To me doesn't make much sense at all, but then I am a vegan. From a health standpoint I am much better off without these items (too much cholesterol and fat). I also found with being an asthmatic, cutting milk and dairy out of my diet helped quite a bit. Any calcium you would loose can be derived (and is better assimilated) from other sources such as green leafy veggies.

Not to mention, there are a whole lot of dairy substitutes out there that are quite good without the cruelty.

Hello,

I am a vegetarian, and I continue to eat dairy and eggs.

Yes, green leafy vegetables are good sources of calcium, except for spinach; it is my understanding that spinach has very little absorbable calcium because of a chemical it contains that makes absorbing calcium very difficult. I read that the same thing applies to beans, but I think the chemical responsible is different. I just mentioned that in case someone reads this post and thinks that all green, leafy vegetables are equal in providing calcium. Does anyone know if chard has absorbable calcium?

Happy gardening!

Borealis

Does anyone know what to eat if one likes no fresh fruits? Cooked, caned ok but no fresh fruits! What could be substiuted?

Here is a link that might be useful: thornbush for life and selfhelp - go vegan

Hello,

It is my understanding that any processed fruits and vegetables are not very healthy, so if you decide to eat canned fruit for health reasons, then I guess that it will not be nearly as nutritious as fresh. Also, lots of canned fruit is served in syrup.

I guess you can dry fruit in a food dehydrator, and if you are not allergic to sulfites, then you could buy it already dried from supermarkets.

Do you eat frozen fruit?

Happy gardening!

Borealis

I too am a vegan. The suffering that dairy cows undergo is horrifying. Egg laying chickens are brutally confined and live short, pain filled lives.

For me, there is no other way.

Paul

I'm a vegan also. Check out the site www.notmilk.com

I have read other articles regarding the nutritional information on dairy products and it is not good for you...causes lots of acid in your body. Eat things that are more alkaline. No disease can grow in an alkaline environment.

I am vegetarian but still enjoy eggs, cheese and milk produced locally free-range and cruelty free. There is a HUGE difference between so-called free-range eggs sold at grocery stores and the ones I get from my local Farmer's Market. I can also usually get either cow or goat milk and cheese from the Farmer's Market. Humans are adept at processing this type of protean, I do not think there is any problem with consuming wholesome dairy products, just with the methods usually used to mass produce the products that are readily available.

I am a guilt ridden vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy. I still hope to be vegan some day but it took 47 years for me to give up meat. Not sure I'll still be of this world by the time I'm ready to take the next step. ;-)

Teri

I eat eggs and a little cheese occasionally. No longer drink the skim milk I've loved all my life, and very little dairy. I use only soy milk and plain yogurt, with an occasional scoop of ice cream.

I'm a vegetarian who started out thinking milk and eggs were okay, but have decided that they're not, as the creatures used to produce these products are treated just as cruelly as the animals farmed for their flesh. I am struggling to be vegan, sometimes its hard to find products that contain no dairy or eggs. For dairy substitutes, I've fallen in love with Soy Delicious and Tofutti frozen deserts, and also like the soy and rice (especially the rice)cheeses that are available. I've completely lost all taste for eggs and dairy, after researching the conditions of factory farmed laying hens (especially the debeaking of newborn chicks, that's heartbreaking) and milk cows (their babies are taken away from them almost immediately after birth, to be used for veal, another heartbreaking situation). I've completely lost all taste for dairy and eggs, and really wish there were more vegan products available in my very rural area. Does anyone know of any internet vendors of vegan food, that don't cost a fortune? Sandy

Sandy, DH is mostly Vegan and he used to get a lot of conveniince foods from the food-coop. Tree of Life only delivers to storefronts, but the first co-op we were in did have one and we bought a lot of things from them. United Natural Foods is where the co-op we now belong to buys. You can try emailing them from their site and ask if there are any buying clubs or food co-ops in your area. They send out a monthly catalog and you order through the club or co-op. Our current club is just about a dozen families. We don't order much anymore because we have Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Good Food Company available to us. Even our local Kroger has Yves' vegan lunchmeats, vegan yogurt, and some frozen foods. Amy's makes lucious frozen meals

Here is a link that might be useful: United Natural Foods

DH and I are fish-a-terian. Haven't been able to give up fish, mainly for Omega 3 and also to keep some social occasions from being too awkward. We have given up most milk. Soy milk works as a great replacement in cooking. I do occasionally use "half and half". I've found some good vegetarian cheese but still ocasionally use animal cheese but it causes me to feel guilty when I do this. Haven't been able to give up eggs, eat lots of these still. I try to buy the more expensive ones that say something like "free range" which (knowing capitalism) I'm sure they aren't really but still ... It's a struggle. We haven't eaten chicken, pork or beef since 10 years ago.

I'll eat organic, unpasturized dairy and eggs but not commercially produced, pasturized dairy. I found the following website which led me to a guy locally where I can buy it.

Here is a link that might be useful: don't drink your milk

i think chard lacks the oxylic (sp?) acid that is in spinach which interfers with the absorption of calicum or iron... sorry forget which. i love swiss chard not too fond of spinach. the former grows all season thru 90 degrees to 20 degrees. spinach bolts quickly in warm temps. i find chard a better choice.

i eat some cheese and love it. the odd thing is on pizza i like a minimum amount of cheese (don't want double cheese! the regular amount is often a bit too much) but give me an 8 oz chunk o cheese, any cheese, i'll eat it in 10 minutes! like ice cream, i try to not buy it other than as grated cheese. i use a minor amount of butter. i don't use milk or cream. i eat about a pint of yogurt a week. i love ice cream but i have only eaten it 2 or 3 times in the past 1 1/2 years. i could eat a quart a day therefore i avoid it. i eat eggs in the winter but not too often. i haven't had any for 7 or 8 perhaps 10 months. however, when i do eat eggs, i'll have 4-6 scrambled with veggies. kinda creepy tho knowing what it is! i like them but...

tom

I still eat cheese and eggs, and try to use soy milk instead of regular milk whenever possible. Count me among the guilt-ridden, but having made the adjustment to being vegetarian over the last 6 months, I'm not quite ready yet to go vegan.

I eat cheese and eggs, drink milk, use cream and butter, etc. I buy all of it from the local co-op, or directly from a local farm.

I don't feel guilty at all about it. I've met the cows that make the milk I drink, and the chickens laying the eggs. These are healthy, well-treated animals that don't live in cages and are allowed to roam in fresh air and sunshine. The cows are like family pets at this farm - with names like Latte and Cappuccino.

It's only in the 20th century that farm animals began to be treated so evilly, and pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.

DH calls me a "bread-and-cheese-a-tarian"!

I have never been a milk drinker. I have an occassional icecream, but I do enjoy cheeses (I live in Wisconsin). If I do eggs, they are free-range. My son is all-soy all-the-time so we have lots of soy around the house.

I have been vegan, fish-eterian, ova-lacto vegetarian, all variations - for the past 30 years. Currently the only dairy products I use are organic yogurt and organic eggs (from happy hens!) I have shifted my vegetarian perspective I think. Now it less about cruelty to animals (though of course that is a concern) and more about health issues. Yogurt is the only form of milk I seem able to digest. I rarely use eggs, but don't avoid things that contain them.

I think there are very few pure vegans - no leather, and so on - but I do admire the ones who have the tenacity to stick to it.