Aubrey Lane

After watching Wife Swap last night my son (9) had some questions
about vegetarianism. He would like for our family to do an experiment
to see how we would feel if we went a week without eating meat or meat
by-products. The problem we see is that there are so many indredients
on food packaging and some we may not recognize as meat by-products.
Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?
Thanks so much, Aubrey

Deb

--- In [email protected], "Aubrey Lane" <a-
lane@s...> wrote:
>
> After watching Wife Swap last night my son (9) had some questions
> about vegetarianism. He would like for our family to do an
>experiment
> to see how we would feel if we went a week without eating meat or
>meat
> by-products. The problem we see is that there are so many
>indredients
> on food packaging and some we may not recognize as meat by-products.
> Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
> ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?
> Thanks so much, Aubrey
>
Are you looking for vegan or vegetarian? I ask because there are
things like whey and casein which are cow milk related. A vegan
wouldn't touch it but there are vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy.
Same with something like honey - a vegan would likely not touch it (it
is taken from living organisms) while a vegetarian might.

Then there's the whole arena of organic products - not all vegetarian
products are necessarily organic (although often items marketed toward
vegetarians are also organic).

Oh and keep an eye on the Worcestershire sauce - most commercial
brands use anchovies (of all things) for the saltiness. But it is
possible to find a vegan Worcestershire like sauce at some natural
food places.

It is actually not too hard to move to vegetarian in an ovo-lacto kind
of way - vegan is harder because you remove cheeses, most milks, and
eggs. Soy milk and almond milk are alternatives if you just gotta have
your cereal in the morning (or something creamy in your coffee).

Generally speaking, if you don't know what an ingredient is, skip the
item. Easiest is to simply buy ingredients rather than packaged foods
and make things yourself. For example, if you make the plain spaghetti
sauce, you know that it has just tomatoes and seasonings because you
didn't put any meat related products into it. Of course, that could be
a whole part of the family experiment because you'll likely be cooking
more rather than heating up things (soup from scratch rather than from
a can and so on). vegsource and other websites have lots of vegetarian
and vegan recipes.

--Deb (who isn't a vegetarian and doesn't play one on TV but is
working on eating a more plant based diet)

Geneva Goza

Maybe a good place to start would be to stick with fresh foods...veggies,
fruits, 100% whole grain pastas, breads, brown rice...
Is there a health food store in your area? That would be a great fieldtrip
and it should be very easy to find vegetarian sauces and dressings. As for
protein there are lots of meat substitutes available in the frozen food and
near the produce section of your regular store.

My kids and I are about 95% vegetarian...we may eat something with fish or
shrimp in it here or there but at home we always cook from scratch and eat
vegetarian so if you would like more info or ideas, you are welcome to eme
off list. I also have a client that eats strictly vegan so any given week I
am cooking 7 to 10 vegan dishes for her.

I missed wifeswap last night. I'm happy that your fun felt inspired. It's
a great show IMO.

Geneva Goza
Personal Chef Services
214-660-0231
214-663-0141 cell
gozas@...

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aubrey Lane
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 10:43 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] OT:Attention vegetarians

After watching Wife Swap last night my son (9) had some questions
about vegetarianism. He would like for our family to do an experiment
to see how we would feel if we went a week without eating meat or meat
by-products. The problem we see is that there are so many indredients
on food packaging and some we may not recognize as meat by-products.
Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?
Thanks so much, Aubrey






"List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.

Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
<http://www.unschooling.info>
Yahoo! Groups Links

Deb Lewis

***Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?***

It might be fun for you to see how many of the foods you regularly eat
have critter squeezin's in them. <g>

Some of these can be derived from plant sources but unless <and even if>
you call the company you can't know which is what.

