The media seem to be constantly disgruntled by anyone who wants to become vegan or live a life without dairy or meat, recently posts like the video “No Offence but…” by the BBC highlights exactly what I mean but this is definitely not the only case. I read an article by the Daily Mail this morning which explains the new guidelines which have been issued by The British Nutrition Foundation in response to the rise in veganism amongst middle class families and those of you who would rather be raising your kids vegan.
Whilst I definitely believe that we need some guidelines on veganism to help those planning on going vegan or raising their children vegan, I disagree with many of the claims made by the Daily Mail in their article especially regarding their carefully worded statements around dairy.
Whilst it is true that some nutritionists are warning parents to do their research before putting their children on a vegan diet and raising your kids vegan, many nutritionists have the opposite view with the Readers Digest and even the NHS stating that children can thrive on a vegan diet as long as parents are careful and monitor them closely. The British Nutrition Foundation are claiming that restricting your children to a plant-based diet can risk depriving them of vital vitamins and minerals that are essential to their health and growth.
They have also issued some new nutrition guidelines as well as updating some others for toddlers this month because of their amid a growing trend for veganism in Britain that has seen companies launch vegan baby food.
The Daily Mail use phrases such as “vegan regime” to really exaggerate and offend vegans which is often the case with their articles which I personally think is a huge shame as its such a big resource that they could be using in a positive way to inform and spread the new and upcoming studies that promote healthy eating through a plant based diet. If you are considering going vegan or raising your kids vegan then please do consult your GP first as they will be able to get resources that would be helpful to you as well as get vitamins and dietary supplements for both you and your children if you require them.
The newly set out guidelines have been developed by top nutrition scientists state that as a parent you should be aiming to provide your children with two or three portions of protein foods each day so that they can get enough zinc and iron.
The Daily Mail state that “it can be difficult in a vegan diet” to get the protein your children need even though BNF acknowledge that with proper planning their is no reason why a vegan diet couldn’t be healthy for your children, they do seem to cherry pick all the comments from the BNF report that paints veganism in a bad light instead of showcasing all of the announcement which would have given a more informative unbiased view on the post and would have been much more help to their readers.
The British Nutrition Foundation released a guide called the 5532-A-Day Guide in which it recommends children aged one to four eat five daily portions of starchy foods a day and this is increased to three or four for children on a vegetarian or vegan diet. The starchy foods they recommend are things like pasta or bread. They also recommend the five a day of fruit or vegetables – I wont list them as I’m sure we all know what they are.
Even when parents know which foods are part of a healthy diet, it can sometimes be difficult to know what sized portion is suitable for a young child, and how often they should be eating from the different food groups each day.
Said Sara Stanner who is the science director at the BNF, she had some very interesting points which we definitely agree with in regards to healthy eating and how it can be hard to know about which foods are bad and portion sizing for your children. With child obesity rates rising to the highest we have seen them in recent years it important to note that sugary snacks shouldn’t be a regular part of a child’s diet as backed up by Sara Stanner who went on to say “biscuits, chocolate and sweets shouldn’t be a regular part of children’s diets”.
If you haven’t checked out the new guidelines there are some great points in there and we would fully recommend it, there’s points about sugary drinks, as well as juice drinks too which can be useful for parents.
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