Vegetarian Mums and Babies!

[kirsten1985]

I would do anything for some spinachy cheesy pasta right now!!

 

[Kitten]

I'm Sam, 23, been veggie since I was 5. I hate eggs but eat them as an ingredient and I do dairy and gelatin too, just no meat or fish. I have a 15week old son, Theakston who I intend to raise veggie but like you girls have said, it'll be his choice when he's old enough to make it. OH is a meat eater but we eat together so all our dinners are veggie.

Hiya Sam! << I was trying to find you a waving smilie but I couldnt find it so you get that one
Theakston is SUCH a cutie!
xxxxxxxxxx

Thankyou!

 

[Kitten]

I hate Linda too, minging!

 

[PeanutBean]

Like Kirsten I put spinach in anything and everything! The easiest thing, and something Byron has most nights, is scrambled egg with spinach and cheese. Takes moments to defrost the frozen spinach cube so a quick and nutritious meal. Sometimes I add cheese too. Or broccolli.

We do spinach and cheese stuffed potatoes (scoop out middle and add cheese and spinach then restuff, sprinkle over paprika and bake bit longer). We add spinach to pasta routinely.

 

[jen1604]

I would do anything for some spinachy cheesy pasta right now!!

I just attempted to have this for dinner only to discover for the first time since the dawn of time we'd run out of spinach
So it was cheesy pasta with broccoli and mushrooms for us. x

 

[kirsten1985]

We do spinach and cheese stuffed potatoes (scoop out middle and add cheese and spinach then restuff, sprinkle over paprika and bake bit longer).

Mmm, I have had a potato baking for a few hours so I am having this tonight, sounds yummy!

 

[PeanutBean]

We do spinach and cheese stuffed potatoes (scoop out middle and add cheese and spinach then restuff, sprinkle over paprika and bake bit longer).

Mmm, I have had a potato baking for a few hours so I am having this tonight, sounds yummy!

Add some butter too! Wait til the potato's ready then mix all the middle and shove it back in. It goes cold while mixing so that's why it needs back in. It's yummy!

 

[kirsten1985]

I found this stuff in Morrisons, I bought it because Jake (husband) eats so little proper fruit and veg.

Granovita Nutrasprout 'Organic Sprouted Broccoli Seed Powder'.

It apparently contains lots of vitamins C & A, and lots of folic acid. It has as much SGS (an antioxidant) in one teaspoon as 10x150g servings of broccoli.

It's a powder, so I just put a few spoons into whatever I'm cooking. Makes me feel he is eating slightly healthier anyway! I'll prob use it for Freya too.

PB - I am on the brink of eating my nice spinachy potato, it looks delish!

 

[PeanutBean]

I've just written this post in the science club but thought you veggies would be interested too:

I've just been listening to The Food Programme on Radio 4. It was about omega 3 oils and was very interesting. My opinions of the supplements have always been low and of course as a vegetarian I am not able to supplement with this oil anyway.

The programme was looking at claims of omega 3 levels in foods advertised as being high. In brief, omega supplements are usually 3, 6 and 9 and apparently the 9 will do nothing and is not necessary, the 6 is already present enough in our diets so doesn't need supplementing and the 3 in most supplements and foods comes from plant sources and not fish. Now, again as a veggie, I'd wondered about plant sources but apparently they are short chain and humans are really crap at converting them to long chain which are the ones with benefits. So it would seem that nothing one can buy is likely to do any good, short of eating lots of fish anyway.

I was pleased to hear supplement things being rubbished (I am hugely cynical of nutritional supplements) but was more pleased to hear them mention vegetarians at the end. I had just been saying to DH how is it if these oils are so necessary that vegetarians tend to live longer than meat eaters and also suffer less heart disease etc. The answer was basically that they didn't know but they did say that for vegetarians the best supplements will come from marine algae.

Now, I am of course a marine biologist and we studied about these oils in my degree. I knew they came from marine algae and we learnt that lugworms (Arenicola) are massively higher in omega 3 than fish. I think the fish generally get it from eating invertebrates like lugworms. Lugworms get it from marine algae as well as from their own conversions.

Any thoughts? I wonder if algal based supplements even exist for us?

 

[kelly342000]

hi,
i take these
https://www.healthspan.co.uk/pregnancy/cerebrum-capsules-vegetarian/ProductDetail-p225-c3167.aspx
as these come from marine microalgae for omega 3/DHA,

 

[PeanutBean]

hi,
i take these
https://www.healthspan.co.uk/pregnancy/cerebrum-capsules-vegetarian/ProductDetail-p225-c3167.aspx
as these come from marine microalgae for omega 3/DHA,

They look good!

 

[soon2b6]

They do look interesting, Ive been concerned about omega 3 and 6 in my diet and asked my doc about taking supplements but he said it was not advisable (breastfeeding) Do you know if these are OK for BF as the ones I had before were Flax?

