giving up dairy!

July 14, 2008

Hi, I have been lacto veg for many years. I have recently decided I

am finally ready to try and eliminate the dairy from my diet. I don't

even drink milk, but I am quite suprised at just how many foods this

involves giving up, (must be like giving up meat for some, which was

easy for me) I know there are soy cheeses and soy milk etc But I am

more concerned about my toddler as he is a little picky eater, just

doesn't have a huge appetite anyway. And many of his favorite food

involve dairy! so I am starting to worry about what I can feed him, I

feel like all he is eating is snack foods lately. I just bought some

different milks for him to try hemp, almond, and oat (anyone use or

know anything about oak milk??) I am trying to avoid soy milk.

Anyway if any one has any advice on making this transition I would be

so greatful! any books on nutrition or recipes would be helpful as

well! Thanks!~Danielle

July 15, 2008

Dairy is pretty tough, but it does get easier. To jump start it, we

went vegan because it was easier, for us but it sounds harder than it

was, we were already vegetarians, and our son developed a milk protein

allergy, so we had to cut out everything (even had to be ultra careful

about some ingredients that are derived from milk proteins, as he'd

react to those, too).

We tried tons of vegan cheeses, but until we found our Vegan Rella,

nothing else worked for us (Teese is nice though, too, can be found

online, our Rella, we get from a co-op, so it's a case at a time!)

Instead of cheese for snacks, we offered garbanzo's and Kidney beans

(my son's favorite finger foods as a toddler, and he still likes them,

now).

Crackers with peanutbutter (we'd been given an ok by our doc, no

allergies, though I think now they say not until 3yrs? My SIL was

told 2yrs for her daughter, I think). Other seed butters can also be

good - sesame (tahini) butter, sunflower, pumpkin seed butter (I make

them in my kiss blender - it's like a magic blender thing)

Tofu cubes - my son always just eats it up straight from the package

Any cut up fruits (I'm not sure how old your child is, but there

should be some soft enough and easy enough to cut up small enough)

tiny toast (just cut into bite sized pieces/shapes), cold or warm

pasta (plain, sauced, or with olive oil, or flax oil/whatever good

oils)

Beans and rice (any kind - black beans, red beans, etc - just don't

spice to heavily or take out a portion when it has just a little

spice, but not as much as you'd season for yourself, that's what we

found worked best)

My son gave up 'finger foods' around 10 mo's old, so I had to do

toddler versions of our food (he'd always gotten baby food that we

made from what we were hving, too) sandwiches were hardest, but he

loved them. LOL

A good book we relied on, though it does have dairy in it, and eggs

(I'm not sure that it's totally vegetarian, but it has a lot of good

stuff, and 'toddler h'oursdouvers ' in it is " Super Baby Food " by Ruth

Yaron. This book was like our bible, and I still have it, because I

liked some of the recipes in it so much, and still make them now.

For the longest time we just avoided fake cheeses because they were

just not 'right' to us (our son liked any/all of them, still does) but

we gave up on it. Somehow we ended up just really liking the Rella

versions, for block type cheeses (they slice/shred nicely, they melt

nicely but take a while to firm up if you let them stand, but they

have thright 'feel' and meltyness. I also really like Tofutti american

slices, they taste just like the fake-y american sliced cheese in the

wrapper to me (I've not had that stuff in years, so I could be

completely wrong on that, but it's the ONLY one I can eat straight -

even my beloved Rella needs a cracker to hide the texture if not

melted on something). I also like tofutti better than cream cheese (we

get the non-hydrogenated one) - we get them all from a food buying

co-op, so we have a case of things when we get them - but they last a

long time, smaller health food stores near us carry them, too - but

cheaper in our co-op. I think what helped us was to not have

expectations for vegan cheeses.

I know for additives we used the Peta 'accidentally vegan' list as a

guide, so we weren't just jumping in blindly - I still read the lables

for them and found at least one of the granola bars had dairy in them,

so I'm glad that I do read the labels. I don't take anyone's word

on food unless I can read the label, and we have to, with the allergy,

not just on principle.

Hope that helps. Oh, also, little bits of veggies - steamed - as a

tot, my son loved frozen corn and peas, and blueberries, individually,

not mixed...broccoli trees (steamed and cut into small pieces -

potatoes, sweet potatoes) and cherry tomatoes and cukes cut into very

thin 'boats' or half moons. Pretty much anything sliced or cut thin.

Missie

On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 5:40 PM, mylameoww <mylameoww wrote:

> Hi, I have been lacto veg for many years. I have recently decided I

> am finally ready to try and eliminate the dairy from my diet. I don't

> even drink milk, but I am quite suprised at just how many foods this

> involves giving up, (must be like giving up meat for some, which was

> easy for me) I know there are soy cheeses and soy milk etc But I am

> more concerned about my toddler as he is a little picky eater, just

> doesn't have a huge appetite anyway. And many of his favorite food

> involve dairy! so I am starting to worry about what I can feed him, I

> feel like all he is eating is snack foods lately. I just bought some

> different milks for him to try hemp, almond, and oat (anyone use or

> know anything about oak milk??) I am trying to avoid soy milk.

> Anyway if any one has any advice on making this transition I would be

> so greatful! any books on nutrition or recipes would be helpful as

> well! Thanks!~Danielle

>

--

http://mszzzi.zoomshare.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mszzzi/

~~~~~(m-.-)m

July 15, 2008

We've tried two brands of Hemp Milk, Living Harvest and Manitoba

Harvest. My son (and I) hated Manitoba. It had a funny taste. The

Living Harvest is the only brand he'll drink. For a treat I started

with Soy Ice Cream, but now we've switched to Rice Dream Ice Cream. He

really likes it a lot. He's only 3 and hasn't really noticed any

differences in the product switches. Here are some of his favorite

meals:

-Health is Wealth brand chicken-free nuggets. (Most other soy nugget

brands contain egg.)

-Road's End Organics brand dairy free Mac n Chreese with peas thrown in

(or peas & carrots mix). He calls it " Mac-a-peas " . : )

-Annie's brand California burgers w/ketchup and baked potato fries.

-plain baked sweet potato or white potato

-raw carrots dipped in hommus

-brown rice with any bean/pea mixed in.

-pizza with only pizza sauce and some finely chopped

onions/artichokes. Annie's brand has a pizza with no cheese on it. We

just make our own. You can also get pizza sauce that already has the

artichokes in it (Whole Foods 365 brand).

We only made the total vegan switch two months ago so I've been where

you are! Our son really didn't miss anything he had before we were

vegan. He's never again asked for cheese. He sometimes asks for

yogurt but we just tell him we don't eat that anymore and he's ok with

that answer. For a while he still called things " milk " , " burger " , etc.

but we've been trying to get him to change what he says because I don't

want him to be at someone's house and ask for " milk " and that person

unknowingly give him cow's milk. We've been having him say

specifically, " I want a 'veggie' burger " or " hemp milk " , etc.

Good luck!

, " mylameoww " <mylameoww wrote: