My Vegan Body

A day in the life...

My daughter had some bad dreams, and ended up in bed with my husband and I.  I woke up to find this:

We got ready and took my son to school. He recently turned 10, and I can't believe how fast time flies.  I always knew it would, I heard it from every parent I had ever met.  The best quote I have ever heard about being a parent is, "The days are long, and the years are short." Enjoy every moment while you have it.  It's fleeting.  

Yesterday we were talking about the green olives at Whole Foods, so my daughter and I decided to take a trip over there.  We found a lot of yummy vegan goodies, and she is taking very well to the whole idea.  Again.  Unfortunately I had everyone happy, healthy and vegan - and then I let everything get horribly off track.  So we're basically starting from scratch.  We are having conversations about animal cruelty that go something like this.

My daughter on seeing the above picture: Awww - that's so cute.

My response: Do you know that when you eat a cheeseburger at McDonald's, you are actually eating a cow? And when you drink chocolate milk, they are taking the milk from the momma cow and giving it to you?

My daughter: Actually they look like mean cows.  

My daughter on seeing the above picture: Aww - look at the little pigs!

My response: Did you know that when you eat bacon, you are eating a pig?

My daughter: Yeah - but I just like bacon, so it's okay.

I didn't want to traumatize her, or scar her for life in my responses.  So they were carefully worded.  I don't want to guilt her into being vegan, and I don't want her to feel wrong for desiring to eat meat.  We live in a society where it's supported, and she shouldn't feel ashamed of it.  I did want her to be informed though.  We shield our children from the simple fact that the chicken they see in their books, and the chicken nuggets in their happy meal box are in fact the same chicken.  I want her to know exactly what she's putting into her body.  We also talked about how it is digested by your body, in comparison to other foods.

Then we had the following conversation:

She started with the question, "... what if you digest yourself?"

I said, "That's called cannibalism, and it's highly frowned upon"

She replied, "Well.. okay, except it's just that when I lick myself, I taste good."

I also talked to her about moderation, and that is when she started to get interested.  I told her "You know how when you want to eat food that isn't good for your body, I always say things like 'well, you can have ONE' or 'no, not right now' and things like that?" She clearly was familiar with the phrases, and agreed.  I said, "When it is fruits and vegetables, and things that are good for your body - I don't tell you to only have one.  You can eat as many as you want.  If you are hungry, eat them."  Then she wanted to look at pictures of fruit.  She loves, loves, loves fruit.  Also the reason this topic even came up, is because she is the one who frequently tells ME that she wants healthy food - when I was on a regular routine of stopping at Dunkin' Donuts and getting her a donut with my coffee. She was sick of it. 

So we are back on track with vegan living.  I looked into the raw vegan diet, and while I may eventually take to it - right now, I'm content with vegan. We had mushroom tacos for dinner this week, and it was insanely good. It's like regular tacos, except we use seasoned and sauteed mushrooms instead of ground beef. Topped with baby arugula, tomatoes, onions, or whatever you prefer.  We also love to use avocado, but did not have any at the time.

Life is beautiful.