(in deep Elvis voice)" Thank you...thank you very much!"

Binka- please tell us what's in that "starter kit". Does it have alfalfa seeds, and a screen to fit a canning jar lid?

I've been meaning to mention sprouts, an inexpensive and fun way to get the freshest, best tasting vegetables. And a great addition to the "raw foods diet", another variation on vegetarianism that is appealing in many ways.

All of life depends on a mysterious process called photosynthesis; when we eat anything, the energy we take from it is the energy of sunlight!

Just a thought...

Bisi.cat- I would hope you will share plenty of dietary info with your neice. I doubt that anorexia is any more common in vegetarians than in the general population, but young girls seem to be the ones that hurt their bodies this way.

The daily requirement of protein our government recommends is about 2 ounces (48 grams?), and growing young people may need more. Also plenty of calcium for those bones! Lots of restrictive diets can cause harm, (I'm thinking now of a sweet slender young man whose religious transformation led him to macrobiotics. He looked like a big marshmallow due to eating so much starch, fat and sugar, before he was hospitalized).

If she is still eating eggs and dairy, no problem. If not, sufficient green, leafy vegetables for calcium, and sufficient legumes for protein, and a vitamin pill with B vitamins are needed.