Veggie Planet

Both my mister and I are vegetarians, and have been for a few years. We've recently switched to a vegan diet, at least in our home. The veganism is really the fault of the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I had started reading it thinking it was a memoir about the authors decision to raise his son vegetarian, and the challenges involved. I'm planning on raising the Bean to be a veggie and I wanted to read about someone else's experience. The book had elements about little vegetarians, but he spends the bulk of the book discussing factory farming in the US. And like a car accident I just couldn't look away from, I was unable to put the book down, no matter how horrible the descriptions became. And by the end of the book I'd become a vegan.

I was already part Vegan before I read this book. We gave up milk a long time ago since both of us prefer soy milk. My husbands likes eggs, but I've always been pretty iffy about them. I like yogurt, but can live without it and rarely purchase it. Cheese, however, was my downfall. But we've stopped buying it. And I'm finding two months later that I don't really miss it. We've got many great vegan cookbooks, our city is very vegan friendly (our local bagel shop sells vegan cream cheese!) and were eating a wider variety of foods now. Instead of limiting our diet, I feel like we've expanded it.

The Bean is going to be a vegetarian. Not a vegan. At least not yet. I'm still researching it. I've read quite a few books about vegetarian kids, but there seems to be a lot less out there about vegan children. She'll be starting solid food soon. Already, at four months, she's started grabbing for our food and drinks. I'm looking forward to seeing her discover different textures and tastes. I'm excited to find out what she loves and hates and everything in between. But I am a little worried about not having her eat meat throughout her childhood. I don't want to limit her options when she's older. If she decides she wants to be a meat eater at some point in the future, I want her to be able to enjoy a hamburger without any digestive consequences. Everything I've read does seem to indicate that it is possible. So vegetarian she will be.

The other food issue that keeps me up at night, is how do I make sure she has a healthy relationship with food? Eating disorders are incredibly prevalent, especially for girls. Our culture seems to hold disordered eating up as an ideal, with value being placed on self denial and food being considered a vice. I've struggled my entire life with body image and I don't want my daughter to share the struggle. Some suggestions I've heard is to not attach emotion to food, don't guilt a child into finishing their plate if they don't want to. Don't define different foods as good or bad, it's all just food. Teach children to listen to their bodies, teach them to only eat when their hungry and to stop when they are full. All sound like good ideas, but I know it's going to be an uphill battle, I'm going to be going against every other message she's going to be receiving. And I know that if I'm going to be successful at all I'm going to have to try to redefine my relationship with food too.