I was going to discuss nuts today, since it’s the Christmas season. I love nuts and I love that stores sell them in the shell (and also shelled): children (and adults) LOVE to crack nuts. I remember one of my daughter's preschool centers was cracking nuts, although each child could only crack 2 per day.
Today, I’m going to interview a “nut”: my daughter Nelia. I hope you enjoy a child’s perspective of whole foods, plant-based eating.
Q: What do you like about being vegan?
N: I’m not a vegan.
Q: What are you?
N: I’m not a carnivore, I’m not a vegan, I’m not a vegetarian.
Q: Do you eat animal products?
N: Yes. I do.
Q: Like what?
N: Meat, eggs, cheese, yogourt.
Q: Do you drink milk?
N: No, not animal milk. I drink Almond milk. Original.
Q: Did you like switching to Almond milk?
N: No, at first I didn’t. But I got used to it and, yeah.
Q: What fruit do you like?
N: Canteloupe, a lot. And, well, oranges, apples, raspberries, blueberries.
Q: What about veggies?
N: Carrots. Cauliflower, lettuce. That’s really all.
Q: What do you like about how eating plant food helps the environment?
N: Actually, it doesn’t really help the environment because you’re taking fresh air out of the planet. Cause when you…plants give you oxygen. If you see lettuce just anywhere or a plant and you pick it up and then they die for a flower.
Q: What about being green? Are you green?
N: Yes, I am very much. I like recycling and I once picked up trash in our neighborhood.
Q: Are you motivated to eat well so you can be healthy?
N: Kind of. If I have too much energy, then I’ll go crazy. If I have too much energy, then I’ll get hyper if I don’t let it out, because if I have a bunch of healthy stuff then it gives me energy in school and I’ll be sitting in school.
Q: So, is that why you still eat animal products?
N: Well, yeah. I still need my protein. I can’t live without bacon!
Q: What would you tell other people who are trying to eat healthy by eating more plant foods?
N: Well, I would tell them it’s okay to have some cheese or milk, because those don’t really make your stomach upset, and I would tell them that cut off the sugar a little bit.
Q: How do you cut off sugar?
N: Well, you can like, have ice cream once in a while and popsicles once in a while. You should get things with low sugar, like when I eat my popsicles they are real fruit juice. The flavoring and coloring [of popsicles in general] have sugar in it, and it’s not healthy for you. The real fruit juice has less sugar and it’s healthier for you.
Q: Have you given up candy?
N: Um, well, yeah, kind of. I still eat ice cream and popsicles, but that’s not really candy.
Q: What candy do you eat?
N: Only sometimes I have candy, and it’s usually like Reece’s or Snickers because they handed out Snickers in church once and [my teacher] Mrs. Jackson hands out Snickers and Reece’s.
Q: Thanks for sharing, Nelia.
N: You’re welcome.
Well, folks, that’s the real, hard truth in our household. She’s obviously half on board. Lourdes, her sister, declined an interviewed. She would have made me look like a much better WFPB mom! That’s the reality in our family: two of us are die-hard and two are, well, holding their own!
I hope you find some good, quality choices this Christmas and New Year’s, but, as Nelia said, it’s okay to still have some animal products and sugar…once in a while.
