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InterviewsBrenda DavisRegistered Dietician and Author of Becoming Vegan Becoming Vegan Interviewed by Erin Pavlina  When did you begin your writing career and what were you writing about?I began my writing career in Northern Ontario (Elliot Lake) as a public health nutritionist writing a nutrition column for our local newspaper. I was writing about a wide variety of nutrition issues from breastfeeding to heart health. It was a great learning experience. For me, the evolution towards a vegan diet happened over about 10 years. It began with a simple interest in health which brought me from a diet of meat, milk, processed grains fruits and veggies to one of fish, chicken, low fat milk, yogurt, whole grain breads and cereals, fruits and vegetables. The real turning point was the day when a dear friend stop at my house on his way deer hunting. I have always loved animals so I decided to try and make him feel bad about killing them. I asked him how any man could feel proud of taking a powerful gun into the bush and killing a beautiful innocent creature like a deer. He answered that at least the deer he eats for the winter has had a life. He asked me if I could say the same for the animals sitting on my plate. He ended by saying that just because I didn't pull the trigger didn't mean I wasn't responsible for it being pulled. His answer hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally got it - I was truly responsible for the fate of the animals I was consuming. I decided to do a little research. I was stunned by what I learned - it tore my heart out. I wanted to scream from the roof tops and beg people to stop - I thought if people knew they would couldn't possibly continue to eat meat. What I didn't understand was the extent to which people will go to avoid hearing the truth - many just don't want to know. How did your friends and family react to the change in your diet? Funny thing, my husband and I had been shifting towards a vegetarian diet for years. When I asked him if he "wanted to go all the way" he answered "I thought you'd never ask". :-) At that point we had been married about 10 years. Our children were ages 1 and 4. When we told our 4 year old we were becoming vegetarian and why, she asked if we ever ate any horses. For some reason, she was very relieved when I said no. For our children, the transition was relatively easy. Our parents were another story. On our first Christmas as vegetarians my parents prepared a selection of every animal they could think of. In addition to turkey we had roast beef, ham, shrimps, scallops, lobster and king crab. I kid you not. They were desparate. My husband's family barbequed thick steaks when we came over. They were both convinced that if the food was appealing enough they could lure us back to our roots. My Dad told us our vegetarian diet was just a fad and we'd get over it. They have since given up! Friends were not much of a problem. We left Northern Ontario shortly after becoming vegetarian and Vancouver was much more veg-friendly. We are now in Kelowna and we find that as the years go by, people are more and more open to vegetarians and the ethical, health and ecological issues surrounding our plight. We are often asked how to make sure vegan kids get enough calcium and B12. What is your advice for vegan parents on this important issue? CALCIUM: Don’t assume that children will get enough calcium from an iceberg lettuce salad – they won’t. Children over the age of 3 years need about 800 mg of calcium a day and teens require about 1300 mg of calcium a day. To get that much calcium from plants, you need to include good plant sources of calcium with each meal – for example dark greens (including broccoli, kale, collards and Chinese greens, but excluding spinach, Swiss chard or beet greens as they are high in oxalates), almonds and almond butter, figs, tofu made with calcium, beans and blackstrap molasses. For children, the calcium challenge is made far easier by the addition of calcium-fortified foods and beverages such as fortified soymilk and fortified fruit juices. By including 2-3 cups of calcium-fortified beverages in the diet each day, calcium becomes much less of an issue. Don’t forget to insure your children also receive a reliable source of vitamin D. VITAMIN B12: Please insure that your child has a reliable source of vitamin B12 - organic vegetables (even dirty ones) do not count! (Vitamin B12 originates from bacteria, and is present in soil.) You need to rely on B12-fortified foods or supplements. Infants are especially susceptible to B12 deficiency as their stores can become depleted very rapidly. Severe B12 deficiency can result in nerve damage, muscle wasting adn irreversible brain damage. This is a tragedy that need never happen as it is completely preventable. B12-fortified foods are reliable sources of B12 (eg. some cereals, fortified soymilk, some nutritional yeasts, some meat analogs - read the label). Seaweed may contain usable B12 but some contains appreciable amounts of B12 analogs (B12 look-alikes that do NOT function as B12), thus it should not be relied on as a source. Fermented soyfoods are also thought to be potential B12 sources, but with cleaner production methods, they cannot be relied on to contain any significant B12 content. Children need about 1-2 mcg of B12 per day. How should parents explain veganism to their school aged kids? What's the best way to make them understand they have a different diet than most? I think this is a very personal issue. I don't believe there is a right way or a wrong way. The one thing I would encourage is complete honesty and openness about your dietary choices. So much depends on what you are comfortable doing. For my family, I have attempted to educate my children about why we eat the way we do (I've read them stories, shared my deepest personal convictions, showed videos, brought them to potlucks, etc). The ultimate decision is theirs. At times, they have chosen to eat meat. My daughter chose to eat tuna fish for a year after we became vegetarian. One day she decided she couldn't do it anymore. She said she could feel that fish hook in her mouth when she tasted it. My son had a burger at the age of 4 years when at Disneyland with his Grandpa. He vomited all night long. He once had a piece of pork at a BBQ. When he returned home he asked me what kind of animal pork came from. I told him it came from a pig. He threw himself on the floor and cried. I know not everyone would be comfortable allowing children to make such choices (I am not even certain I still would). You really have to trust your instinct. I don't think you have to do much to make them understand their diet is different - they are very aware of that fact. I have tried to make our food visually appealing and delicious. When the children were little their friends often said they got the best food at our house. They never really noticed it was vegetarian. For our vegetarian families who want to move to a vegan diet, what do you recommend is the best way if there are school aged children involved? Once again, this depends so much on your family. I think things generally go more smoothly when people are not forced into doing something they don't want to do. I really do believe that children need to take some ownership of their dietary choices. I think it is important to do your best to provide them with the necessary information, then let them have some say in their dietary choices. You never know what kind of pressure they are under from their peers. Empower them rather than coercing them. If they want to eat pizza, I wouldn't make an issue of it. Take it one step at a time. Don't go from meat and potatos to tofu and brown rice overnight. Be sensitive to thier likes and dislikes. What is "Becoming Vegan" about? Becoming Vegan is an expression of one's profound reverence for life. For many, it is also a deliberate step towards the preservation of this planet and a reflection of concern for the health of all its inhabitants. To me, every step a person takes on the path towards a vegan diet is a step towards a more compassionate world - and that is truly cause for celebration. Do you have plans to write more books in the future? If so, what are they going to be about? Yes, I have 3 book contracts at the present time. One is on Milk Allergy and Intolerance - I will write the nutrition section and others will take care of the recipe section. The second book is on diabetes and how to maximize diabetic control with a vegetarian/vegan diet. It will be a straight-forward guide informing people in a step-by-step fashion, what foods to reduce or eliminate and what foods to focus on. The recipe section will be written by Barb Bloomfield - the author Fabulous Beans. Both books will be written with the Book Publishing company. The third book is a huge project involving many people from the fields of health, ethics and the environment. It is known as the "One Bite" project and is headed up by Joseph Pace. I am coordinating the health section with Dr. Thomas Barnard. This promises to be an outstanding document which we hope will shake up mainstream America. Where is the best source of information for parents who want to make sure their kids are eating properly? I would direct parents to the following resources:
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