help with nondairy, no refined sugar diet

August 20, 2008

Hey everyone. I'm usually a lurker looking for good information about

diets, but now I have a couple of questions I am hoping a couple of

you can help me out with. My daughter is 6, and to work out some

health issues my homeopathic doc wants me to put her on a no dairy, no

refined sugar diet. I was a pesco-vegan for a year, with allergies to

oranges, and soy, so I understand the no-dairy. But I never ate any

soy-cheese products because of my allergy. Can anyone recommend tasty

cheese alternatives for quesadillas and " cheese " slices? And are

honey, molasses, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and agave nectar

considered refined sugar? I was looking around at the grocery store

and it seems every snack for children, even healthy ones, has some

form of refined sugar in it. I don't feed her junk food, but I would

still like to be able to make her cookies or some other form of sweet

so she doesn't feel like she's giving so much up. And she is dealing

with this change extremely well, so I don't want to discourage her by

telling her " no " all the time. Thanks,

shelly

August 20, 2008

Shelly--There is a vegan rice cheese available, but you need to read labels

carefully as the same company puts out a soy based one. Galaxy Foods is the

company. As to the " no refined sugar " thing--try agave nectar, stevia, fruit

juice/frozen fruit concentrate (with, of course, no added sugars!) or brown

rice syrup. Next best might be raw honey, blackstrap molasses, or maple syrup.

HTH! Marilyn

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August 20, 2008

Hi

You can go to *veria.com* and look under the *TV* then *Recipes* tabs.

*Naturally

Delicious* (season one) has a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies

with no refined sugars or flours. My family love these cookies. You can

get grain-sweetened, non-dairy chocolate chips at your local health food

store or online. Also, there is a good recipe for vegan cashew cheese which

I've also made and we enjoy. I would keep that one in the freezer as it

tends to get a little soft for shredding. Makes great pizza cheese. Also,

this site: http://www.fatfreevegan.com/etl/index.shtml has what look to be

some good vegan recipes with no refined sugars (I haven't tried yet.)

Honey is not a refined sugar but also not vegan. Maple syrup, brown rice

syrup and agave are also not refined. (I'm not positive about molasses

though - anyone? ) I was just reading that brown rice syrup is a complex

sweetener, absorbed much more slowly by the body - - a very good thing.

Hope this help a little.

SoyPalmtree

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 8:25 PM, lifeisgood111301

<shellywrote:

> Hey everyone. I'm usually a lurker looking for good information about

> diets, but now I have a couple of questions I am hoping a couple of

> you can help me out with. My daughter is 6, and to work out some

> health issues my homeopathic doc wants me to put her on a no dairy, no

> refined sugar diet. I was a pesco-vegan for a year, with allergies to

> oranges, and soy, so I understand the no-dairy. But I never ate any

> soy-cheese products because of my allergy. Can anyone recommend tasty

> cheese alternatives for quesadillas and " cheese " slices? And are

> honey, molasses, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and agave nectar

> considered refined sugar? I was looking around at the grocery store

> and it seems every snack for children, even healthy ones, has some

> form of refined sugar in it. I don't feed her junk food, but I would

> still like to be able to make her cookies or some other form of sweet

> so she doesn't feel like she's giving so much up. And she is dealing

> with this change extremely well, so I don't want to discourage her by

> telling her " no " all the time. Thanks,

>

> shelly

>

August 20, 2008

We like Vegan Rella - they make a 'cheddar' and a 'mozzerella' style

one. They melt very well, and it's oat and rice milks with carageenan

I think (the list is very short). For a long time I wouldn't eat any

of the vegan cheeses because we were pretty picky about them. LOL.

The vegan rella is the only one I can and will eat on a cracker and

not think about much. It tastes good, it melts. It's a little bit

grainy, but not too bad (before melting - melted, it's very goopy so

you have to let it cool a bit or it will be soupy.

I don't know if the FYH one is rice/oat or soy based.

As for sliced cheese, for convenience, I like the tofutti american soy

slices, but I guess you can't do them - they taste like the regular

dairy counterparts (as far as I can recall anyway - our son has a milk

protein allergy, so we've not had actual dairy anything in a very long

time, so I have no idea anymore LOL).

I think refined sugar would be things like corn syrups, and white

sugars. We get pure cane sugar (it's evaporated cane juice, not

processed at all) so I think that might be ok, since it's still got

all the good minerals and such in it. Molasses is what is left from

the processing, but it's high in what the bleaching process takes out

- so it is refined, but is 'better' for you...

Agave nectar I'm not sure counts as refined...I know it's better for

you as it doesn't raise your blood sugar like white sugar does (it's

got a low glycemic index too).

I have to go read with my son now, as he's been patient long enough I

guess. LOL.

ope this helps.

Missie

On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 10:25 PM, lifeisgood111301

<shelly wrote: