I'm listening to the radio this morning, and I hear, "A mother in Phoenix is charged with starving her children. They were on a vegan diet."
Then the news man decides to editorialize, "You know, vegan diets just aren't good for kids."
Ok, who made the news man a nutritional expert? Further, there obviously was something missing from the story. There's a very detailed piece from a Phoenix newspaper here. I'll give you the highlights.
Yes, the family was vegan, but....
- The parents were terrified of childhood obesity.
- They shunned doctors. Their children had never seen a doctor, nor did they have any immunizations.
- The children had epilepsy, and even with that disease the parents would not take the kids to a doctor. Instead, they relied on a homeopathic woman who prescribed herbs.
- One child died of untreated grand mal seizures.
- The family limited the amount of time the kids could eat.
Vegan diets are getting more press and more acceptance. It is still frustrating to see stories like this manipulated to make veganism look irresponsible.
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5 comments:
yeah- that would be bad parenting - NOT being vegan.. SHEESH!
Great post!
I guess vegan diet would be more accepted by people, if many doctors advocated vegan diet...
I would go so far as to say that those people weren't vegan. I think these stories about parents who starve their children take a word, like vegan, that means one thing and really they mean that the parents were forcing anorexia on their children, not veganism. Not eating anything, nor only eating one thing (e.g. carrots, from the news story a few months back) does not constitute a vegan diet. It's ridiculous sensationalism.
as with that NY Times article a few months ago, about the "vegan parents starving their child to death," this article outraged me as well - the fact that these reporters are focusing on their veganism instead of the basic fact that these poor children were victims of child abuse, is so disgusting. it's as if they're saying that if the parents were meat-eaters, then the child abuse wouldn't be as "severe" - outrageous!! vegan diets, when planned PROPERLY, are healthy!! articles like this one, unfortunately, make people believe otherwise :0(
This kind of stuff frustrates me to no end.
I guess you just have to view it as an opportunity to educate, though.
I'm so glad there are doctors out there like you, who get it.
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