"vegans are all skinny and malnourished,"

"vegans are all fat."

::blink::

Basically, I have no love of agressive self-righteousness no matter what the diet habits of the, umm, self-righteouswad.

One of my friend's brother and SIL were raw foodist. The knew a lot more about nutrition than most people. They raised their kids that way. ( it was pretty wild to see kids get excited over a raw cauliflower snack ) One day one of their 'friends' called child services on them, because the friend didn't feel they were feeding their kids right. After a though exam,massive health history , and an investigation of the kids diet - the only suggestion is that they might want to add some cooked beans to the kids diets - just for a little more protein

One of those experiences that convinced me that there are lots of ways to eat properly

Idiots. During an interview with a potential pediatrician the dude told me he wouldn't have my child as a patient if I were vegetarian during my pregnancy because it was so unhealthy. And I ate eggs and cheese! Needless to say, he wasn't selected. And my healthy boys didn't get meat or dairy until after they were 2 years old.

For the record the boys eat whatever they want now. So long as they are healthy it isn't a battle I choose to fight.

self-righteouswad

Love this.

I've had issues with my vegetarianism with doctors a few times. The only major one was when a doctor insisted that women can't be vegetarian, because we lose blood every month and have to eat meat to replace it. (This doctor had apparently never heard of bone marrow.) Doctors have also sometimes tried to convince me to eat fish for the omega-3s, but I say no and tell them that I eat cereal with flax in it, and that seems good enough for them.

The only vegans I get annoyed at are the ones who think they're morally superior to me. I also must confess to baiting a few self-righteous types who think we're oppressing the cuddly cows. I know my diet sucks and that factory livestock farming isn't conducive to happy karma, but primates are omnivores and humans live in a lot of places where animal protein is the primary food source. I got into an argument once with someone who insisted all humans should be made to be vegan, but she was a little unclear on how to organize the food drops to the Inuit out on the ice.

You've done the teaching part, laura. As long as you don't have to cook 4 different meals ( which you could do...but)

We had some Tuvan throat singers living in our neighborhood for awhile. More or less Mongolia. Guess who didn't really eat much in the way of fruit or green vegetables. Guess why? yup, they don't really see them there.

I have issues with a certain breed of vegan, but I also have issues with some attachment parenting zelots, and I AP. It's a mindset issue, not a diet one.

Yeah, I cook and they either eat what is served or they cook for themselves. I truly love having capable sprog.

During my pregnancies I had to have a nutritionist give me a diet per doctor's orders because of the diabetes. Neither my OB or the nutritionist had any problem at all with vegetarianism.