Taking a diet too far!

[ShawtyCat]

How can someone do this to a baby? Isn't this taking a diet to the extremes?

Couple Arrested For Child Endangerment For Putting Their Child On Strict Vegan Diet


(Queens-WABC, April 30, 2002) — A Queens couple who put their infant on a strict vegan diet have been arrested, accused of child endangerment for almost starving their daughter to death.
Prosecutors say 21 year old Joseph and Silva Swinton, of Queens Village, fed the 16 month-old only ground nuts, herbal tea and cod liver oil. They say the infant was never breast fed or given formula, and weighed only 10 pounds when she arrived at the hospital in November.

The baby is now in foster care, and has gained 10 pounds, but authorities say she still suffers severe development problems.

The couple's lawyer says the diet was part of their lifestyle.

[Athenaeus]

Oh Shawty Cat!

There are people that they are able to do incredible things to children.
Maybe it's a good idea not to see the news. I have quited that bad habit too. News drive me crazy.

[ShawtyCat]

Maybe you are right ~A~. Ill soon have 3 kids..I love my babies! I know people who would love to have kids but can't. It breaks my heart to see stuff like this. Kids don't deserve that. Make you feel frustrated, mad and helpless all at once.

~sigh~ I usually turn the channel after Oprah finishes and watch something light. Didn't get to the remote in time I guess.

[Isa]

They'll tell you they thought they were doing the best thing for their kid.

[CompassRose]

There was a case late last year, even more tragically, of a couple in England who actually DID starve their child to death this way. The mother, also on a strict vegan (IIRC, raw food?) diet, could not breast-feed -- and when their daughter's health declined, they actually fed her juice to "purify" her.

They were not given a jail sentence, because the judge said that the pain of their daughter's death, plus losing custody of their other children, was punishment enough.

[chloe23]

It makes me sick to hear how people can be so cruel and stupid to their own kid. I think the society is too focused on diets and being skinny that they are ruining a kid's health. The sad thing is that even young teenagers are not eating right because of the fad of staying thin. The media sure knows how to distort images for people

[foodnfoto]

Veganism is not a weight loss diet. It's a philosophical choice made by well-informed people. It is possible to raise a healthy child on a vegan diet, but understanding of pediatric nutrition is essential. I was a vegan when I had my first child and raised her on a vegan/vegetarian diet. I also breast fed her for 13 months. She is now 23 and had always been very healthy. She never had any of that "day-care crud"--coughing, ear infections, etc. that many children who are fed a lot a dairy products get. The only time I remember her being sick was when she had the chicken pox. Neither of us are vegetarians now. You know, your attitudes and philosophies change over time.
Don't get me wrong, what those parents did was wrong-they probably used veganism as a handy excuse as to why they were starving their daughter. They obviously never took the child to a pediatrician or informed themselves of the necessary efforts they would have to make to raise a child as a vegan. I'm only saying that it can be done and done well with the proper care.

[ShawtyCat]

That's what I was upset about! They were NOT feeding the kid a Vegan diet. A few vegans even spoke out about it. They could have at least fed the baby SOY MILK! There are lots of organic baby products out there in the supermarket. And if they wanted to be totally anal they could buy organic fresh veggies and use a blender or juicer! That's what I did and Im not even Vegan. And Vegans DO take their kids to the doc for checkups and shots! They twisted Veganism to fit their means.

It's absolutely sickening!

Sorry for the rant. I can't take seeing a kid treated like that.



Jodi

PS

I apologize Foodnfoto. Never meant to say that veganism is a diet. Its really a philosophy I think. A way of life ....that incorporates food as well. BTW I breastfed my daughter for 11 months and she had a full mouth of teeth! Had to kick her off when she bit me one day.

[CompassRose]

Yes, foodnfoto -- I didn't mean for my post to sound critical of veganism either (as a failed vegan/vegetarian myself).

It's ignorance -- it certainly was in the British case. That's what steams me -- these idiots do things like this, and make all the many, many veg*ns who do exhaustive research and are far better nourished than average, with flourishing, healthy kids, look bad! Then I get my mother calling. "You see what this silly vegetarianism gets you? This child is dead because of this silly vegetarian thing!"

It's just that that's the aspect that stands out for the media -- never mind that the people in question may be otherwise stupid/completely wacked out/whatever. They seize on the "veg*n" and that's what the public sees.

[ShawtyCat]

It's really hard to find a phrase that matches. When I said "diet" I was refering to the Food Pyramid (ie. The Mediterranean Diet etc.). Unfortunately, these days it seems that with all the "Fad Diets" out there people hear the word "diet" and associate it with losing weight not with eating healthy as it was originally intended. An unfortunate twist of words.

Jodi

[foodnfoto]

I took no offense to any of the posts above. I just wanted to clarify, for those who might not know, what vegan/vegetarianism is and can be for many of those who practice it as a lifestyle.
I have a hunch the parents accused of starving their child only practice veganism as a way to enhance the effectiveness of whatever recreational drugs they were doing. Believe me, I'm not making this up. Back in my old "love the earth" "be here now" hippie days, many people I knew only were vegetarians because they believed eating meat would hinder the high they got from various hallucinogens. I always thought that was horse ****. I only ate the diet because I felt healthier. Years in food service cured me of that.
I could go on about the inconsistencies in their rationale, but who wants another boring story about the brain-addled?
I feel sorry for the kids.