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Vegan diet for children with health issues?
Started
by Laura McNamara
on November 29, 2009
I have just started my journey with being vegan a couple of weeks ago and I quit smoking 4 weeks ago. I feel great and I know it is healthy for me but I have concerns about my son. He is 3 and he has epilepsy. I know that sometimes they successfully treat epilepsy with the KETOGENIC DIET(which consists of using alot of fatty foods and lots of dairy and meat) because it is supposed to help brain development. My son hasn't been on the diet but he has never had meat either because he has problems chewing. He has had dairy and he loves vegetables so I thought including him on the vegan diet would be easy because he loves to eat. I just have some concerns on if he will be getting everything he need for his brain development. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
Laura
Hi Laura,
A ketogenic diet is a relatively serious undertaking that should be considered only under the supervision of your doctor. It is really only considered for a specific type of epilepsy that is resistant to all other treatment. A ketogenic diet is not recommended for brain development. The foods recommended in the kind diet provide a very good mix of nutrients to aid in brain and overall development for children. Does your son have other health problems that impact his ability to chew? , if not, then whole grains, leafy green vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds have everything he needs to grow strong and healthy.
Justin
Thanks for answering Justin. I wasn't sure if he would get all of the nutrients he needs from The Kind Diet. He has no other health issues but I have to make sure his food is in very tiny pieces. Thankfully he will eat any vegetables, fruits, and grains, but I have to be more creative with nuts and seeds but I do make it work. I was going to talk to his Dr. about the ketogenic diet but I wasn't feeling very comfortable about it. I think we'll just stick with The Kind Diet for now and see how it goes. Thanks for the info!!
You are welcome!Consider nuts and seeds as smooth butter. Almond butter seems expensive but one jar has a lot of servings and it is so yummy. Any soups with beans ,lentels or peas is a good idea for kids. In a year or so he can help with the prep.
Justin
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