Can a child thrive on a vegan diet? The answer is yes! Far more studies show that a
typical ‘Western Diet’ has deleterious effects on health compared to the risks of a
vegan diet. In fact, vegetarian diets are associated with disease resistance and even
higher I.Q.’s in children. (1-5)

With proper planning and a bit of self-education, parents should feel confident in
giving their child a diet free of animal products.

Healthy food choices include the following:

Protein dense foods: beans, soy, whole grains, nuts, etc.

Calcium sources: beans, leafy greens, figs, blackstrap molasses, fortified beverages,
etc.

Iron sources: grains, dried fruit, coconut milk, blackstrap molasses, soybeans,
beans, etc.

Zinc sources: nuts, seeds, grains, chickpeas, soybeans, etc.

Avoid wheat and nuts until after one year of age, to avoid possible food sensitivities.

Supplementation may be necessary for children who are picky eaters, but most
nutritional needs can be met through diet. Vitamins D and B12 may be the
exception, and parents should ensure an optimal supply through fortified foods or
supplements.

Finding community support can be very important in helping your child maintain
healthy eating habits, as vegan diets are often misunderstood and even feared by
well-meaning family members, neighbours, and teachers. Many excellent resources
exist that can help educate those in your child’s life who have concerns, and
possibly alleviate any misconceptions they may have.

Raising a child on a vegan diet can be challenging in today’s world of hot-dogs and
ice cream, but parents should be assured that research is on their side.

The following sources are particularly supportive of vegan diets for children:

The Vegetarian Society UK vegsoc.org

The Vegetarian Resource Group vrg.org

European Vegetarian Union ivu.org

Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine pcrm.org

Becoming Vegan Brenda Davis, R.D., and Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.

1. O’Connell JM, Dibley MJ, Sierra J et al: Growth of vegetarian children: The Farm
Study. Pediatrics 1989;84:475-481.

2. Fisher M, Levine PH, Weiner B, et al. The effects of vegetarian diets on plasma
lipid and platelet levels. Arch Inter Med 1986;146:1193-1197.

3. Chang-Claude J, Frentzel-Beyme R, Eilber U. Mortality pattern of German
vegetarians after 11 years of follow-up. Epidemiology 1992;3:395-401.

4. Thorogood M, Mann J, Appleby P, McPherson K. Risk of death from cancer and
ischaemic heart disease in meat and non-meat eaters. Brit Med J 1994;308:1667
-1670.

5. Dwyer JT, Miller LG, Arduino NL, et al. Mental age and I.Q. of predominately
vegetarian children. J Am Dietetic Assoc 1980;76:142-147.

Stacelynn Caughlan is a Clinical Nutritionist and Certified Herbalist who specializes
in pregnancy, birth and childhood. She is currently the editor of motherandchildhealth.com motherandchildhealth.com an online resource for women looking for
information on natural health and healing for themselves and their families.

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Among practitioners of Hinduism and Buddhism, yoga is practiced as a means on enlightenment; while in the West, yoga is now practiced as both an effective physical and spiritual routine. However, contrary to popular belief, yoga is not considered a form of exercise because unlike the the speedy motion required in an workout, yoga involves very slow and steady movements. But still, regular practice of yoga provides great health benefits, as it tones the muscles as well as relieves stress, strengthens concentration, and reduces the aging process. There are prerequisites to yoga that you should follow to attain its maximum benefits. Please follow our guide to attain maximum benefits.

Practice yoga everyday – Make yoga a habit for at least 30 to 45 minutes.

Know your body limits – Try not to overextend your stretches. If you push too hard, you could hurt yourself in the process.

Consult your physician first – People with certain medical conditions should practice yoga minimally to avoid worsening of their ailments.

Yoga is best practiced during early mornings – If you have to do yoga in an afternoon or evening, remember to have an empty stomach. Consume solid foods 3 ½ hours before yoga, while liquids should be drank one hour before practicing.

Choose the right yoga space – Practice yoga on a spacious, clean, airy, and bright area, away from much disturbances. And don’t forget your yoga mat or other comfortable mat that you can use during postures that require lying down.

Wear comfortable clothing – Make sure your garments are loose and clean. Undergarments are necessary.

Pregnant or menstruating women should avoid practicing yoga – This routine involves several body bends and pressures on the back, which could affect pregnancy and menstruation.

If you can, follow a vegetarian diet – Most practitioners of yoga are also vegetarians since yoga slows down the metabolism. If you have difficulty venturing to vegetarianism, try consuming lesser foods.

Begin by breathing deeply – The yoga poses (or asanas) usually start in breathing slowly and deeply as you concentrate your mind and make yourself centered. Remember that your body movements and breathing must be coordinated until such time that they are united. Your breathing also serves as your guide on when to start or stop the yoga position.

Move gracefully – In yoga, movement flows like air. Come into a pose slowly yet gracefully, hold that pose for several minutes, and come out of it with the same graceful and continuous movement.

