I have a two year old whose pre-school serve only oat based milk instead of ordinary milk. I really have nothing against that choice since we primarily drink water with our meals at home. However, there is now a trend in the area of taking things one step further. Some schools and pre-schools have started serving only serving vegan foods. (They do this primarily because of environmental reasons.) But my questions revolve around the impact such a change have on children with regard to nutritional guidelines and healthy relationships with food. I know that a āwell-balancedā vegan diet is equivalent to any āwell-balancedā including animal based products. But usually more care in food choices has to be taking for a well-balanced vegan diet, right? Based on anecdotal evidence young children can be very picky eaters. In that regard it seems that introducing further exclusions of foods can make it really hard for the picky eaters to have a well-balanced diet. Is this a parameter that should be included when estimating a risk-to-benefit ratio of small children going vegan? Are there any guidelines regarding relationships with food that parents should promote in order to increase the chance of ones children maintaining healthy eating habits through adulthood? If such guidelines exist, does ātoo muchā food restrictions conflict with these?
I think that depending on what the kiddo is eating at home, I might be more or less suspicious of the nutrient deficiencies reported with vegan diets. Other than that, Iād be more concerned about the school budget for oat milk over cowās milk!
Thanks for your answer! Checking if a school is aware of these guidelines seems like a good way to see if they have consulted a professional nutritionist.
A follow-up question: Am I correct in assuming that sufficient protein intake in small children following a vegan diet is not the biggest issue since they have a large calorie requirement relative to their bodyweight? Meaning that as long as the childās appetite matches its calorie need the protein intake is sufficient even for a āsuboptimalā vegan diet. So the big challenges of a vegan diet are other the potential deficiencies, e.g vitamin B12?
A vegan diet is not suboptimal from a protein quality perspective when compared to a meat-containing diet, provided enough total protein and calories are being consumed. We recommend adults consume 1.6-3.1grams of protein per kilogram bodyweight per day, but do not have protein recommendations for youth at this time.
I feel the need to call OP out for the level of bias in the question. How exactly is a diet with a rich variety of nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables restrictive? How is the typical school cafeteria menu of pizza or chicken nuggets better? Has the OP ever actually seen what schools serve in the cafeteria? We pack our kidsā lunches because otherwise they buy processed garbage.
Look, a bad diet is a bad diet, and a good diet can definitely include some animal products. But letās please stop pretending that diets with lots of plant matter are somehow extreme.
Also, FWIW some demographics have high rates of lactose intolerance. The school might just be playing it safe.
Well, it is restricting the consumption of animal productsā¦which is restrictive by definition.
This is a false equivalency.
Again, this is a false equivalency. What if the aforementioned vegetarian lunches were augmented with lean animal protein? Would they be more or less health-promoting?
Also, FWIW some demographics have high rates of lactose intolerance. The school might just be playing it safe. [/QUOTE]
I find these arguments illogical.
The good and bad descriptors are too reductionist to be meaningful here. Context is important.
Additionally, the vast majority of the US population are not vegetarian or vegan, which makes a plant-based diet rather extreme. That said, we are 100% in support of increasing plant matter consumption- with or without animal products.
Finally, the lactose intolerance argument does not make sense in this context either.
As I reread my post I see it was a little combative. My bad for posting āfrom the hipā.
I really just want to address the OPās premise that plant based school lunch menus are inherently restrictive or create an unhealthy relationship with food. Yes, excluding animal products is a restriction, but there is an enormous variety of plant based options. Iām not vegan, but we did try to become more plant-biased a few years ago, and I found that food variety increased tremendously once we removed the crowding effect of meat and dairy. My family still eats some meat, but our palettes have expanded.
Also, yes, kids are picky and are more likely to want a pizza vs a pitta/hummus dish (not a false choice, as these are the menu options cited in media coverage of the schools in question), but isnāt picky behavior restrictive by its very nature? Isnāt introducing new and healthy options an expansion of their diet?
As far as teaching an unhealthy relationship with food, this premise repeats a common trope about plant based diets that they are somehow a form of eating disorder (just ask Mark Rippetoe). It deserves to be addressed.
To be clear, Iām only addressing the premise of the OPs question. Iām not ascribing these views to BBM. I really appreciate how you guys avoid the vegan vs keto kind of debates and how you stick with the evidence. I just listened to the red meat podcast this weekend and it was phenomenal.
Thanks. I agree that being vegan or vegetarian dietary patterns are not eating disorders, though they are restricting animal products by definition. I agree that most people should eat more plant matter
I think everyone should eat whatever they want. If your body needs meat or cow milk to function, I donāt see anything wrong with that. I have nothing against vegans, but itās everyoneās personal choice, and itās absurd to teach a baby vegan from a young age. My vegan neighbor took an eleven-year-old girl from an orphanage under a program to help needy children: https://fosterplus.org. She has already developed eating habits, and he has understood about it. The girl loves meat, fish, cow milk, and so on, and he cooks it for her. You have to respect other peopleās choices.
