Vegan Nutrition with Jill Nussinow, MS, RD

Jill Nussinow is a Registered Dietitian, culinary educator, cookbook author, speaker and consultant and all around proponent of a plant-based diet. She teaches vegetarian and vegan cooking at Santa Rosa Junior College in California and other places around the US. She has a son who is almost 15. One of her greatest joys is sharing her enthusiasm for vegetables and pressure cooking with anyone who will listen.

Is it safe for my 10yr old son who is type 1 diabetic to go vegan? His endocrinologist said no and his pediatrician said she thought it would be fine. I would like for us both to go that route after watching CBS news about animals consuming antibiotics to make them bigger etc. That was just disgusting and after actually looking at these animals faces I thought we just cannot do that anymore!! I know he has to have carbs in his diet to work with his insulin what is the best route for this?

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It is possible. I would recommend working with a Registered Dietitian who is also a Certified Diabetes educator, and vegetarian-friendly. That might be a tough combination to find but it is possible. Madhu Gadia http://cuisineofindia.com/ is one such dietitian.

You will need to really be on top of your son's diet to be sure that he is getting all the essential nutrients and sufficient protein for growth - basing what he eats on real, whole foods such as beans, whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, tofu, tempeh and more. You might want to enlist your pediatrician to help monitor your son's progress if the endocrinologist isn't supportive of the idea. If your son does well, you can then let the endocrinologist know about it and go from there.

Good luck with this challenging issue. It sounds like your concerns will help move you in the "right" direction with this vegetarian choice.

Editor's Note: You might benefit from a nutrition consultation to get help structuring a diet for you son. Vegfamily offers consultations through our dietitian, Marty Davey.

Visit Jill's website TheVeggieQueen.com and her blog theveggiequeen.blogspot.com.

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Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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