Visit

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Vegetarians Eat Up Web Analytics

For online marketers, here is some food for thought: approximately 10 million vegetarians live in the United States. Millions more admit they want to adopt a “more vegetarian” lifestyle by reducing their intake of meat and dairy. The first step to cultivating this market is a well-designed Web site. But to make competitors green with envy, companies must utilize Web analytics.

Web analytics helps sellers understand:

who and where their customers are;
what keywords attract them to the Web site;
what information they seek; and,
on what page and why they leave the site.

In the diverse vegetarian market, online behavior is hard to predict. People buy products for a wide variety of reasons —everything from health and weight loss to expressing political and social concerns. Vegetarian consumers run the gamut in terms of age, geographic location, education, income, and buying habits.

For these reasons, Web analytics plays a critical role in Web site performance: tools such as Google™ Analytics and Omniture™ allow sellers to pinpoint their customers and sharpen marketing programs.

What to advertise. Keyword analysis reveals the search terms visitors use on search engines to enter the site. Besides refining the customer profile, keyword analysis improves keyword-optimized Web site content and pay-per-click, or PPC, advertising. Keyword analysis of internal site search terms provides valuable marketing insight as well.

Where to advertise. Referrer data shows the volume of traffic each search engine sends to the site, helping marketers determine where to focus their PPC efforts. Understanding where to advertise stretches ad budgets, increases click-through rates, and adds customers.

How to advertise. Advertising campaigns continuously improve thanks to Web analytics. With split testing, marketers can compare click-through and conversion rates for slightly different e-mail blasts, newsletters, and PPC ads. As they systematically refine their approach with stronger content, graphics, and page navigation, marketers gain the edge in search engine visibility and site traffic.

Total customer satisfaction. New and existing customer profiling is possible with advanced analytics tools. Sometimes behavior differs in important ways. For example, if a disproportionate number of new visitors exit from a particular page, it may indicate confusing language or navigation that returning customers grudgingly put up with. If regular customers always order supplement “A” with food item “B”, the products might be bundled to attract new business.

In the vegetarian world, using guesswork for Web site development and search marketing bears little fruit. With analytics tools readily available at little or no cost, it is easy enough to transform an online business from small potatoes into a healthy pile of crisp, green lettuce!

Aaron Wittersheim is president of Whoast Inc., a suburban Chicago search marketing firm. For more information, visit whoast.com www.whoast.com

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My mother gave up saying this a very long time ago. Much to her despair I grew up on a diet largely dominated by pizza and chocolate (don’t try this at home). When I elected to turn vegetarian at age 13, vegetarians were not as common as nowadays, and many people assumed I ate only vegetables. Nothing could be further from the truth. Until quite recently you’d be hard pushed to find a fresh fruit or vegetable in my kitchen. They would be bought sometimes with good intentions but would end up providing only visual satisfaction.

A friend suggested I get a juicer. Fresh vegetable juice is popularly considered very beneficial - as a balm for many complaints and as a general aid to wellbeing. Nowadays at the supermarket checkout I no longer hang my head in shame but have to stop myself from beaming proudly at the queue behind as my abundant greens hit the conveyor belt (neatly concealing the odd slab of chocolate underneath of course).

I’m not saying it’s changed my life, but knowing I’ve already downed my government regulation “five daily portions” before I even start work has an encouraging psychological impact on the day, regardless of the physical benefits.

It is widely thought that organic fruit and vegetables are better value nutritionally. Others say it’s nonsense. There’s an interesting page at www.organicconnection.net. I buy organic when I can – even if it’s all psychological, it makes me feel better.

Some say it’s not good to have too much fruit juice as opposed to vegetable juice, because it messes with the insulin levels. Others say it’s not good to mix fruit and vegetables, some say it’s good to vary the ingredients so as to avoid developing allergies, yet more say there’s no point in juicing at all. All I can say is that it makes me feel good. I quite often get up feeling groggy, but after meditating and having a fresh juice I feel as good as new.

Whatever some juicing critics may say, it’s been proven in many ways that fresh raw food retains its nutrients. Juicing just means you can digest a lot of nutrients without having to deal with a massive bulk of fibre in the process. It’s more than just vitamins and minerals though. Try it for yourself and see if you agree - drinking fresh juice feels like absorbing the very life energy of the plant.

It’s fun to experiment with different combinations - I’ve made as many disgusting discoveries as delicious ones. Apples, carrots or celery are well-known for blending well with other things, and ginger seems to make pretty much anything taste good. Garlic is not for the faint-hearted or overly sociable, but it’s fiercely good for you.

There are a lot of machines on the market. I went for the Moulinex Juicemaster Plus which worked out about $90 US. You can spend hundreds if you want to get something really durable and efficient, but this one has served me well. I’ve used it nearly every day for at least 6 months and can definitely say it’s money well spent.

srichinmoycentre.org/Members/sumangali/ Sumangali Morhall is a member of the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Cardiff Wales. She works in a running shop “Run and Become” Sumangali enjoys writing prose and poetry and edits a website about the music of radiosrichinmoy.org/sri_chinmoy/ Sri Chinmoy

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Tags: allergies, diet, Heart, mineral, vegetarians