Glucose
Dextrose
Lard
Tallow
Lecithin
Honey
Oleic acid
Stearic acid
Lactic acid
Lactylic stearate
Glycerin
Tetradecanoic acid
Casien
Calcium cassinate
Rennet
Pepsin
Whey
Calcium Stearate
Lactose
Albumin
Carmine
Cochineal
Carminic acid
Gelatin
Monoglyceride
Triglyceride
Diglyceride
Capric acid or decanoic acid

Vitamins A, B12 and D can be from animal sources. Calcium added to
fortify foods (breads, cereals, orange juice) could be from animal
sources.

I'm probably forgetting some. : /

It'll be an adventure! A weird, weird adventure. <g>

Deb L

Deb Lewis

***what ingredients to steer clear of ***

I forgot "Natural flavors."

Deb L

elainegh8

A vegetarian who ate dairy products wouldn't use whey either if it
has come from non vegetarian cheese. Whey is a by product of cheese
making and it's used as an additive in all kinds of processed food.
Cheese is often set with rennet which is an enzyme from a calf's
stomach. Vegetarian cheese is set with microbial rennet. Vegan
cheese isn't really cheese as such, it's a replacement usually made
with soya.

BWs Elaine

> Are you looking for vegan or vegetarian? I ask because there are
> things like whey and casein which are cow milk related. A vegan
> wouldn't touch it but there are vegetarians who eat eggs and
dairy.
> Same with something like honey - a vegan would likely not touch it
(it
> is taken from living organisms) while a vegetarian might.
>
> Then there's the whole arena of organic products - not all
vegetarian
> products are necessarily organic (although often items marketed
toward
> vegetarians are also organic).
>
> Oh and keep an eye on the Worcestershire sauce - most commercial
> brands use anchovies (of all things) for the saltiness. But it is
> possible to find a vegan Worcestershire like sauce at some natural
> food places.
>
> It is actually not too hard to move to vegetarian in an ovo-lacto
kind
> of way - vegan is harder because you remove cheeses, most milks,
and
> eggs. Soy milk and almond milk are alternatives if you just gotta
have
> your cereal in the morning (or something creamy in your coffee).
>
> Generally speaking, if you don't know what an ingredient is, skip
the
> item. Easiest is to simply buy ingredients rather than packaged
foods
> and make things yourself. For example, if you make the plain
spaghetti
> sauce, you know that it has just tomatoes and seasonings because
you
> didn't put any meat related products into it. Of course, that
could be
> a whole part of the family experiment because you'll likely be
cooking
> more rather than heating up things (soup from scratch rather than
from
> a can and so on). vegsource and other websites have lots of
vegetarian
> and vegan recipes.
>
> --Deb (who isn't a vegetarian and doesn't play one on TV but is
> working on eating a more plant based diet)
>

[email protected]

----Original Message-----
From: Deb Lewis <ddzimlew@...>
It might be fun for you to see how many of the foods you regularly eat
have critter squeezin's in them. <g>

Some of these can be derived from plant sources but unless <and even if>
you call the company you can't know which is what.

Glucose
Dextrose
Lard
Tallow
Lecithin
Honey
-=-=-=-
Honey???
Honey???

You wouldn't eat my honey??? Well, my bees' honey???

~Kelly


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Deb

--- In [email protected], "Geneva Goza"
<gozas@s...> wrote:
>
> Maybe a good place to start would be to stick with fresh
>foods...veggies,
> fruits, 100% whole grain pastas, breads, brown rice...
> Is there a health food store in your area? That would be a great
>fieldtrip
> and it should be very easy to find vegetarian sauces and
>dressings. >As for
> protein there are lots of meat substitutes available in the frozen
>food and
> near the produce section of your regular store.
You'll also probably find that you need less protein than we
typically eat in our culture - the whole 'meat and potatoes' square
meal thing. We make sure to fit in protein for sure because spaced
out in small bits through the day it helps keep DS (and me) on a
more even keel but it's way way less than it used to be when every
dinner "had to" include some protein (meat, cheese, etc). I kept
track for a bit and we are now averaging betwen 50 and 75 grams per
day rather than the 100+ that is typical in the overall population.
Generally, DS eats the most protein but then he's also growing a lot
(a friend who sees him regularly commented this past weekend on how
much he's grown in the last few months).

