Plant Eating Mama

This is a post that has been stewing in my head for months. Ever since I first started this blog I have wanted to write something on plant-eating. The reason it has taken me so long to share is that it is a delicate subject. Veganism -- there it is, another label. Though I do believe that "No one can make you feel inferior without your own consent," I don't like to make claims or statements that may cause people to feel put down. I believe that we are all on different paths in this life, trying our best and figuring things out. I do not possess some "holier than thou" attitude nor do I believe myself to be better than you because "I am a vegan." Such notions are ridiculous to me. Thus, I do not typically openly talk about eating a plant-based diet, or raising my kids on such foods. I am not a walking advertisement. I am not a doctor, nutricianist or dietician. I do not claim to know all the answers and my opinions on foods and subscribing to "diets" has surely fluctuated over the years. (Note: I have never believed in dieting nor do I now.) However, I am a firm believer that  if we want to get the most out of our bodies, we need to put the very best stuff into it. I think it is as simple as that. 

Eating healthy whole foods is a very important part of our lives. Since I first began running the summer before 8th grade I realized the connection between what was going into my body and what I was getting out of it. When I ate poorly, I felt poorly and ran poorly. Foods have incredible healing power. Half our nation is battling obesity. It is an epidemic. Cancer rates are increasing daily. Years of research have proven that eating a whole-foods plant based diet can not only prevent such diseases (cancer especially) but can also reverse them. This is not a scientific journal article and so I am not going to treat it as such. I am not going to spend time citing specific studies, but instead will ask you to do the research yourself if you are so inclined. Read The China Study, or watch Forks over Knives or do a quick Pubmed search on Whole Foods Diets or Veganism and Cancer or other such catch phrases.  

I just want to live long and healthy. I want my kids to live long and healthy. By eating organic, avoiding nasty chemical-dosed produce and antibiotic pumped fish and meat, I think we are doing a lot. Yes, it is impossible to completely avoid all pesticides and toxins and quite frankly, I am not going to kill myself over it. We do what we can do with what we have. I joke to Alan that I'm a Whole Foods Budget shopper, meaning that I do shop at Whole Foods but when there I shop on a budget buying only sale items. I watch the sales, cut the coupons. Our pantry is stocked with Superfood staples such as: chia seeds, flax seeds, lucuma powder, camu camu powder, goji berries, spelt flour, spirulina powder. A bag of each of these items will normally set you back about $20 so I wait until they're marked red and then stock up. Eating Superfoods is expensive, I will not deny that. However, I believe that it is worth the cost. Medical treatments for obesity or cancer or such other diseases are expensive, too. I view eating healthy as the best possible investment into our future and into my children's future. And it's tasty, by the way. Post punk kitchen has the absolute best vegan recipes I have ever tried and Julie Morris' Superfoods cookbook is outstanding.

Now, I am not 100% vegan. My kids are not either. This morning for breakfast Cesia ate a bagel with cream cheese. Adara ate a cup of plain yogurt with fruit. They have absolutely no idea what Vegan means. Kids pick up on everything, they are astute little beings. I do not talk about any diet to them or in front of them. About a year ago, when I was beginning to experiment with "going vegan," Adara noticed that I did not eat cheese. One afternoon I gave her a slice of organic cheddar. She looked at me and said, "That gives me a tummy ache." That statement from my 4 year old gave me a tummy ache. If it were true that would be one thing, but I knew she was merely saying this as a reflection of what she had heard me say when declining cheese on dishes. (I am lactose intolerant, ignored it for years and dealt with the aftermath of running to the bathroom after every meal. Now I recognize it, avoid dairy and feel great.) The very last thing I want to teach my children is to exclude foods in their diets. Just as obesity is rampant in our society, so is anorexia. I battled with eating disorders growing up and I will do everything I can to ensure that my children have a healthy attitude towards food. I didn't over-react to Adara's claim that cheese hurts her tummy because over-reacting is the worst response. Kids especially crave our attention and will do anything to get it. I did talk to her about it. I explained that our bodies need us to eat all different foods - a good mix. We had several discussions over what happens to our bodies when we eat specific foods, how we feel, what foods are our favorites, our less favorite and why it is good to eat a wide variety and color array of different foods. She has never complained about cheese (or any other food for that matter) upsetting her tummy again.

