Raising kids veggie stylie

I am as close to being a vegan as one can be. I eat cheese occasionally. That is the only animal product I get close to.

Anyway, my wife is vegetarian also and we have a 7mo old boy. I don't want to feed him meat or any likeness. I am one of those advocates who reads too much and I know meat isn't necessary to feed your kids. Everything at the store for him seems to have shit in it I don't want to feed him, but I have no other choice.

what do you feed your kids?

 

Just don't kill him with your stupidity. You can easily damage him if he won't receive all the stuff he needs and many of them are in meat.

 

I'd say this is almost child abuse. The ingredients in child food are there for a reason and you shouldn't be forcing a child onto a vegetarian diet. There are nutrients in meat a child needs. Your child needs to grow sufficiently. What if they grow up weak and skinny, constantly fatigued all because you were too pig headed to let your kid eat some protein?
It's good that YOUR'RE into your morals and all, you're a fully developed adult (presumably).
Once your child has a fully working digestive system and immune system etc, then it's time to organize a diet, if they want to.

Forced vegetarianism ain't cool.

 

let your kid be normal and when he is grown up let him decide if he wants to become a fucken vegan or eat normally

 

Feed him at this age only things like avocado, sweet potato, pumpkin. No oranges, eggs, meat, nuts or dairy until after age one. Keep foods plain, don't add things to suit your own taste. I raised mine like this, now they eat very well of their own accord. My son told me the other night he is sick of currys etc "just give me something fresh mum, like a salad...and yes, ill eat all the nuts.... cool to hear when there's chips in the pantry. Ive done something right.

 

Oh and re meat eating, our teeth, digestive tract etc is not designed to eat meat. Give your child a choice to become a carnivor when he is older, not the other way around. Atm you should concentrate on not creating food sensitivities by feeding age inappropriate foods that the gut cannot handle. (All i mentioned above)

 

Nice to give advice, however, I'm sorry but your advice is uninformed. If a child is protein deficient you will know. Big belly, constantly sick. Please look up the amino acid content of foods. You can get a complete protein out of a fruit salad with a few nuts in it. Also there is such a thing as the amino acid pool in the gut that uses break down amino's from blood cells etc always available to add onto to create a complete protein.
I had a vegan pregnancy, a vegan child who was never sick, has perfect digestion and wins all athletic events based on a diet that someone like yourself might think would land him in hospital. I mean this with respect to you. There is a LOT of dietary misinformation out there. We do not have the bowel transit time of a dog. It is the meat sitting in the bowel that creates inflammation, those inflammatory bi products cause cancer over time.
Im a qualified nutritionist. Not having a go, just trying to educate a person to raise a healthy child.. All the best with it.

 

That's a nice personal opinion you have there.

 

I have 2 6 yr olds and I let them eat what they want. I became a vegetarian after they were born. I know that meats ARE NOT necessary in any ones diet. I let them make their own decisions on what they eat.

I don't think a whole lot of people think for themselves or do research on the things that impact their life. As a cook I love food and I get more satisfaction from eating veggies. I have read things that contradict the governments pyramid, or whatever it is now. I know my kids don't need meat to be healthy and I want my youngest to be even healthier.

I knew I would get a few responses like I have. Going from what I've researched I was just curious what other veggie parents have their kids eat.

I will always allow my child to do what they want when it comes to certain things. My eldest son loves hot dogs. I still buy them for him, I'm not an ass hole.

 

I'm not a nutritionist but I believe that the protein coming from the above meal is entirely coming from those nuts. No fruit salad needed.

And we don't eat raw meat (at least not many of us and not all the time).

We are certainly not built to be complete carnivores but we do have canines. I believe a healthy and balanced diet can absolutely contain meat. Too much of anything will harm you and extremist views are the most evil thing in this world.

 

We are vegans, i was a veggie before hand but my daughter has a dairy intolerance and as she was getting all her nutrients from me I decided to become fully vegan so as not to give her an allergic reaction to my milk.

Where I don't eat, buy or cook any meat, her dad does so when she stays with him she will usually have meat. I'm not against this and I like it as she gets to try new things.

When she is older (she is still a toddler right now) then it will be down to her to choose whether she wants to eat meat or be vegan like me. I dont feel like I'm forcing her into becoming a vegetarian, she really enjoys the food she eats, she has a healthy balanced diet, its not just a plate of veg and nowadays there are lots of substitutes out there for meat and even dairy products. Id say she gets some kind of meat 2 or 3 times a month at her dads.

Please though, don't give your baby any type of nuts until he is over one year old.

 

since when being smart and talented is normal? :smilielol5:

 

Wow, lots of wild assumptions and opinions here masquerading as facts. It always amazes that many people feel perfectly qualified to give advice about topics that they know nothing about.

What's compelling is looking at the actual evidence. What's not compelling is pulling uninformed opinions out of thin air and declaring them to be true.

So, looking at the actual evidence, numerous studies in peer-reviewed science journals show that veg. children grow just fine. I'll cite just one, "Growth of Vegetarian Children: The Farm Study" by O'Connell, Joan et al, PEDIATRICS Vol. 84 No. 3. Those who want to claim that veg. kids *don't* grow properly should cite any science that backs their claims. (There isn't any, of course.)

My own kids are vegan and my 13-year-old boy is now taller than I am. He won his arm-wrestling match at lunch at school yesterday, by the way. When he was in 5th grade his karate coach had to have him spar with the junior-high kids because he was too powerful for the kids his own age. My nephew has been vegan since birth, and I've known others who have been vegetarian or vegan since birth. No health problems.

The only nutrient not supplied by plant foods is vitamin B12, and that's why the standard recommendation is for vegans to take a B12 supplement at least weekly. (And because B12 isn't absorbed as well in older adults, the rec. is for *everyone* to take a B12 supplement over age 50, vegan or not.)

A registered dietitian has a list of recommendations for vegans at VeganHealth.org.

 

Great responses guys, the op should be happy to have the discussion flowing. Re the fruit salad, you can get the protein without the nuts, I just add nuts to keep them full. The fat will give feeling of fullness and slow down digestion.

If we ate raw meat it would be preferable to cooked. Cooked has no enzymes left to help it digest or metabolize itself.

The "canines" we have are not like an animals with canines. Ours are for dealing with very fibrous foods. You cannot argue for meat based on the fact we have a couple of sharp teeth. You need to look at the digestive system as a whole, from mouth to toilet. Therein lies the answer. Check out a dogs mouth then ours. Then check out a herbivours and then ours. Its a digestive 'whole' not just teeth.

 

I am vegetarian but my partner eats meat , my children get a choice of either what im eating or meat ( they only really like chicken )but i think ill let my children decide for themselves when they older as regards to there diet :2thumbsup:

 

It is harder to give up something once it has already been introduced. My son is 13 and has never eaten meat in his life. He has the choice to eat meat if he chooses to, he chooses not to. What he hasn't had he won't miss.

Westerners tend to eat far too much protein and so cutting out meat would be good for you.

 

I haven't thought about this before, but after reading this thread I am 100% sure I am going to raise my children to eat meat.

 

Piaf, I imagine you haven't thought about it at all and have no inclination to think about it much more if your decision is based on a thread in a forum.