Need support for vegetarian 7 yr old

[sweetpeasmama]

My DS became a vegetarian all on his own 2 years ago and has not wavered at all. I am in complete support of his decision to not eat anything that was ever alive (that's how he puts it), but lately my husband has been reading the Nourishing Traditions book that an acupuncturist wants him to live by- and he is now concerned about our son being a vegetarian. I would never force him to eat meat- but I am having a hard time finding studies on why vegetarianism is not harmful to a child in the long run. I just want my husband not to worry...

Any help with this is very appreciated!!

[Sayward]

Nourishing Traditions is an interesting take on health, but it is by no means 'The One True Way' that it makes itself out to be. In fact, at the risk of revealing my bias (haha, and I AM biased, because, ya know, I like truth and stuff), Sally Fallon and the WAPF are notorious for cherry picking 'data' and wildly misrepresenting the scientific literature.

Also the WAPF is often in direct contradiction to what Dr Price actually said! This is especially true in areas relating to vegetarianism/meat consumption/etc.

The short answer (too late!) : Humans are, evolutionarily, opportunistic scavengers. There are a lot of different ways for humans be healthy and thrive, and vegetarianism is definitely one of them!

Here's some good logical critique of NT and the WAPF -
one
two

[bandgeek]

Like Sayward said, there's no "one true way" that's the healthiest to eat. If he's going to read biased books, he should also read the China Study, which has evidence that diets like nourishing traditions are NOT as healthy. It's only fair, IMO.

Even as a strict vegetarian, I looked into the whole TF thing, just to see if I was missing out of some important info, but I found none. I read for an hour and all I got was "Americans are eating less fat and animal products than ever and only getting unhealthier, so that must not be the answer". (I never came across any actual scientific info) And I just about laughed out loud, because Americans are NOT eating less of that stuff. Every once in a while a fad diet blows through and a handful of people go on a low fat diet, but this is not representative of the majority of Americans. A low-fat diet in and of itself is not going to be very healthy, if you otherwise eat "American" food. So the TF theory is right in that respect. But when you eat a very balanced veg*n diet with lots of fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds, THAT is where the health benefits come from. Not when you eat an Americanized low fat diet.

So anyway, I suggest the China Study as well. You have to research, read, and in the end, make an educated decision.

[texmati]

oh, and I'm hindu, and all my family is vegetarian. Lot's of babies all over the world grow up veg and do just fine.

Are their specific nutrients that he's worried about?

[sweetpeasmama]

These are awesome responses!

I am not sure exactly what is disturbing him about vegetarianism, he just wanted me to read all of this stuff in the NT book and I have yet to do it. I think I would rather not because it wouldn't make me do anything differently as far as supporting my son's decision.

Just instinctively the NT way of eating didn't feel right to me. And I also felt like there were holes in some of the "facts" I've heard floating around in my community of friends here and there. Besides, my own mother raised me vegetarian and vegan for a little while, so I couldn't help but bristle at the concerns they have over children and vegetarianism.

I haven't read the links you posted yet. I will do it tonight! Thanks for the support!

[BeanyMama]

Check out Joel Fuhrman's Disease Proof Your Child, if you can. It's full of good, compelling info on veg*n diets relating directly to kids, as well as kid friendly recipes

[katroshka]

I've been vegan for ten years, so my two daughters have been vegan their whole lives, including in utero, except for about a year when my ex forced them to eat meat, eggs, and dairy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They are now 9 and almost 8.

They are totally healthy, in fact, every time I have taken them for physicals since they were babies the doctor said they were "perfect kids". They are also highly intelligent (I mention this because some people swear developing brains need fish and meat). They have more energy than most kids I know (kind of a mixed blessing there) and have excellent muscle tone and coordination. Basically no one would look at or interact with them and think that they had anything but a healthy diet their whole lives.

Also perhaps worth noting: I've rarely given my kids vitamins, so all this healthiness is, I suppose, coming from their food.

The only thing I'd have to say in caution is to avoid replacing meat with simple carbs and dairy. That's a mistake a lot of vegetarians make (including myself, as a teen aged, novice vegetarian) and it can lead to health problems. But if your son eats his veggies and whole grains, he will probably be the healthiest kid on your street.

[mumkimum]

There are a lot of interesting things I've learned from TF ideas that I've brought to my diet, while staying vegetarian. Eating meat/foods from animals isn't an end-all answer to health even if your son decided to change, there's more to it all than that. And imo, I think a lot of the drastic feelings about being vegetarian that TF sometimes inspires aren't quite as extremely drastic as they're made out to be.

I think you can support both your kid & dh by helping find stuff in TF that makes sense to all of you and doesn't cast aside your son's desire to be veg. I'd try to focus on that (eating more fermented foods, whole foods, foods of quality for example).