Thread: Vegan Healthy Extras

Hey

Past history is that I'm a lifelong vegetarian who was vegan on and off many years ago. I'm now breastfeeding 4th child and re-joined SW at 6 weeks postnatal. Baby is having tummy troubles so I'm trying to eliminate dairy in my diet for a few weeks to see if it helps but.....

I can't stand vegan milk/cheese alternatives. I like tofu, and dairy free yogurt/dessert but that's about it and they're not HE's. I'm concerned about how on earth to consume the 4 HE A's I'm supposed to be eating and get enough calcium. If I take a calcium supplement (and eat plenty of green veg etc) can I just not have the HE's? or should I replace them with B's?

Does anyone have any experience of this?

I think the official SW answer would be you need to have dairy substitutes for your HexA - I drink alpro hazelnut milk which is quite nice and non-soya based.

However as you're breastfeeding and having problems with babies digestion I reckon you'd get more helpful (for you) advice on your calcium intake from your health visitor or a dietician.

I just made hot chocolate with the oatly milk and cocoa powder for 1/2 syn and it tasted fine so maybe I'll be drinking a lot of hot chocolate. It's just frustrating as vegans don't have to substitute cheese, they just eat other stuff instead, I guess SW is very prescriptive which is why I like it but in this instance not so much.

Why not have a chat with the Vegan Society? Maybe a proper nutritionist as well as IMHO health visitors are not very clued up about plant based diets, I found I was giving them information rather than the other way around. But that was a long time ago and maybe, just MAYBE they now include plant diets in their training. However, you sound as though you have your calcium intake sorted.

It sounds though really your issue is with SW saying you need the HEXA for the plan to work. If you are sure your diet is sound otherwise why not try leaving them out and see how your weight loss goes.

Being a biased and militant vegan I am pleased you are trying being dairy free agin, but very sorry that your baby has a poorly tummy. Congratulations on new bubba and hope the tummy issues settle down soon.

http://www.vegansociety.com/contactus.aspx

Hiya, probably not tonnes of help (im not vegan, though I try to aim for lots of plant based alternatives and the benfits are amazing!) .. but whilst on SW and bfing I decided not to have my HEX i found it very difficult to have them and after speaking to my C she said it was my choice and to just ensure I was eating enough over all.

My weightloss was fine, as was my milk. I successfully fed for 15 months. x