Mom2Mom Lounge

In an ongoing effort to get healthy and stay healthy, I spoke with LaTara Ham Ying of Vegan Family Living to find out how adding vegan cooking to your family table can help get and stay healthy. I know I will never be completely vegan, but LaTara shows how you don’t have to be, it’s not an all or nothing deal.

1. Tell us about your show Vegan Family Living. - The Vegan Family Living Podcast is all about helping transitioning and new vegans learn more about cooking vegan and doing so with ease. IT is my desire to take the guessing game out of what it takes to cook vegan meals. I thank God I had my husband but he was not always there to help me learn about preparing vegan meals. A lot I learned by trial and error. I want to help eliminate that. I am no gourmet cook. I am more like Rachel Ray, I started learning in the kitchen at 8 and I am 38 now still cooking. It’s just that now I do it differently being that I am vegan.

2. When did you become a vegan and why? - I became a vegan by force 5 years ago this month. Really I did. You see my husband had this warp view of life when I married him and he felt that if he was eating vegan then we all should eat that way. He learned very quickly that I am not the one you force to do anything. It was a battle he did not win. He was only trying to help because he knew I was overweight with high cholesterol, but he tactics were really ugly. I finally saw the being a vegan was good for me because of all the health issues that loomed around me. Either I was going to get it or I had it. While I still struggle, I am glad I made the switch.

3. What does being a vegan entail? - Well that depends on what kind of vegan you are. There are those whose lifestyle is everything vegan and then there are those who, like my family, are dietary vegans. For the most part all vegans steer clear of all eating products made by animals. However, I and many other vegans still use honey because technically it is not made by bees but that is another story. Then there are those vegans who are staunch animal activist and use no animal products as all and work hard, sometimes taking it overboard in my opinion, to protect animals.

4. Is it challenging raising a vegan family with all the unhealthy influences in children’s lives in school, etc…? - For me it is not that difficult because I grew up eating at home. We did not eat out much when I was a child; except on pay days when my mother would bring home Kentucky Fried or Fish. Now that I am a mom I set the same rules for my boys but with a healthier approach. Since we homeschool I do not have to be concerned with the unhealthy influences of most school lunches and when my boys go are at their social activities they are pretty clear on what can and cannot go in the belly. My teen-ager is very responsible when it comes to eating. I guess I am just blessed. No, let me correct that, I know that I am blessed with children who truly understand the value of good health.

5. How can people benefit from adding some vegan cooking to their lives? - I always tell people that it is good to try and be about 40% vegan. It took me a long time to get to the 90-95% I am at. Like I said I still struggle. A vegan diet is low in fat, has no cholesterol, is usually “fiberful” as I call it, is full of vitamins and is a great way to add raw into your diet. When you opt to add more vegan meals to your diet you tend to open your eyes to more healthy eating possibilities. I think that is a good reason to try all vegan meals at least twice a week.

6. What are some of your favorite resources for vegan cooking? - There are so many. Of course Vegan Family Living and all the great recipes, the ezine, and all the stuff that is coming like Transitioning Vegan Support Group. Also I highly recommend Vegetarian Times magazine, The Fat Free Vegan Blog, The Soy Daily News, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Thanks to LaTara for giving us some great ideas to cook more healthy meals for our families. Be sure to visit Vegan Family Living and Moms Talk Radio for more wonderful podcasts for moms!