Into the mouths of babes

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1998 by Norine Dworkin

"Children eating the typical American diet are going to be the heart patients of the year 2020," warns Charles Attwood, M.D., author of Dr. Attwood's Low-Fat Prescription for Kids (Viking, 1995). "Clogged arteries are related to saturated fat in a child's diet, and children who eat a primarily vegetarian diet do not have these fatty deposits in their arteries that we see as early as age 3 and certainly by age 12."

"We've done the Great American Experiment on our children," adds Michael Klaper, M.D., author of Pregnancy, Children and a Vegan Diet (Gentle World, Inc., 1988). "We've seen what a high-fat diet combined with a sedentary lifestyle creates. We have the fattest generation of children in history, with all the implications of early disease and death that that implies. Fostering animal-based diets as part of our children's food habits is the proverbial deal with the devil. Considering the health hazards of a meat-based diet, a plant-based diet is the best nutritional start we can give our children."

MISCONCEPTION #2

It's a hassle to raise kids vegetarian.

All parents want to give their children a smart start, but as most will attest, getting kids to eat anything can be a Herculean task. "Every mother I know struggles with feeding her children," says Anna Thomas, author of The New Vegetarian Epicure (Knopf, 1996) and mother of two teenage boys. "Just when you think you have it figured out and you stock the fridge, all of a sudden, it's `I'm tired of that,' and they're on to something else."

But tempting children with healthy vegetarian food is no more difficult than getting them to eat meat-based fare (see 10 Ways to Get Your Kid to Eat More Vegetables). The truth is, it's never been easier. Vast resources exist to help you, from books that ease you into a meatless lifestyle in just five easy steps to vegetarian cookbooks and Web sites chock-full of kid-friendly recipes to parental support groups on the Internet. (Noteworthy ones include Vegetarian Children: A Supportive Guide for Parents by Sharon Yntema [McBooks Press, 1995] and the Vegetarian Resource Center's Veg-Parent e-mail discussion group. Send your name and e-mail address to list@vegetarian.org and ask to be added to the list.)

Your supermarket is another valued resource. In addition to hearty organic produce sections, most mainstream grocery chains now stock diverse selections of grains, from brown rice and kamut to spelt, quinoa and couscous. You'll even find tofu, seitan and tempeh tucked in the refrigerator section along with soy and rice milks, vegetable broth and perhaps even nut and seed butters, such as almond, cashew or sesame, that give a new twist to the classic PB&J.

Don't forget that many kid favorites are either already vegetarian or easily transformed: tacos, burritos, lasagna and vegetable curries. "It's not as out of this world as people think," says Wendy Muldawer, co-author of Better Than Peanut Butter & Jelly (McBooks Press, 1998), a collection of quick and easy kid-tested vegetarian recipes. "While it takes a certain commitment, you can come up with healthy vegetarian meals without being a slave to your kitchen."