Hello Vegan members. I need a little help

[gracebowen]

My daughter has decided to go vegan. She's been eating vegan for about 2 weeks now. Problem is she's getting sick from not getting enough food.

I went out and bought her special food that got wasted because it was nasty. I tried to get her to just go vegetarian till she adjusted since it is less restrictive. She won't do it.

I need to get her eating better. I also need simple ideals because while I don't mind cooking some foods seperate I'm not able to cook every meal seperate or special just for her.

 

[Kyoto]

Hi Grace,
I have bounced back and forth between veganism and vegetarianism. I believe in the ideology.

I am lucky because in my city there are a lot of vegans, it's a huge trend, so our grocery stores carry a lot more products.

While I regret to inform you that finding substitutions for cheese and eggs is generally difficult, getting rid of milk in my diet was not hard. There are a lot of resources online, and what veganism has done for me is forced me to make more of my own foods from scratch.

I made vegan butter "chicken", vegan meatloaf, vegan spaghetti and meat balls. Even my husband loves the stuff because there are products that are good. You just have to find the right ones.

I love Yves fake cold cuts and sausages. I find the tofurky brand disgusting. Daiya cheese is okay, but making your own is better.

My local grocery store (superstore here) carries there own brand of vegetarian chicken breasts that are really good! And the Yves ground beef stuff is really tasty.

Check out a few medditeranian and greek dishes too! Some of them are vegan.

I hope this helps, and I hope that your daughter can stick to it and be healthy. I've been veg for over 9 years now. here is a link to Yves site so you can take a look:

http://www.yvesveggie.com/

 

[Kyoto]

There are the delicious fake chicken breasts I get:
PC Blue Menu Vegetarian Chicken Breast | PC.ca

 

[Aquila]

I'm not sure how old your daughter is, but my concern would be over getting enough calcium and iron, especially if she's still a teenager. Being vegan can be very difficult, and a very delicate balance to stay healthy especially if she's still growing. Just keep being the good mom that you are and educating her! We all can still learn a few things about eating better!

Try to get her into cooking with you. A lot of ethnic cuisine is vegan friendly, so try there! I personally love Indian food and it's very flavorful and there are a lot of things you can cook at home.

I personally get this Product Detail and it's delicious over anything. It's vegan friendly, no dairy or anything, some of their sauces do have yogurt or cream, but most are vegetarian friendly.

 

[sonja]

I agree with Aquila - if she wants to be a vegan, she needs to step up and at least help prepare her own food. Not sure how old she is but she can't expect that she's at a restaurant waiting to be served. Being a vegan requires a fair amount of knowledge on ingredients and food prep that she'll need to learn if she intends to keep it up for her life.
I'd love to be a vegan but I hate to cook so I'm a vegetarian with vegan leanings because I know I couldn't keep myself healthy without putting in more effort and skill than I possess to prep strictly vegan food.
So, what to eat: search some vegan protein sources: quinoa, chia, lentils, tofu and a number of others. She needs to eat these. There are a lot of prepared foods as mentioned above but also tons of cook books and online recipes that can provide a balanced diet. It's a fair amount of work to be a vegan at least at the beginning until you learn what to eat. Later it will become more routine.

Good for her for sticking to a principle, but that means investing her time and effort, too.
And I agree, it could be a great thing for you to do together and ultimately healthier for the whole family to incorporate vegan foods into the diet even if others continue to eat meat as well.

 

[Kiwibird]

I've been a vegan for several years and was a vegetarian before that since I was 10 (just celebrated my 17th "veggieversary" actually). You're absolutely right about it being easy to under-eat a bit since plant foods are less calorie dense than animal foods as a rule. It will likely take a few months for her body to adjust to the bigger portion sizes she will have to eat to meet daily nutritional requirements. If she looses a little weight at first, don't be alarmed as long as she's getting those portion sizes up over time so she can maintain proper nutrition/caloric intake and a healthy weight. She may also have a little digestive upset as she adjusts to the higher fiber content of a plant based diet, but that is temporary. You may also want to talk to the doctor about supplementing B-12, as it is difficult (though not impossible) to obtain strictly from plant sources (plant based sources include nutritional yeast and some fermented foods, though it is easiest to just supplement). Everything else (including protein, iron and calcium, which seem to always be big concerns) are easily obtained on a balanced plant based diet. What kind of foods is she eating in a typical day? Is she eating a lot of processed soy foods (such as the faux meats and store bought soy milk)? Those are not really the "best" to be eating, especially for a teenage girl. Home made tofu and soy milk are about the only soy "substitutions" that are really good to eat on a regular basis. The store bought stuff is highly processed, full of additives and a lot of people (especially women) have issues with it in excess. Another VERY important thing vegans have to keep in mind- you don't have room in your diet or stomach for a lot of processed or junk food. Luckily, it is relatively easy to make a more nutritious vegan version of most junk foods (like cookies and ice cream and fries and chips ext...) that you can totally binge out on guilt-free.