 

[PeanutBean]

They do look interesting, Ive been concerned about omega 3 and 6 in my diet and asked my doc about taking supplements but he said it was not advisable (breastfeeding) Do you know if these are OK for BF as the ones I had before were Flax?

According to the radio article taking is from flax is as good as pointless and also that 6 is unlikely to be needed. Perhaps check up on that in relation to your diet before taking supplements containing it. I wonder why taking omega 3 wouldn't be advisable with BF?

 

[parkgirl]

Hello all. I'm Jamie. Not a mom yet, but we will be TTC in a few months. I fully plan on raising our LO veggie as I am. My DH isn't that big of a fan, but I'm working on getting him more comfortable with it.

 

[PeanutBean]

Hi parkgirl! Good luck with your DH!

 

[soon2b6]

According to the radio article taking is from flax is as good as pointless and also that 6 is unlikely to be needed. Perhaps check up on that in relation to your diet before taking supplements containing it. I wonder why taking omega 3 wouldn't be advisable with BF?[/QUOTE]

I think he ws specifically referring to flax supplement, but I dont know why it wasnt advisble, I asked the HV and she checked with the doc, so I didnt get to ask questions.

 

[PeanutBean]

Perhaps it naturally has some other substance in it that has contraindications with BF.

 

[abster]

I'd love to joing your group! I've been veggie since October 1991, when I was 15 and finally managed to convince mum I'd be able to stay alive! My grandma told me only last year that she's just realised it's not a phase I'm going through; I'm 33... My partner's been veggie at home for about 4 years, since I sat him down and told him I could no longer bear cooking the free-range meat I'd been ordering for him but wouldn't try to stop him cooking it for himself.... needless to say, he can't be bothered with cooking it himself!

Our daughter of 27 months is veggie; we originally agreed that if Andy wanted to offer her meat when we were out, then so be it, but once she'd been born I couldn't bear the idea of her eating meat or any of its by-products, so I insisted that she be allowed to make the decision for herself once she understands where meat comes from and all the issues involved in meat production.

I decided before Katie was born to follow baby-led weaning, when I read about it in the NCT magazine. I was really excited about starting it (the day she turned 6 months, having exclusively breast fed her til that point). I was lucky enough to have a first-time parents group that I could keep taking Katie to until she was 8 months old, run by a wonderful woman who's spent all her time working with children, backed up by the health visitors nased in the same building. They had the BLW info ready to start rolling out, but had no actual experience of it and were waiting to find out what happened. Katie took to it brilliantly! We started the saturday lunchtime with steamed vegetables (cut into sticks - parsnip, courgette etc- or in tree shapes - cauliflower, broccoli - a la Gill Rapley), banana, avocado and baked potato and from that point gave her 3 solid-food meals a day. She took to it wonderfully! On day 4 lunch was mature cheddar, pitta bread, humous, peppers, cucumber, avocado and banana. To begin with she'd quite often opt for a breastfeed instead, until she realised food filled her up. She has a hugely varied diet, with quite grown-up tastes and I think BLW is awesome!
The health visitors seem quite keen on it too! I've just passed my dvd to my friend to use for her new baby and she's been advised by our health visitor to try BLW as her 2-year-old is a very fussy eater and they don't want her baby to go the same way. I'd recommend BLW to anyone. Am I waffling? Probably.. sorry!

 

[abster]

Have any of you given your babies meat substitutes yet? Byron had a little bit of Tivall drumstick tonight and tried some Cheatin' Bacon a few days ago. I'm worried about the salt content of them really. Does anyone know when it's ok for him to have things like that?

I started to let Katie have Quorn stuff once she could manage to chew it. I stuck with unsalted butter til she was 1 (salt intake goes to 1g/day at 1) and didn't let her have marmite til she was 1, for the same reason.

If anyone's after veggie recipe books for children, I have some good ones (although I have to say, following BLW has meant she's just started eating what we have. If I use the books it's for sugar-free cakes - I still don't let her have cakes/sweets/sugary drinks - you have to try the Organix range for baby snacks...fantastic! - or for meals I want to use for us too).
Rose Elliot's Mother, Baby & Toddler Book (Veg Soc approved); Baby and Child Vegetarian Recipes - Carol Timperley (Veg Soc approved); Rose Elliot's Vegetarian and Vegan Mother & Baby Guide (Viva! approved). The latter one is guidance and ideas, rather than recipes.

I meant to put the above in my last post but got carried away, nattering about BLW and forgot..

 

[abster]

They do look interesting, Ive been concerned about omega 3 and 6 in my diet and asked my doc about taking supplements but he said it was not advisable (breastfeeding) Do you know if these are OK for BF as the ones I had before were Flax?

According to the radio article taking is from flax is as good as pointless and also that 6 is unlikely to be needed. Perhaps check up on that in relation to your diet before taking supplements containing it. I wonder why taking omega 3 wouldn't be advisable with BF?

I asked my GP about my Vertese omega 3:6:9 supplement when I first fell pregnant and he said it was fine to take it. I breastfed til she was 21 months old and she's absolutely fine.