Body + Soul 9
JEREMY YOUNG; BBC; COURTESY OF TULIP MAZUMDARTulip Mazumdarin saturated fat, associated with
increased risk of heart disease, with
more than one in five vegan dishes
providing more than half of an adult’s
maximum daily intake for saturated fat.Go easy on vegan cheese — it’s full of
saturated fat
Coconut oil is often used for vegan
cheese alternatives because it is one of
few plant-based fats that is solid at room
temperature. But getting anything to
taste remotely like cheese requires the
addition of starch, flavourings and salt.
Typically, a vegan cheese provides
around 2.3g of salt per 100g, more than
the 1.8g in the same amount of mature
cheddar. And while plant-based cheeses
contain slightly less fat overall, they tend
to contain similar amounts of saturated
fat (19g per 100g) to regular cheese
(21.5g per 100g). It is saturated fat that
increases LDL (low-density lipoprotein)
or bad cholesterol which can cause fatty
plaque build-up in arteries. Look for
cheese that has been fortified with
calcium and vitamin B12.Don’t assume vegan desserts are
more healthy
A vegan dessert is not necessarily better
for you than a regular chocolate mousse
or cheesecake. According to Lanham-
New, when manufacturers take out
ingredients such as butter and eggs, they
often add in gums, pectins, flavourings
and other additives to enhance texture
and taste. Also be wary of products made
with coconut milk, which is relatively
high in saturated fat and calories.
Typically, a 100g of coconut milk
yoghurt provides 195 calories and 16g of
saturated fat compared with 72 calories
and 2.5g saturated fat in the same
amount of plain cow’s milk yoghurt.Beware of lentil/chickpea crisp snacks
Pulses form the basis of many savoury
vegan snacks from curly lentil twists to
chickpea puffs. And while beans and
pulses are almost universally approved
by nutritionists in their natural form
because they contain fibre, protein,
vitamins and minerals including iron, the
same cannot always be said of the snack
food versions. Indeed a survey of 119
vegan pulse-based snacks early this year
found 43 per cent of them to be high in
salt with some saltier than Atlantic
seawater, which contains 2.5g of salt
per 100g. They included Simply 7 Lentil
Crisps with 3.4g salt per 100g, more than
double the amount in regular ready
salted crisps (1.4g per 100g).Second trimester losses are
described as rare, also about
one in 100 pregnancies.
If a baby is born after 24
weeks in the UK (or after 20
in the US), it’s described as a
stillbirth and the baby is offi-
cially recognised in a still-
birth register. If a baby is
born before that, it’s called a
miscarriage and it is not offi-
cially recognised — and in
many countries, including
the UK, it isn’t even officially
counted.
I was just “unlucky”, I was
told. All my investigative tests
came back normal and we
were advised simply to try
again.
So we did, and we got preg-
nant again the same year. I
was terrified, depressed and
exhausted with grief. But I was
fast approaching 40, and wait-
ing didn’t feel like a good op-
tion.
I did what you’re strongly
advised not to do, and listened to
my baby’s heartbeat from home
regularly. It was beautiful and pre-
cious and fragile. I had a number of
reassurance scans, supported by
Sarah, the amazing bereavement
midwife at King’s College Hospital
in London. I returned to work and
tried to get through the days,
weeks and months.
Then, again well into my second
trimester, I was back in scanning
room 9. I’d had a scan just four days
earlier — my baby’s heartbeat was strong.
Everything was normal. Everything was
going to be OK, despite the tears streaming
down my face as they applied the cold gel.
This reaction had been pretty standard for
all of my scans since losing Rivah.
There was silence as she moved the de-
vice across my belly.
I.
Am.
So.
Sorry.
Rae was born four days later. The birth
was traumatic. I lost a lot of blood and end-
ed up having to go into theatre.
Like I had done with Rivah, I spent the
night with Rae. He lay beside me, wrapped
in a tiny yellow gown and placed in a spe-
cial cot that’s kept cold. I had brought
leaves from the myrtle tree we had planted
for Rivah, and orange rose petals, which I
placed beneath him.
I had experience this time and knew
how to try to make our brief time together
special. I bought LED candles, a book to
read him, and decorated the little white
box they put him in, with metallic felt-
tip pens. I placed the little knitted blue
teddy we were given in our memory box by
his side.
When I was ready, I called my husband
to come and pick me up. Rion came
bounding into the postnatal ward too, full
of smiles. He didn’t understand what was
happening, but I felt it was important that
he was part of it. He had recently become
very excited about knocking on various
surfaces — so he entered the room and
headed straight for his brother’s chilled cot
and duly started knocking on the side of it.
I lifted him up and introduced him to Rae.
It all felt utterly surreal and slightly ridicu-
lous. How could this be happening?