Some of the alternate grains like spelt are good plant protein
sources. Also, even the regular grocery stores are starting to carry
pastas with protein (made of alternated grains or added in various
ways -check labels). Personally, the spelt pasta wasn't my favorite
but there were a couple of others that were quite tasty and even
better than plain old semolina wheat pasta. And, DH even sometimes
makes (yup makes, my DH is a wonder) whole wheat lasagna noodles
rather than buying the dried store kind.

>field trip
The Wild Oats not all that far from us (it's a 30 minute drive)
arranged a field trip for our hs group - explained the way the
labelling is (organic produce is tagged with one color, non-organic
with another - when we go there DS insists on only the organic
tagged items), looking for ingredients, etc. Don't know if they do
one person type tours but maybe you could talk to them and see what
their minimum group is - could round up one other family maybe and
that'd be enough or maybe just your family would be ok.

--Deb

Deb

--- In [email protected], kbcdlovejo@a... wrote:
>
> Honey
> -=-=-=-
> Honey???
> Honey???
>
> You wouldn't eat my honey??? Well, my bees' honey???
>
> ~Kelly
>
Well, for a vegan, anything from critters is out pretty much. And,
since taking the honey from the bees is disrupting their lives to
take their energy source/food/important for life stuff, that'd be
off limits.

Personally, I love honey (nothing like a hot bowl of oatmeal with a
bit of butter and honey on a cold winter's morning).

--Deb

elainegh8

For Vegans the Vegan Society in the UK provide some first class
sensible nutrional info.
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/

The list of stuff to avoid if you're vegan is very long though so over
here it's a good idea to buy their Animal Free shopper book. The Vegan
Soc don't provide a list online I'm afraid.

BWs Elaine

Deb

--- In [email protected], "elainegh8"
<elainegh8@h...> wrote:
>
> A vegetarian who ate dairy products wouldn't use whey either if it
> has come from non vegetarian cheese. Whey is a by product of cheese
> making and it's used as an additive in all kinds of processed food.
> Cheese is often set with rennet which is an enzyme from a calf's
> stomach. Vegetarian cheese is set with microbial rennet. Vegan
> cheese isn't really cheese as such, it's a replacement usually made
> with soya.
And from what I've tasted I'd rather forego cheese entirely than use
any of the alternates I've tried (made from various combinations of
non-dairy stuff). But then we're not vegetarian by conscience, it's
more along the get-away-from-animal-fats-for-health-reasons.
--Deb

elainegh8

Veggie cheese though is exactly the same as any other cheese as it's
only the setting agent that's different. I think the vast majorit of
cheese in the UK is now set with microbial rennet, it's cheaper than
the animal stuff. The soya stuff though....yuk yuk and yukkety yuk
yuk! I do sometimes chuck nutrional yeast flakes on top of pasta
instead of parmesan. If you mix the flakes up with a little margarine
it melts quite satisfyingly on the top. Anyway I just noticed how far
OT I'm getting, oops!

BWs Elaine

> And from what I've tasted I'd rather forego cheese entirely than use
> any of the alternates I've tried (made from various combinations of
> non-dairy stuff). But then we're not vegetarian by conscience, it's
> more along the get-away-from-animal-fats-for-health-reasons.
> --Deb
>

Aubrey Lane

>>>Are you looking for vegan or vegetarian?

Wow! You learn something new everyday. We didn't know there was a
difference. Dillon says Vegetarian might be easier for right now but we may
want to go farther later.
Thanks, Aubrey









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Deb Lewis

***You wouldn't eat my honey??? Well, my bees' honey???***

I'd eat squid's eyeballs for you, baby! <g>


Deb L

Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley

> Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
> ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?