About 1-2x per month I eat a good old juicy homemade grass-fed organic hamburger that Alan cooks on the grill. The girls love mini burgers made by daddy, too. Our bodies need Vitamin B-12 and B-6 to rebuild oxygenated red blood cells - which they simply can not get from a plant-based diet. These crucial B vitamins come only from animal sources. I try to eat as naturally and real as possible. If my body can not get something from plant sources then I would rather eat animal sources a few times per month than supplement with a whole bunch of vitamins and pills. Being on the Atkins diet requires one to take about 30-50 extra vitamins and minerals in pill form. Does this sound a bit odd to anyone else??

Another issue I have wrestled with is whether we are really all made to be on a plant-based diet or whether we truly are carnivorous animals. History and scientific evidence can make great claims for both sides. In our own family I have scene claims for both sides. Adara was raised on a well-balanced traditional diet of healthy foods from all food groups. She eats very little meat, loves fruit and veggies and carbs. Cesia, on the other hand, was raised on mostly a plant-based vegan diet, with cheese and meat introduced much later than Adara. Isaac has been raised mostly vegan, as well. 

We sat down for dinner last weekend and all five of us had identical plates of food: burger on a bun, roasted sweet potato wedges with coconut oil and a touch of sea salt, grilled zucchini, butter lettuce salad and some fresh berries. The order in which the kids ate their food was a perfect example of such varied eating styles and choices. Adara ate, in order: her bun, then berries, zucchini, sweet potatoes then a few bites of her burger. Cesia ate, in order: her entire burger, then a few rotating bites of her veggies and fruit and finally 1 or 2 bites of her bun. Isaac ate everything in rotating order depending on which item he could grab most easily and get into his mouth in bite sized pieces. Why do they have such distinct food preferences? Cesia goes crazy for meat and chooses protein over carbs any day of the week. She ate 2 giant scallops for breakfast on Friday (leftover for mine and Alan's dinner Thursday night - because yes, I do eat seafood occasionally too and love scallops), much to the shock of Adara who insisted that it is breakfast and we must eat pancakes or waffles. I made beef stew a few weeks back and she sat there lapping it up, looked and me with big eyes and said dramatically, "Thank you mama, for making this. I love this beef stew soooo much!" 

Some may argue that Cesia craves meat because it was much more of a rare commodity for her during the early days. As her mother and being with her nearly every second of every day, I don't see this as the case. It seems much more inherent, genetic and primal to me. Her body truly seems to crave meat and fish and cheese. With that said and all the research proving causal relations between casein (the protein found in cheese and most dairy products) and many cancers, I do limit her intake, just without her notification. I do not explicitly tell her these facts because she is 2 years old and that is unnecessary and silly. Just as the majority of parents I know do not allow their kids to drink soda or eat cupcakes for three meals a day or blow through their entire bag of Halloween candy in one sitting, I do not let mine eat large amounts of animal products. 

We mostly adhere to the 95% rule meaning our diet contains 95% plant based whole foods. The other 5% is to keep us sane, happy and "normal." Normal is important, especially when you are a kid and you grow up in the world around other people, and not in some kind of bubble.. even if that bubble is for your own protection. I want my kids to be kids and eat cupcakes at class parties, enjoy chocolate birthday cakes on their birthdays (though ours are nearly-always made vegan unbeknownst to them and vegan chocolate cakes are the absolute best anyway), and just be normal. I don't want them to grow up believing in "forbidden foods" and then go crazy in the candy drawer at their friends' houses. I know that way of raising them causes backlash. And so we eat our black beans and our quinoa patties and homemade lemon lentil soups with cashew cream and we are healthy and happy and normal. 

What are your thoughts or preconceptions on veganism? Are you vegan? Do you follow some sort of "diet?" Do you cringe when you hear that word: Vegan? To be honest, I do. That label calls to mind hipsters with turned up noses and "holier than thou" attitudes. That is not us. We are just a family of five, trying to be healthy, avoiding diseases in such a simple way and fueling our bodies with foods that make us feel good. Because honestly, who doesn't want to feel good?