Is raising kids vegetarian safe and will they grow up small?

I was raised as a vegetarian in the 80s and these same questions came up all the time:

Where do you get protein?
Where do you get iron?
Are you not hungry?

We have come a long way since then and a vegetarian or even a plant-based family is now considered 'normal' but this does not mean that these questions no longer come up.

We're raising our kids plant-based and do our best to feed them the most nutritionally complete diet we can. When the University of Toronto released a study on the long-term effects of feeding kids vegetarian/plant-based I was intrigued as I do my best but am I missing something?

The report was quite clear but I did have some lingering questions. Fortunately, I was able to talk to someone with a unique perspective on the study.

I sat down with Dr. Sanjiv Gandhi, who is the Chief of Pediatric Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery, BC Children’s Hospital. He works with a team of health professionals to care for the long-term health of children who need heart surgery. He has decades of first-hand experience witnessing the effects of a westernized diet on kids' coronary health.

I was excited to talk with him about the study and get his take on raising healthy vegetarian kids.

[immortalsofar]

The body needs fats and protein - meats are ideal sources. Safe vs optimal are two different things. I want my children's diet to be optimal, not simply safe or adequate. Doctors gets less than one day of nutritional education in school. Ask yourself this... what's the leading cause of death among cardiologists?.... heart disease!! That tells you all you need to know about following the advice of cardiologists.

[hepgeoff]

We raised or two kids before we went plant-based. My adult son is a big meat eater. My daughter is vegetarian. I think you can get all the nutrients a child needs through a plant based diet.

[Indydi]

Vegans and vegetarians have the worst bone density of any dietary group. Fish eaters have the best, then carnivores. You need animal protein for healthy bones.

[templink]

Thank you Jed. Lots of good info here.

[danielsaezv]

Did you grow up SDA or something? It’s not common to meet people who grew up vegetarian in the 80’s. So did I, and it was due to religious reasons. It wasn’t fun at all especially because of the social aspect of foods. In individualistic North America everyone says they’ll respect your choices or whatever. But outside of that most of the world is community oriented and food is a huge component of that. I went through a theological reformation later in my early 30s, which allowed me to break free of all the nonsense. But honestly, even now living in North America most people who go on this fad diet of restricting this food or the other is just hurts their present or potential future relationships. We live in an area where isolation is probably one of the worst killers of western society. I’ve heard a comparison of loneliness to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.
I would encourage anyone today to learn to eat most everything. You will fit in most social crowds and learn to respect and value cultures from around the world. Simple, humble people will appreciate you for going into their humble kitchen, sitting down with them and sharing a meal. But imagine you go there and start saying, no, I don’t eat meat, I’m gluten-free, I am a hunter gathering supermarket shopper… 🙄. But hey, most north Americans will rarely take the community aspect into consideration of diet and health.
I currently eat animal protein, I eat a lot of raw and cooked vegetables, and I aimed to eat the least amount of processed foods. Normally, I don’t eat store-bought bread because of the east issues. (Especially for the western world, I believe that’s the key to a healthy diet). Now I’m my 40’s, I exercise, and sleep well and feel faster, fitter, and leaner than in my late 20’s.

[evajohns]

Meat helps children’s jaws grow and healthy

[javierdelgado]

The China study has shown eating meat to be statistically significant in its promotion of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. There are doctors who’ve read the studies and have switched to a plant based diet and those who haven’t interpreted the data.