Oh, thank God! Maybe everything will run smoothly now. Here is praying it does. :hurray:

What about Small World? We have thought of getting it for a couple of Christmases now.

I also thought soy was not good for middle-aged women? Or menopausal women? sighs. I don't recall. I will ask my daughter's endo for her though! :)

Yes, I read about the calcium being interfered with by too much meat at Vegetarian Times, on Fork Over Knife, which I just finished watching again with my daughter and by I think Jenny up further in the thread. Her hemoglobin now is 13.8 out of a range of 12-16 but we are not vegetarians completely yet, I realize that. Good ideas and I wish you luck on your vegetarianism/veganism. :)

We have not gone to the store and are running low, so that was a big influence on her eating. But yes, I wanted to know what I might miss as far as nutrients go as beginning vegetarians.. We are finishing up what we have and I go to the store tomorrow. We have come up with a list of recipes and are going to buy the ingredients to make them. We are buying more fresh veggies, we already eat couscous and quinoa, we eat plenty of beans. We are going to the library and the bookstore tomorrow after school. I am making her doctors aware too. We can not keep chickens where we live but she does not want to eat them anyways. Good thought though and I appreciate it.

And thank you for the website, I will use it! She also has her labs done every three months by her endo too.

I support her now in vegetarianism. I told her vegan would have to wait. I think high school, if she shows she is mature and aware enough, or maybe college. But if I come across a good vegan recipe, why not here or there? I think in time she will be more educated and aware of these other issues and make good choices in time.

Thank you for making me aware of these issues. I will talk to her doctor's especially her endocrinologist, about the saturated fat issue. I just received her lab results this evening. Her phosphorus is 5.7 out of 4.1-5.9 being a normal range and she is within that! Her calcium is 28,6 out of 30-100 being a normal range. That is little low but she did not take eight of her Calcitrol tablets last month. She does not have an eating disorder. She is a preemie and a twin. She has VACTERS Association (VACTERLS) which stands for multiple physical birth defects. She has an Amplatzer device in her heart, one functioning kidney and a tethered spinal cord and had a feeding tube removed two years this Thanksgiving. Vater kids are small and usually are not on the average growth chart. She has never been a baby doll girl, she has always been an animal lover. She loves to play vet and watch animal documentaries. She defended ants in early elementary wrapping herself around a tree to keep a boy from killing them, even though she was bitten by the ants and the boy threatened her. The phrase, "Though she be but little, she be fierce," comes to mind. She wants to volunteer at the Human Society and the zoo but has to be thirteen and older. She wanted to be a veterinarian but thinks an international law attorney will make more money, so she can work on animal rights cases pro bono (and help more animals than a vet by changing laws in animal's favor) and open an animal sanctuary. She goes to animal shelter sites and makes lists of all the unadopted cats and dogs and prays for them. She then goes back and sees who has been adopted and thanks God for them finding homes and makes a new list. In our old neighborhood, she collected newspaper for the shelter and she gives ten percent of her allowance to the local shelter. She refuses to go to Sea World. She lectures her father and me about what the do to baby boy chickens, calves, the dairy industry, the poultry industry and the beef industry. She even lectures me about my cosmetics possibly being tested on animals. She defends pit bulls. I could go on and on. She mostly eats healthy, preferring veggies, fruits, beans and good grains. Lately she has been pushing her meat aside here and there and just eating her sides. So yes, it is good to be aware of an eating disorder and I will keep on top of that, thank You. :)

We had a neighbor before we moved who is a hunter. Meghan loved eating venison when his family would invite her over. I would have to talk to her about it Thank you for all the advice!

Meghan is going to a spina bifida clinic on Wednesday to see her orthopedic doctor, her neurosurgeon and her urologist (she has a tethered spinal cord). She sees her endocrinologist on Friday and she saw her nephrologist last week and he will be calling me about her test results any day now. I am going to give them a heads up and seek advice. Like whether she should take a multivitamin and if it should include iron (Meghan had an imperforate anus with fistula that was repaired but she still has constipation issues and wears a pull up) Her doctors are wonderfully supportive of her! Do I need to take anything into account besides her hypoparathyroidism and iron being a constipation issue? What about her having one kidney (born with polycystic kidneys, only one functioning)? A vegetarian diet should be better for her, I think. I also am I diabetic. I have lost twenty pounds in the last three and a half months since joining WW. I have 65 more to go. It is controlled through medication. I have subscribed for Vegetarian Times. We are going to the library and book store tomorrow after class too. She loves quinoa with red onions and mushrooms. She loves brown rice and couscous. She likes me to make a cold couscous salad with dried cranberries and almonds. She loves broccoli, spinach, beets, collard greens, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and on and on. She also is a bean eater, we eat beans every night-black eyed peas, kidney, black, northern, butter, cannellini, etc. This Thanksgiving it will be two years since she had her feeding tube removed. I think she is a healthy eater for someone that survived on Pediasure for ten years. She does get lab work every three months by her endocrinologist, so we can keep an eye on her this way.

