell them that you are only going to to cook vegan food from now on and if they want anythink else they will have to buy and cook it thems elves, good luck!!!!

[NancyKYates]

well, i have an 8 year old and a 1 year old. i can hardly force them to make their own food. i just need to find ideas for meals that can be mostly vegan (and tasty) with whatever meat or dairy the fam needs added. i am going to check out the suggested forums.
i have quit eating red meat again. it is making me feel sick. quit eating sausage. it is poultry and fish that are the hard ones for me. they are the last survivors. that's for meat. i also need to get rid of dairy, eggs and the other by products. it is just amazing once you eat meat, what a lazy way of eating it is and how hard it can be to break the cycle.
i just bought the NEW grillers vegan. anyone tried those???

[NancyKYates]

i have an 8 year old and a 1 year old so i can hardly tell them to go make their own meals. i don't try to force my thinking on anyone. however, i would like to learn how to make tasty meals (that in itself is my challenge) that are , say, 3/4 vegan so i can eat 3/4 of the foods. i will go browse around.
i was vegetarian previously for 4 1/2 years, then vegan for 1 1/2 years.

[twinkle]

Hi Nancy, welcome

It's great that you've decided to be vegan again, there are a couple of questions in my mind about what sort of help you need from us and what you'll be getting from the people around you...

How did your husband feel about you being vegan in the first place - is he likely to support any decision that you make? was he pleased or sorry when you started eating meat again first time round? How do your sons feel about the food they eat now, or the possibility of trying a different diet?

I think answers to these questions will make a huge difference to the type of support you'll need from us (though a helping hand from fellow vegans is always lovely )

[Heartsease]

Hi Nancy, Do you do the cooking? Iym not going to be able to be awfully helpful....Iym divorced...but I do have a child....although he's a lifelong vegan (those books lied to you...dairy is a poor source of calcium..and eating meat interferes with calcium absorption...among many other things etc.)....so Iym not going to be awfully helpful....but ...I wonder if you are making the meals.....why don't you just make the meals. You can make tasty healthy stuff for everyone. You don't have to actually say it's vegan! Unless you want to. Just good healthy food. There's a great book called 'calciYum'...full of high-calcium (vegan) recipes....they are really tasty...they'd be too busy chowing it down to care whether it was vegan or not....and it would be rude to speak with their mouths full even if they were curious.

[harpy]

Hello Nancy - there are other people here with omnivorous families. I expect you'll hear from them.

I don't have any children and I'm fortunate that my other half is happy to eat vegan food, even though he isn't vegan when he's out.

I would have thought any vegan meal could have other stuff served with it if your family aren't ready to dispense with animal products yet. There are some web sites with family-friendly vegan recipes, e.g. http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/kitchen.html

- I'm sure there are US equivalents if the recipes are too hard to adapt.

[NancyKYates]

Hi Nancy, welcome

It's great that you've decided to be vegan again, there are a couple of questions in my mind about what sort of help you need from us and what you'll be getting from the people around you...

How did your husband feel about you being vegan in the first place - is he likely to support any decision that you make? was he pleased or sorry when you started eating meat again first time round? How do your sons feel about the food they eat now, or the possibility of trying a different diet?

I think answers to these questions will make a huge difference to the type of support you'll need from us (though a helping hand from fellow vegans is always lovely )

my hubby says that whatever i want to do, do it. but he has a tendency to just make meals for us without asking. he makes huge meals and takes it personally if we don't eat it. HOWEVER, when we first met and i was vegan, he said he found it very attractive.
my sons... well, the littlest is only one so he has no opinion either either way. lol! my eight year old is pretty open minded but loves his chicken and ham.
as far as help from the forum... just info and support. encouragement. ideas.

[NancyKYates]

Hello Nancy - there are other people here with omnivorous families. I expect you'll hear from them.

I don't have any children and I'm fortunate that my other half is happy to eat vegan food, even though he isn't vegan when he's out.

I would have thought any vegan meal could have other stuff served with it if your family aren't ready to dispense with animal products yet. There are some web sites with family-friendly vegan recipes, e.g. http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/kitchen.html

- I'm sure there are US equivalents if the recipes are too hard to adapt.

thank you for that link! i am going to check it out. i really want to make this change. i have just been lazy. also, a lot of moving around (as far as where we live) and financial stress have really put a stress on me.

[NancyKYates]

Hello Nancy - there are other people here with omnivorous families. I expect you'll hear from them.

I don't have any children and I'm fortunate that my other half is happy to eat vegan food, even though he isn't vegan when he's out.

I would have thought any vegan meal could have other stuff served with it if your family aren't ready to dispense with animal products yet. There are some web sites with family-friendly vegan recipes, e.g. http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/kitchen.html

- I'm sure there are US equivalents if the recipes are too hard to adapt.

thanks for the link! going to check it out.

[harpy]

I think I know what you mean - being vegan makes it hard to rely on convenience foods etc doesn't it?

However preparing stuff from scratch isn't really much trouble once you get into the way of it. I hate cooking but I've come up with some really quick and simple ways of preparing food (stir-fries, stews, soups, pilaffs, salads and so forth). You can vary them by changing the vegetables and flavourings so it doesn't get monotonous.

[DancingWillow]

hi Nancy, i'm not a parent, so i can't say that i know what you're going through. however, i would like to help if i can...

i have a question (and i don't mean it in an intruding, imposing, or offensive way)...have you thought about raising your children as vegans? i see vegetarian parents who raise their children eating meat and say that they'll let their children make up their minds when they are old enough whether they'd like to continue eating meat or become vegetarian.

but why not the other way? why not raise children as vegan and then let them make up their minds about eating meat when they're old enough?

if you believe that veganism is the best way of life, why would you not want to have your children live in the same way as well? are you afraid that they'll be malnourished? i can assure you that there is plenty of evidence that vegan children can grow normally and be just as healthy (and even healthier) than children eating meat. there are vegan parents on this forum who are raising their children vegan and i'm sure they'll be able to offer advice. there was a forum member who was a nutritionist and her daughter had been vegan her whole life and she was growing and developing normally and healthily.

if you're interested in raising your children as vegan, there is a really good book on the subject called Raising Vegan Children in a Non-Vegan World

as a vegan, i wish with all my heart that my mom had raised me as a vegan. but, my mom is an omni and i understand that she thought that she was doing the best for me by raising me on an omni diet. however, if my mom was vegan herself and had nevertheless raised me as an omni, i would have been extremely sad and upset that she knew that veganism was the right way and yet she had fed me meat...

please consider how your children will feel when they grow up and find out that you knew veganism was a better way of life and yet you gave them meat.

[NancyKYates]

i don't feel i have the education and information yet to provide truely the proper nourishment in my own meals yet. i can work toward that. and i cannot make the choice to put my kids on an eating plan that i don't know how to properly feed myself or them on yet. maybe down the line once i can continually and easily prepare meals without having to really think about it. i tend to do it as easy as possible and that can mean not properly. like just having fruit for a meal, or having a bowl of cereal and soy milk. right now, i am having too much sweet because i don't have the proper information to make dinners and such.