With growing awareness regarding the effects of meat consumption on the environment and the health benefits of switching to a vegetarian or plant-based diet, more and more people across the world are switching to healthy plant-based alternatives to meet their nutritional requirements.
This means there is a significant percentage of children over the world that are growing up with a vegetarian or plant-based diet. Several questions arise with this worldwide shift. Can children’s brains get sufficient nutrition from a plant-based diet? Will the plant-based diet be able to keep up with their changing and growing bodies. Does a plant-based diet cause a difference in immunity, strength, and other such factors?
In the year 2013, the National Health and Medical Council (NH&MRC) recognized vegan and plant-based diets as “healthy and nutritionally adequate”. Their observations also suggested that plant-based diets are nutritionally adequate at all stages of life. This means there are plenty of minerals, vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients available in plant-sourced food that can help your children grow and lead a healthy and environmentally friendly life.
There are certain factors of leading a plant-based lifestyle that parents should address when raising their children with the same lifestyle. If the diet for children in your house looks different from those around them, they are bound to have some questions. They may feel embarrassed when they perceive themselves as different from their peers or develop a habit of judging people with different lifestyle choices. It is important for parents to address the reasons behind these choices- whether it is for the benefit of the environment, health-related, or for the protection of harmless animals. This helps their children better understand the impact of their dietary choices and motivate them to follow this decision.
It is believed that animal products are rich sources of certain nutrients such as Iron, Vitamin D, and protein. However, there are sufficient choices to substitute these food sources in a plant-based diet which can help you meet all the nutritional requirements in a diet for children.
Iron
There are several plant-based foods that can provide sufficient iron for your kids as they grow up. These foods include legumes, tofu, coconut milk, and soy, pumpkin seeds, and quinoa. The great thing about plant-based iron sources is they are much lighter and easy to digest. This helps your digestive health and these food items can be eaten in larger quantities as compared to meat, helping you feel full and making for healthy and easy-to-prepare recipes. They are great additions to any diet for children and create a positive impact on their health.
Vitamin D
The vitamin D required by the body is consumed by the skin from exposure to direct sunlight. Instead of rushing to look for alternatives for Vitamin D sources in a plant-based diet for children, make sure they spend sufficient time outdoors in the sun. As far as a diet for children is concerned, you should rely on foods such as soy milk, fortified orange juice, fortified cereals, almond milk, and Chanterelle and Morel mushrooms to create a balanced diet for kids with sufficient Vitamin D.
Calcium
The biggest concern surrounding a plant-based diet is finding the right alternative to milk, which contains calcium, iron, and other necessary nutrients. There are several plant-based, calcium-rich foods for kids that will help their bones to grow and make them stronger. These include green leafy vegetables, fortified bread, and soy drinks. These are the best foods for kids that provide ample calcium along with other vital nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
B12
There are fewer foods containing B12 in a plant-based diet for children so providing a B12 supplement is essential. It is important to make a conscious effort to compensate for the B12 present in animal-based products and add B12 rich plant-based food items to your children’s diet. This includes nutritional yeast, fortified food, and shitake mushrooms that contain the highest amount of B12 present in plant-based food choices.
Protein
It is a myth that one needs to consume meat in order to get sufficient proteins for their body or muscle growth, protein-rich food for kids contain ample plant-based options such as pulses, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, green seeds, etc are great sources of proteins and a lot of tasty salads and plant-based recipes for kids can be created with the help of these food items.
Since a plant-based diet is rich in fiber, it helps improve the digestive health of your children and tends to help them stay fit. However, an excess amount of fiber leads to low absorption of certain nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and zinc. Hence parents should make sure they add these nutrients and higher-calorie foods for kids to ensure they create a well-balanced diet for children to follow so they can grow healthily.
