{"id":15971,"date":"2020-08-20T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=15971"},"modified":"2020-08-07T12:37:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T16:37:51","slug":"wic-programs-offer-foods-for-vegans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/20\/wic-programs-offer-foods-for-vegans\/","title":{"rendered":"WIC Programs Offer Foods for Vegans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/wic-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/wic-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/wic.png 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In these economically\nchallenging times, the WIC (Women,\nInfants, Children) Program can be a help to many families with infants and\nyoung children. According to USDA\u2019s website, WIC serves about half of all\ninfants born in the United States. WIC was developed to protect the health of\nlow-income pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and children up to age 5.\nThe program provides participants with vouchers that are used to purchase\nspecific foods that are identified as being nutritious. WIC is administered by\nthe USDA and by state health departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For vegan post-partum women\nand young children, WIC food options may include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Fresh,\nfrozen, and canned fruits and vegetables<\/li><li>100%\njuice<\/li><li>Breakfast\ncereals (some ingredients may not be acceptable to vegans)<\/li><li>Whole\ngrain bread products, whole grain tortillas, brown rice, whole wheat pasta\n(some bread and tortilla ingredients may not be acceptable to vegans)<\/li><li>Dry\nor canned beans, peas, or lentils<\/li><li>Peanut\nbutter<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Infant food suitable for\nvegans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Infant\ncereal<\/li><li>Infant\nfruits and vegetables<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Soy formula is available through\nWIC. Although it may contain vitamin D derived lanolin, there are no other\noptions for formula-fed vegan infants.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\nThe WIC food package for women and young children may include vouchers\nfor non-vegan items such as dairy products, eggs, and canned fish. In some\ncases, on a state-by-state basis, specific brands of soymilk and\/or tofu may be\navailable to substitute for cow\u2019s milk. There are not standard vegan\nsubstitutes for eggs or canned fish. If you want to use soy milk and\/or tofu to\nreplace cow\u2019s milk, you may need to discuss this with the WIC nutritionist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\nCurrently, all states and the District of Columbia appear to allow\napproved brands of soy milk to replace cow\u2019s milk. Thirty-four states and the\nDistrict of Columbia list certain brands of tofu as an approved substitute for\ncow\u2019s milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the WIC\nprogram, visit USDA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fns.usda.gov\/wic\">website<\/a> or search for WIC on\nyour state\u2019s department of health website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD In these economically challenging times, the WIC (Women, Infants, Children) Program can be a help to many families with infants and young children. According to USDA\u2019s website, WIC serves about half of all infants born in the United States. WIC was developed to protect the health of low-income pregnant and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15973,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15971\/revisions\/15973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}