Leaving Rae that day was excruciating. I
cut a lock of my hair, and laid it across his
tiny chest. I kissed him goodbye and told
him I loved him for all of time. Then I
turned and left — passing a ju-
bilant dad carrying a pristine
new car seat, coming to take his
wife and newborn baby home.
I know how terribly sad all of
this sounds, and it was. But parts
of it were also beautiful and lov-
ing and important for me to do.
I know many women, and their
partners, can’t — or don’t want
to — spend time with their ba-
bies after losing a pregnancy. My
husband chose not to. But I men-
tion it here to try to remove
some of the horror from this
situation and replace it with
love. The love a mother has for
the baby she carried.
Sometimes I imagine Rivah
and Rae existing in two paral-
lel universes. In one, a version
of me is watching Rivah per-
haps taking his first steps. In
that world I have no idea of
the colossal loss I so narrowly
missed. Then, in another uni-
verse, I am holding Rae close,
kissing his soft skin and whis-
pering in his ear, telling him
about his older brother Rivah.
If you have lost a pregnan-
cy, I am so sorry.
If you know someone who has
experienced such a loss, consider
asking them about it.
It’s so hard to know what to
say, and everyone is different.
When Rivah was born, all I
wanted to do for months after-
wards was tell everyone every
single detail about him. With
Rae, it was the opposite. I was
stunned into silence.
But for me, it’s feeling like I can
talk about my losses if I need or
want to, and that it doesn’t need to be this
dark sad secret that can only be discussed
in hushed, soft tones.
It is acknowledgement of the cherished
lives that have been lost.
Follow @TulipMazumdar on Twittertos
s
lo
tha
le
o
h
t
th
m
v
k
p
acystronge a s W w w s R s tTreasured items gathered want to an
in memory of Rae and
Rivah (top). Middle,
Mazumdar reporting in
Conakry, Guinea. Above,
with her son, RionM
ore of us than ever are giving
up meat and turning to plant-
based foods. Almost a quarter
of Britons cut back on animal
products last year, according to the
Vegan Society. This is good for the
planet and, nutrition experts say, it’s
good for our health — but only if we
follow certain rules.
Of course most vegans will naturally
eat plenty of vegetables and are aware
that keeping an eye on iron intake is
important but that’s not always enough
to ensure optimal nutrition. Being
careful of the kinds of processed foods
you eat is crucial, even if they are plant-
based. Checking labels for sugar and salt
content is as important as adding plenty
of grains and protein to your diet. Susan
Lanham-New, professor of nutritional
sciences at the University of Surrey
warns: “Vegans should pay extra
attention to food labels and ingredients
lists, as there is potential for plant-based
alternatives to be highly processed, low
in nutrients and high in salt and sugar.”
Dr Tammy Tong, a nutritional
epidemiologist at the University of
Oxford who studies the health effects
of vegan diets, says: “Studies have
shown that many vegans have a higher
consumption of ultra-processed foods
than the rest of the population.”
Processed food is generally more calorific.
One study in the journal Cell Metabolism
showed that eaters of ultra-processed
food consumed an average 508 calories
a day more (about 3,000 total calories a
day compared with 2,500 calories on
minimally processed food) and gained
2lb in 14 days as a result. So how can
you make sure a vegan diet is healthy?Be careful with ‘fake’ meat — opt for
unprocessed proteins where possible
Vegan “meats” — from fake burgers and
faux chicken nuggets to vegan steak pies
— are not automatically healthier than
lean meat. Unless they have been
fortified, meat alternatives lack iron and
B vitamins. “You need to check the small
print for salt content and to find out if
the product is fortified with nutrients
you would find in meat,” says Lanham-
New. Instead, eat other, unprocessed
proteins such as pulses, grains, nuts
and seeds, which she says are actively
beneficial. In the UK, a daily intake of
0.75g of protein per kilogram of body
weight is recommended. About 80g of
chickpeas provides 6g of protein, while
80g of cooked red lentils provides 7g,
according to the Vegan Society.Check the salt content before you eat
Large amounts of salt are often added to
prepared vegan foods. A survey by the
charity Action on Salt, based at Queen
Mary University of London, showed that
28 per cent of vegan meat products
surveyed contained worrying amounts
of sodium, so check labels.
In another survey carried out by
Action on Salt last year, three out of five
plant-based restaurant meals were found
to contain 3g or more salt — that’s half
an adult’s maximum daily intake of salt.
Of the 151 meals analysed, 19 provided
6g or more salt — the entire maximum
daily limit for an adult in one meal. Two
thirds of healthy-sounding plant-based
meals available in fast food and coffee
chains would get a red label for being
high in salt (meaning more than 1.8g salt
per portion). Many dishes were also highb
n
wth
o
in
I
p
to
b
hHow to be a healthy
vegan by Peta Bee