I'm finally taking the plunge....

[frenchie]

I've been a vegetarian for almost 9 years. I was vegan for 2 years, until I marrieed my hubby. I got hooked on cheese and ice cream! My son is 3 months old, and thriving on my breastmilk...he doubled his birthweight at 9 weeks!!! My hubby and I have agreed to raise our son a vegetarian. That's a huge leap for my carnivorous husband!! He said he was going to give up meat as soon as our son begins to eat solids.......I hope he's serious. At any rate, I've decided to wean myself off of the little bit o' dairy I eat, and go vegan again. I have Dr. Klapper's book Pregnancy, Children and the Vegan Diet. Are there any other books that one could recommend? Also, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Special foods or products...etc. Thanks in advance!!

[Erin Pavlina]

Frenchie, do you have my book Raising Vegan Children in a Non-Vegan World? (http://www.vegfamily.com/raising-vegan-children/index.php?src=forums) That will answer a great many questions for you and give you an idea of the challenges you are going to face raising a vegan child. There's also a section about mixed marriages that you may find useful.

Since you mentioned cheese and ice cream... allow me to introduce you to my favorite vegan versions:

Soy Delicious Purely Decadent (peanut butter zig zag, cookie avalanche, butter pecan)

Soy Dream (Strawberry Swirl, Vanilla Fudge)

Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative (mozarella and cheddar!)

My book comes with coupons to get some of that cheese free. If you really miss cheese, this is the one to get.

Other cheese... Vegan Singles by Soyco (Galaxy Foods) makes a great grilled cheese sandwich.

Have you been to the product review page (http://www.vegfamily.com/product-reviews/) here? There is a long list of vegan products that will satisfy any craving.

And congrats on your decision. Your child is lucky!

[go4green]

Congrats Frenchie,

It's gets so easy from here. My husband was not opposed to me changing, however he made no effort to change himself...at first.

I worked hard to provide him with vegan meals, lunches and snacks. The food was so good and he felt so great, that before he knew it he couldn't remember the last time he had dairy! After he read "Mad Cowboy", he proclaimed to my suprise, WE are vegans. Now he even goes to the store, and tonight he helped spread the good word with my local vegan group at a youth express fest.

We ate out a lot at the time and I just stayed home with my cook books, for about three weeks, when I made the switch. I didn't even miss cheese after that.

You are an old hand at this, and you have a great reference with Dr. Klapper. I introduced Elle to his nutmilk sparingly at 9 or 10 months. In addition to Erin's book, "How it all vegan" has some more kid recipes and fun adult ones too. I really like my "Simply Vegan" book because most of the recipes are quick.

I too was an early vegan during college and fell of the wagon for a while, my pregnancy motivated me to go vegan again. Thank Goodness!!! This time I am much more aware of nutrition and with all the great products around today, I am the happiest vegan ever with a super healthy vegan family.

Oh yeah...AVOCADO!!! and Ditto to Erin's frozen recomendations.

Take Care, Jenna

[frenchie]

Thanks for the recommendations! I *LOVE* How It All Vegan? I've had that book for a while now. I'll definately have to get your book Erin. It was a challenge being vegan myself, I can't even begin to imagine the harassment I'm going to recieve raising my child as such. I'm definately going to have to ease my hubby into the idea.....he's all about convinience. The fact that he's a big cheese lover...well, that'll be a challenge for me with my son. My hubby will feel like Kai is being deprived. What he doesn't get, is Kai won't know any better if he never gets the chance to eat it in the first place. Thanks again...I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement I can get.