Who ever knows please share! My spouse has a horrible habit of smoking. His health is great except for this.

This is true. I keep thinking from this as a loss perspective, when it is not.

Prayers for you all. :grouphug:

That will be the hardest part for me. Bacon cheeseburgers are my most favorite thing on the planet. I have one once a month. Luckily, I can hang with a veggie burger and forgo the bacon.

I have seen Forks Over Knives on Netflix and I will look for the other two, thank you.

Yes, I think so too. The information from this thread has been so helpful. I was just talking to Meghan-now that she is finished with her Latin homework-about how we should go meatless first, then slowly become vegan. I know she will most likely become vegan, I think I will become vegetarian. I think if we try to go vegan 100% percent we will set ourselves up for failure. On another note: I found this: Make sure that you get all the nutrients you need! Poorly planned vegan diets often lack Calcium, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D, and Omega 3. Broccoli, plant milks, and kale are good sources of calcium. The sun and mushrooms should be enough to get Vitamin D, and Omega 3 can be found in seeds and walnuts. Some examples of seeds are Chia seeds and pumpkin seeds. Info like this is important to me. Thankfully she loves broccoli and mushrooms and a ton of other veggies. I don't have much experience with chia seeds, but I have heard good things.

Yes, this is what I was trying to say, but you said it so much better. Thank you. I did not even think of Worcestershire sauce, marshmallows or gummy bears. :p I think she is a perfect age for us to explore this together and after this thread, I do feel like we are having an adventure.

We love Mexican food. Like we should marry it we love it so much. :p We have an authentic Mediterranean place here, that includes a grocery. The owner brought a machine over from his country and makes fresh pita every day. Meghan loves falafels, so we will learn to make them. We are making spaghetti tomorrow night. I always add sauteed mushrooms, onions, and pepper to my sauce but I do not know if I should serve it like that or add the vegetarian meat crumbles. We do love veggie burgers. I guess we just need to experiment. :)

Yes, thanks! Less carbs, more non-meat protein. We already eat beans at every dinner. Going to up that and more veggies, the ones with a lot of punch. Good thing she already loves veggies and grains. I want her to eat healthy no matter what she is! I will let her know about the other issues. I did not think of them myself. Thanks, I do try.

Thank you. It has been many years since I took nutrition. I look forward to becoming a vegetarian...and possibly a vegan. :hurray:

I am following her and going to get a couple of her cookbooks. I will share her blog with Meg when she completes her Latin homework. Really awesome! *high five*

Redsquirrel, thank you for the information, it is really helpful.

I was using gluten free as an example of expensive. I am not as articulate as I used to be before the stroke. I had a string of thought about gluten free being expensive and just wrote gluten-free, not the thought to complete it. I am sorry. This is what I think of when I think of vegan: Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines. I read this and think, wow, what will she/we eat? I wanted to know from actual vegetarians/vegans and other parents about how to do this. Thank you.

Because I am ignorant about becoming a vegetarian/vegan and I just assume we will be missing out on nutrients? There are different kinds of protein but is there not certain nutrients that only meat proteins give you? When ever I have heard of anyone going vegetarian in my past and it has been rarely, I hear of them lacking in vitamins or some nutrient. But then I am a meat eater and I take vitamin D, calcium citrate, magnesium and fish oil. :ohmy: Three of those for deficiencies.

Yes, I know you don't have to go gluten-free to be a vegetarian. Sorry I am not clear at times. I was using that as an example. I was thinking that when she goes vegan and I attempt to go vegan, it will be more expensive trying to replace the nutrients since we will be cutting out a lot of food. And cheese was one of the first things I thought of when she talked to be about becoming vegan eventually. Not my cheese! :p I mostly do not have a problem giving up meat, but cheese will be a struggle. :willy_nilly: