The KInd Life Community Forum

Hi everyone! My name is Nikki and I recently decided to make the change to vegetarianism. I first read the book Skinny B and then gradually started phasing things out of my diet like fast food, sugar, caffeine, meat, and soda. I am learning a lot and sharing the information with my husband. I was wondering how people incorporate the vegetarian lifestyle with kids, my little ones are 4 1/2 and 2. I haven't decided if I will go completely vegan or not at this time.

Hi, I went vegan about a year ago. It's by far the best thing I've ever done. My reasons were more for animals than health so it was a huge plus that it's actually better for you to eat a plant-based diet. If you want to go vegan all you have to do is watch earthlings..a documentary about the industry. It's very hard to watch so I warn you not to watch it if you don't want to see those images. After I saw it, I went vegan over night. I have a 4 year old and a 6 year old. I try new recipies all the time and my kids eat better than any kids I know who live on chicken fingers and cheese sticks! There's so much you can do now a days..Whole foods or the farmers market is where we shop.Wholefoods makes a vegan version of pretty much everything! I feel really good about rasing my kids this way..it's not easy but well worth it! Hope this helps! Also, if your kids are old enough to understand what they're eating.. I think explaning to them it's an animal is not unreasonable. Most of the time they spit it out!!! Most kids just want to pet the animal not eat it.

Good Luck!

Nikki, I'm trying to increase the vegetarian/vegan food in our house, and we have a 4 year old boy...I guess we're lucky that he likes vegetables already, but the truth is there are so many good vegan/vegetarian recipes out there that it's easy to package the food in a way kids will like. Tonight, for instance, I made vegan sloppy joes, and it was great. Keep at it, and remember to lead by example...good luck!

The standard American diet was created for taste not for health. So eat what tastes good. Also how many foods did you give up maybe beef (cow and dairy), pig, turkey, chicken (and eggs) and maybe sheep. Vegans can eat caffeine, sugar and soda but they are very unhealthy.

Fruits are very nutritious so just find the ones that your kids like. The Mac was named after the most popular apple. There are also bananas, dates, figs, grapes, raisins, kiwi, pineapple, papaya, plums, pears, oranges, avocados for healthy fat, watermelon and other melon, lots of different berries (like goji berries) and lots more. Then there are lots of vegetables. Hard fruit (nuts and seeds) are a good source of protein and fat.

Beans are a good source of protein and nutrients (includes tofu). A few whole grains are good like oats, barley, millet, brown rice, kamut, wild rice and others. Fungus is good for the immune system. Mushrooms are fungus. There are healthy granola type cereals with no meat in them. Then you can add soy, hemp, rice, almond or coconut milk.

Keep in mind that none of the animals that people eat, eat meat. People only eat animals that are plant eaters. So when people eat meat, they are getting the plant food second hand. Cows eat grass or grains. You can eat flaxseeds (flaxseed oil also) or chia seeds for omega-3 fatty acids that vegans need. You can supplement vitamin B-12 and vitamin D (sunlight is the best source). Those are the 3 things that many Americans have a shortage of.

I have a friend that eats an almost all raw vegan diet and she just had a healthy baby boy. Not only vegan but 95% raw also. Here is her blog. http://www.rosegoddessbliss.com

Hello, NIkki-

Very good point from Chuck. Have you read the book The China Study? This might change for mind for good if you are concerned about your health. I am a physician who advocates a plant-based diet. My blog might be interesting to you... especially our mini-experiment that beings in just about 2 weeks. Those results may help as well.

Laura, yes this would be a normal physiological symptom of reintroducing meat to your diet. Believe it or not it's easier if you go entirely vegan. You won't have that problem after a month. :)

Have a happy new year all! Kindest Regards, Jenna

www.theplantrx.com