Chandu, as far as my views goes I consider vegetarianism is principally of consuming foods that come from plants such as roots, leaves, stocks, fruits, grains, etc. Basically, any part of a plant that can be safely consumed by a human being. I don't really consider dairy products as being vegetarian in nature because that comes from cows, goats, etc and I don't consider eggs vegetarian either because those come from ducks, chickens, and geese.

As to the issue of avoiding the destruction of any life form then you are going to find that is pretty much unavoidable no matter what you eat regardless if it comes from a plant or an animal. Fruits carry the seeds required for that plant to reproduce so if you happily munch down on an orange, apple, grape, etc you are in a sense killing the plant's young. You can minimize this by saving and planting the seeds, but most people don't do that. If you cut down a celery plant to eat its stocks you are once again killing that plant to eat its stocks. If you dig up a carrot or onion to eat it you are once again killing the plant because carrots and onions are a vital part of that plants root system. Eating its roots is going to kill the plant. Grains like wheat, oats, etc are a part of a plants reproductive system so once again we are back to eating the plant's young.

Point being, if you are adopting vegetarianism out of some altruistic sense not to kill life be it fish, cows, sheep, fowl, etc then you haven't considered the fact that we kill plants all the time in order to eat their seeds, roots, stocks, and so forth. Unless a person is willing to starve to death taking life in order to survive is all a part of the natural order of things. Every animal in the world does it so I think adopting a vegetarian diet should be done out of health benefits not because someone is squeamish about killing a cow for hamburger or turning a chicken in to chicken filets.

here's an ethical question.

From my reading, and having a vegan couple as neighbors, I know how restrictive the diet can be. I know just how difficult it is to get the nutrients you need from a vegan diet-- hard, not impossible. Many protein sources from veggies are incomplete, with soy being the only exception. this means that you have to fit your diet together like a puzzle to make sure you get the proteins your body needs. you have to be very aware and willing to focus on your nutrition to make sure you're living well. It's easy, on a vegan diet, to miss out on very vital nutrients. Us meat-eaters usually don't know or care what nutrients in our food, and mostly, we don't have to worry so long as we eat some salad every now and then. Vegans have to stay on top of all that.

so, the question, and keep in mind that I don't know a whole lot. Is it irresponsible for a pregnant mother to be on a vegan diet?

So many vital nutrients come from milk, eggs, yogurt, and other dairy stuff. I know my neighbors talk about "their numbers" and how they fluctuate from good to bad. I assume these are numbers relating to their nutrition. Unborn babies can easily be malformed or have birth defects if not given the right amount of nutrition in the womb. If I were vegan, I would be terrified of not giving my child enough of one thing or another, especially when it comes to complete and essential proteins. A vegan diet has to be constantly and carefully monitored it seems like, and even more so if you got a baby to feed.

Thoughts?

no,I don't think so. as long as the mother is taking good care of the requirements, a vegan diet is no problem. like you yourself wrote, it's just finding a balanse between the different foods.

I guess that's my biggest concern with a pregnant woman on a vegan diet, is that so many people just don't take the time to care. However, all of the 3 vegetarians or vegans I know do take extra care and pride in what they eat. I guess that goes along with the lifestyle.

I think that because you do have to watch what you eat, vegetarians *generally* are more healthy than most of the American population especially. I mean, it's rare to see a vegetarian at McDonald's snacking on fries or a milkshake. they're very into things like healthy lettuce wraps and the Mediterranean diet, both very healthy and wonderful things.

Speaking to the meat aspect, I never much cared about what kind of meat I ate until I started dating a four-time cancer surviver. Frozen fried chicken in a box? Sounds like dinner to me. Living with him, we buy organic milk and eggs and meat when we can. It's pretty disconcerting how chemical-laced most foods are. If I could afford it, I'd buy all organic anything I could find. Sadly, I work a part-time job, and he's still in school. In the US, it seems to me that everyone wants everything cheaper. The food industry has over 300 million people to feed, and they all want the cheapest meat possible. to keep up with that demand, farmers resort to all kinds of bad practices to keep prices low and keep the product coming. the media would be all in a fit if a Burger King burger was found to contain horse meat, but nobody cares what quality the meat itself is... as long as we can pretend it's cow.