One family's transition to veganism

Vegetarian Baby and Child, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Gina Cassidy

Frequent colds, the flu, and a thirty-pound weight gain after the birth of my daughter had me feeling unhealthy and doomed to obesity. I was athletic and walked a great deal, but the pounds piled up all the same. One day in September 1997, I heard Howard Lyman making his, "Case for Vegetarianism" on Alternative Radio, and my ears pricked up. Humans don't need meat to be healthy. Humans evolved to be herbivores. Poor health and obesity were often tied to meat consumption. That was me. I didn't even like meat all that much, anyway. There was nothing to lose by becoming vegetarian.

Three days later, my husband heard a news report that said the FDA recommended that, for people who still eat meat, no more than three ounces per day should be consumed. What got to him was the "for people who still eat meat" part. He decided that he would not eat meat anymore, either.

That Christmas we visited relatives in London. They took the news that we recently became vegetarians with extreme grace. They stuffed us with nut roast, potatoes, cheese, fruit and cake. But our 20-monthold daughter we allowed to eat chicken: we didn't want her to suffer because of our choice.

So our conversion was originally a mechanical one and not a philosophical one. Our motives were to boost our own health--lose weight, lower cholesterol, decreases the risk of heart disease. These were adult problems; we still felt that children might be undernourished without those bits of animal muscle on their plates. We didn't quite accept that no humans should eat animals. And we didn't realize that, far from helping our daughter, we were doing her a disservice by giving her meat.

As we read more, we concluded that most of the nutritional advice we'd learned throughout our lives was simply PR from the meat and dairy industries. We stopped giving Colleen turkey franks and learned to use tofu. Luckily, she loved (and still loves) beans, so our agonizing over her protein requirements was short-lived. She accepted the change with remarkable maturity. Mama and Daddy realized that eating animals was wrong and unhealthy; that was sufficient for her.

I remember sitting on the couch holding our five-month-old son that January day in 1999, when my husband, fresh from surfing the Internet, declared that milk was now out, too. You mean yogurt? Blue cheese? Ice cream?! Yes, he had read Robert Cohen's enlightening notmilk.com website. Milk is simply liquid meat. It contains just as much fat and cholesterol, provides no fiber, and is completely unnecessary to human health. It also contains growth hormones, antibiotics and pus.

How would we tell our daughter? What would we do with all our prepared foods that contained milk, butter, cheese and whey? This time, I resisted. I would not buy any more milk products, but I would finish the ones we had. But after a few days, I realized the foolishness of my quest to use up what was clearly unfit for human consumption, and threw away yogurt, organic butter, and my beloved cookies. Again, Colleen accepted our transition with hardly a whimper. There was, after all, soy ice cream.

Since this transition occurred before our son was introduced to solid foods, we have never knowingly given him any animal products. Sean and Colleen know that other people eat animals and animal products, but that we don't. Far from causing them grief or discomfort, they take pride in the way we are different. Colleen asks if foods contain milk or eggs when offered to her. Sean is less diligent, but neither becomes distressed at skipping the cake at a birthday party.

It helps to know other vegans. There are a few--not many--vegan families that we know of in our area. Sometimes we reinforce our convictions by sharing meals with them, or even just by naming them to our children. This past Thanksgiving, we had dinner at some vegan friends' house. The children were delighted that they could eat anything they chose to, and that these friends were "like us."

Occasionally, the kids test the old folks: let's play a game--let's pretend we eat meat. No, we tell them. You can pretend that, but we won't. And when you're an adult, you can decide if you want to eat meat, but not while we're making the decisions.

Now we have a third child, Liberty, a baby girl conceived, gestated, born, nursed and given food with no animal products--ever. She is extremely hardy, mild-tempered and quite healthy. I am proud enough to burst my buttons that she has not been unwittingly involved in cruelty to animals or in the consumption of rotting flesh.

My regret is that it took us so long to find and live the truth. I had known vegetarians throughout my life. Why didn't it click before? Why did things seem to fall into place during that two-year period?

I believe it was largely because of my children. Before them, life wasn't as serious. Lifestyle changes seemed possible at any time. But the urgency of setting a good example and the responsibility of teaching my children what is right seemed to be the catalyst that was missing before in my life.