Here are a couple of useful websites for a person just looking into
vegetarianism and veganism:
http://www.goveg.com/order.asp
http://www.petakids.com/
http://www.vegcooking.com/transition.asp
http://www.vegcooking.com/shoppingGuide.asp
http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html
http://www.drmcdougall.com/

Not the "healthy" foods, but interesting:
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/

There are loads more, of course, but this is an Unschooling list...
There is a lot that can be learned. It is a process, much like
Unschooling, and equally rewarding. :) Rather than looking at what you
cannot eat as a vegetarian/vegan, try seeking out all the new and
wonderful things that you can eat.

Have fun in your experiment!
-Lisa in AZ

nellebelle

At dinner tonight, as we finished off last night's leftover Sloppy Joe, we discussed what to fix for dinner the rest of the week. Jackie suggested beef stew tomorrow. I said I was reluctant, because dh's birthday is Thursday and he is thinking of grilled steak. (I'm going to make him an apple pie too. Don't tell! It's a surprise. He loves fruit pie and I don't make them very often.) I pointed out that it would mean beef every night this week.

Lisa said, "That's OK. We'll just have a beef week."

Jackie had a play date today with a new neighbor friend. When I picked Jackie up, I asked the neighbor what she was fixing for dinner. She told me that they are vegetarian. One of her boys (age 5) piped up to say that *he* was not vegetarian. Then the mom told me that her kids "discovered" meat this summer at a BBQ. So she started buying meat substitutes for them. Jackie told me later that the girl she played with told her that she is vegetarian by choice.

I love many non-meat foods. We eat lots of beans and tofu and meatless-meals because we like them. But my family enjoys meat, too.

It can be a challenge to find that balance between our preferred diet and that which we may be served by others. It is not always pleasant when someone serves us something we'd prefer not to eat. I can, and will, eat just about anything when I'm a guest. In my own home, I make what I like and what my family likes.

My goal for my children is to help them make their own food choices, yet not offend their hosts. This means learning polite ways to decline, if you really can't eat something.

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/15/05 9:13:07 PM, cottrellbentley@... writes:


> -=-Rather than looking at what you
> cannot eat as a vegetarian/vegan, try seeking out all the new and
> wonderful things that you can eat.-=-
>
>

Good point, and thanks for bringing those links here, Lisa.

A week isn't probably long enough for people's digestion and systems to
really show changes, either, so as the experiment goes I don't think it will be
really enough to know what it's like to be vegetarian. It might be like
someone who unschooled for a week. <g> Not quite parallel, but there will be
some aspects of that.

Sandra, who went vegetarian for two years before bailing out one Thanksgiving
and eating turkey


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Aubrey Lane

Deb L wrote

>>>It might be fun for you to see how many of the foods you regularly eat
have critter squeezin's in them.

I think this will be the most interesting part. This was one of Dillon's
biggest questions. How many things we eat without really knowing what is in
them? In 4-H we learned about GRAS ingredients and he found it very
interesting.
Aubrey

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Deb Lewis
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2005 1:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] OT:Attention vegetarians

***Are there any vegans here that might be able to educate us on what
ingredients to steer clear of to make the experiment sucessful?***

It might be fun for you to see how many of the foods you regularly eat
have critter squeezin's in them. <g>

Some of these can be derived from plant sources but unless <and even if>
you call the company you can't know which is what.

Glucose
Dextrose
Lard
Tallow
Lecithin
Honey
Oleic acid
Stearic acid
Lactic acid
Lactylic stearate
Glycerin
Tetradecanoic acid
Casien
Calcium cassinate
Rennet
Pepsin
Whey
Calcium Stearate
Lactose
Albumin
Carmine
Cochineal
Carminic acid
Gelatin
Monoglyceride
Triglyceride
Diglyceride
Capric acid or decanoic acid

Vitamins A, B12 and D can be from animal sources. Calcium added to
fortify foods (breads, cereals, orange juice) could be from animal
sources.

I'm probably forgetting some. : /

It'll be an adventure! A weird, weird adventure. <g>

Deb L



"List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.

Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
<http://www.unschooling.info>
Yahoo! Groups Links