Digest Number 617

[Guest guest]

Hi all, Veggie Val here. Some hospitals are awful and some are apparently

totally enlightened when it comes to healthy food. I think in this discussion,

it helps to know the location of the hospital. If I had to make a guess, I'd bet

the hospitals in the San Francisco, LA, and Seattle area are totally " with it "

when it comes to vegetarian food. But hospitals in rural areas, the mid-west, or

the southern US, are not. I found the UK to be surprisingly veggie aware. I

found decent vegetarian options even in pubs (which you can't always say for New

England), and enjoyed my favorite--Indian food--to my heart's content! But

France is another story--oh, pity the vegetarian in France!

My unenlightened hospital was in Norwood, MA. That traditional

meat-front-end-loading and seafood diet is typical of New England. In the city

of Boston itself, there is more variety (so more vegetarian options) but just

outside the city, fugeddaboudit.

Where was this 7th Day Adventist hospital that got sued? Is that a vegetarian

religion (gasp!)?

 

Ha, good point about the heart doctor serving fried food to get repeat business!

My dentist sure doesn't give out lollipops! I guess the main incentive for

hospitals and doctors to encourage a vegetarian diet is the pure one--to nurture

and protect patient health. And to keep health care management costs down. We

have to use our intuition about what our doctors are working for.

 

KT, OH MY GOSH, I know what you mean about the MIL and your own mother

questioning your choice to raise your baby veggie. As I mentioned, I don't have

the support of my ex-husband either, so my son does eat meat when he's with his

dad--and sometimes he comes home constipated. That's a struggle I don't even

fight--I just have to encourage him to make the best choices he can when he's at

his dad's.

 

My own mother (I'll leave off the " dear " in this case) heard me refuse to buy my

son beef jerky one day when we were on vacation--and she took him out and bought

it for him later! I couldn't believe her! REALLY! A SlimJim! Good heavens. My

son (who was 5 at the time) came to me quietly later that night and (cutie,

bless his heart) asked if I would be mad at him if he ate some beef jerky. I

said no, but I might be grossed out a bit. Then he asked if I would be mad at

" grammy " for getting it for him. I said, " No [lie, lie, lie], but I would be

disappointed in her. " Kind of funny how kids can't keep secrets!

 

My answer is to take a patient (but internally superior) attitude to keep myself

sane (except in the case with my mom. I told her that I was disgusted and to

stop second-guessing my parenting choices and to NEVER buy him that kind of junk

again. She said she wouldn't--as she should). We vegetarians generally KNOW a

LOT more about diet than the average meat-eater (my mom thinks the Atkins diet

is the answer but she doesn't even do that one right). I'm the one who lost 30

pounds and kept it off for 13 years now just by cutting out meat and milk. Both

my mom and especially my ex-mother-in-law have struggled with their weight and

health for years.

 

Whenever anyone questions me about why I don't give my son meat, I suffer the

fool gladly, and tell them that I give only the best to my " baby " (who is 6

now), and that means a diet high in fiber, high in nutrients, and low in

saturated fat. And if they still want to talk about it (usually while they're

eating their steak or bacon or chicken), I say I really do it for three reasons:

for my (and my son's) health, for the environment, and for animal rights. This

conversation usually proceeds predictably <sigh>. People then want to know more

about those three reasons, and well, if I tell them, they may lose their

appetite. (Good!)

 

Resources: (can I say it again?) get John Robbins' Diet for a New America and

his Food Revolution books. PACKED with scientific references. The first book

also addresses the question that came up earlier about humans having digestive

systems designed more for plant-based diets. He refers often to mother's

milk--and how that really ought to be what we mean when we use the word " milk. "

How did " cow's milk " become synonymous for " milk " in human terms? [His answer:

the efforts of the Dairy Council, that " nice " council of people who have us

brainwashed that Milk Does a Body Good.]

 

Another precious resource for me was joining my local Le Leche League when I was

nursing. Just seeing other moms nursing toddlers made me toss out my

preconceptions of when I should stop nursing. I feel so free of judgement now

when someone tells me they quit nursing after a few days, or that they nursed

until a child was 3, whatever. I truly feel now that the decision of " when to

stop nursing " is completely up to the " nursing couple " --mommy and baby. Putting

it that way to your mom and MIL is a nice way of saying, " BUTT OUT. " The World

Health Organization recommends that babies be breastfed for two years, with the

gradual introdution of solid foods between 6-months to a year. Is that

surprising that such a well-known and reputable organization recommends

breastfeeding for the first 2 years? It may be surprising to an American mom and

MIL of an older generation, but for many countries, that's par for the course of

being a mom.

 

As for what to feed the lucky baby--why, ask us!! But don't worry about having

only 7-8 months. The time you breast feed exclusively (if you can), could

stretch out until baby is around 6 months old. Even then, you generally start

with soft, mushy foods like rice cereal, crackers, applesauce, and oatmeal. That

means you don't have to deal with infant _vegetarian_ nutrition for at least a

year.

 

Best of luck!

 

 

 

Message: 4

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 06:40:05 -0800 (PST)

Boko Dasu

Hospital Food

 

When I was in the hospital, I got fish every time I

requested a vegetarian meal. When I explained (very

politely) that I didn't eat fish, they'd let another

patient eat it and not bring me anything else. For a

week I lived on instant white rice and nasty boiled

vegetables, with the occasional salad for a special

treat.

 

Even sadder, there's a Seventh Day Adventist hospital

near me. They used to serve only vegetarian meals,

but they were taken to court (!) a few years back and

now they're forced to serve meat. Where's the

incentive for hospitals to serve better food if

they're just going to be sued for it?

 

(Plus, if they serve deep-fried food to their heart

patients, they get more repeat business, right? Kind

of like the dentist who hands out lollipops after each visit...)

Message: 5

Sat, 15 Mar 2003 07:04:24 -0800 (PST)

Boko Dasu

Vegetarian Infants

 

Gah. I'm not even due for another 6 weeks, and

already I'm getting static from my m-i-l (which I

expected) and my mom (which I didn't!) about raising

my child as a vegetarian. My mom's always been

supportive of my not eating meat, especially after the

first couple of years when she noticed that I still

hadn't died of protein deficiency, but she's just not

sure about a baby being able to get nutrition from

plants. My m-i-l probably won't be happy about it

ever, but she'll at least listen to well-informed

nutritional information and I don't expect her to try

to slip the baby meat juice in a bottle or anything

difficult like that.

 

So I've got about 7-8 months to do as much research as

I can on vegetarian infant nutrition. (At least both

moms recognize breastfeeding as the best thing for the

first six months.) What resources have y'all found

helpful? I'm looking for ones that are either

practical (what the heck do I feed this kid?) or have

a lot of scientific data, or both, if possible.

 

Thanks in advance

 

-kt

 

 

 

 

 

 

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