Is she tracking her daily nutritional intake right now? Apps like cronometer are very helpful in making sure you eat enough and identifying if there might be a particular nutrient you want to incorporate more foods that contain it into your diet. While there is a wide variety of ready made vegan foods these days, the basics really are still the best- fruit, veg, seeds, nuts, beans and grains. And you can pretty much make a whole food vegan version of anything you want. She will need to eat larger portions of plant based foods as they are not very calorie dense. For example, she could be something like a "quarter pounder" chickpea burger with avocado, tomato, lettuce, onion and a smoothie and she'd only be getting around 500 calories whereas a regular burger that size and soda would be probably pushing a 1000 calories. Fresh juices and smoothies (preferably smoothies since they also contain the fiber), a handful of nuts or a few pieces of fruit as snacks are good calorie fillers as snacks throughout the day along with hearty meals made of whole foods. And if she's still struggling to meet her daily caloric intake needs, just have her add a bowl of beans and rice to every meal. Cheap, nutritious, adds calories and a good source of protein (which a lot of people are very concerned about).

P.S. When I first refused to eat meat, my mom told me if I was old enough to pick what I wanted to eat I was old enough to make it and taught me how to cook for myself. It was actually extremely useful to learn and get used to cooking my meals so young, as I never went through that "phase" as a young adult of living off ramen and microwave meals because it was already habit to cook an actual meal with nutritional value for myself (even if it was just beans and rice with some salad lol). Perhaps this could be a good learning experience for your daughter if she is not already familiar with cooking.

P.P.S. If there is anything in particular she likes and is having problems giving up, I probably have a vegan recipe for it. Just let me know!

 

[gracebowen]

She's 15 almost 16. I did tell her she had to cook some good for herself. Kyoto can you pm me some recipies.

Would y'all mind posting a few simple meal ideals.
She does not track her nutrition. She does take a multivitamin. I will buy her some b12.

 

[gracebowen]

Kiwi could I get some ice cream recipies (no machine). Also any easy recipes would be appreciated.

 

[Mimsy01]

There are a lot of foods that don't require any kinda of special fake meat substitutes, which I prefer.

Things like spaghetti with pesto. Instead of putting Parmesan in the pesto use extra pine nuts (walnuts work well too, or even hazel nuts), garlic a little extra salt and pepper. You can play with the herbs as well. The norm is fresh basil and parsley. You can play with oregano and various kinds of parsley for different flavors. Sometimes I like one made from artichoke hearts.

Meatless chili is still yum. Split pea soup, just add a little smoke flavoring and it will taste like normal, at least it does to me. (I hate almost all canned split pea) You can also use green beans instead of split peas for something different, or a mix of both.

Curry sauces on rice are yum.

You can take a lot of normal recipes and just make them without the added meats. Replace butter with good oils. Olive, coconut, sesame ect You can add herbs, garlic and pepper to a small glass container of oil and it will pick up the flavors. Nice to drizzle on some good bread, or over some rice or pasta.

I'm not vegan, but have a lot of vegan friends. I also cook often enough without any meats or dairy in my foods.

Since she is young, and probably likes to eat and run on you all the time keep easy stuff around. Cubed fruit in the fridge. Make some sticky rice and add spinach, garlic, olive oil and some salt and pepper and then bake till it's just browned. You can cut them into squares and stick em in the fridge to eat cold. Even just keeping some cooked rice around that she could add some sugar and coconut milk and microwave to for a hot cereal.