Healthy Parenting

Vegetarianism

Up until early 2005, I had been a lacto-ovo-pesci-vegetarian for over 20 years. Which means I didn't eat red meat or poultry but ate fish, eggs, and some dairy. I recently added organic poultry to my diet. It seems to agree with me so I'm keeping it in my diet for now though I do believe that animal products are not that healthy for you. I eat it and other animal products (dairy, fish) in moderation and a wide variety of vegetables, grains, beans and nuts/seeds. As Dr. Furhman of Eat to Live fame says, that a diet in lean meats/poultry and a wide variety of vegetables/grains/beans is healthier than a vegetarian diet full of prepacked vegetarian processed foods.

                    

Optimal health can easily be obtained via vegetarian or vegan diet. There are many myths still believed about vegetarian diets and what the best sources of such things as protein are. I'm sure that between 100 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of beef, most people would choose the beef as having more protein. Not so, it's the broccoli! Of course, 100 calories of broccoli requires you eat about 1 cup compared to about 2 oz of meat.

Articles

3/2005 - New Study in Pediatrics Shatters Milk Myth
http://www.pcrm.org/cgi-bin/lists/mail.cgi?flavor=archive&list=news&id=20050307093449

PCRM - Protein Myth
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/VSK4.html

Calcium in Plant Based Diets
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/VSK5.html

Marketing Milk and Disease by the McDougall Newsletter
http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/030500pudairyanddisease.htm

Protein in the Vegan Diet
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm

Calcium in the Vegan Diet
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm

Recommended Reading

• Books to come very soon!

Resources

Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine
http://www.pcrm.org/

VegSource
Veggie Support! Message Boards, Articles, Recipes, etc.
http://www.vegsource.com/

VegFamily
The Magazine for Vegan Family Living
http://www.vegfamily.com/

VegWeb
Vegetarian and Vegan Recipe Database with reviews.
http://vegweb.com/

Vegetarian Journal
The practical magazine for those interested in Vegetarian Health, Ecology, and Ethics
http://www.vrg.org/journal/