Vegan Parenting: Benefits of Raising Your Kids on A Plant-Based Diet
Written by Jana Angeles
Veganism is growing at a fast rate and whether you agree or not, raising kids on a plant-based diet is possible. As long as they take multivitamins that may be missing while on a vegan diet, they are also making ethical choices without knowing it.
Whether you’ve turned vegan recently or have raised your children on a vegan diet from the start, you’d be happy to know that there are benefits to raising them on a complete plant-based diet. Making good food choices is what we want our children to do and it’s important that we encourage them to take care when it comes to their health as well. Here are the benefits of raising your kids on a vegan diet:
Teaches them the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables
With the growing demands of veganism, there are so many recipes that have a strong focus on fruits and vegetables. You may have eaten meat in the past but did you know you can recreate the meaty meals you used to love and make them vegan?
Otherwise, parents that raise their kids on a plant-based diet are ahead of everyone else as they’re already teaching kids to be creative when it comes to making recipes using fruits and veggies. Your children will realise that you can make delicious meals that are completely plant-based, encouraging them to eat meals with high nutritional value.
Helps them make ethical choices
Gone are the days where being vegan was a “hippie” or “cool” thing as more and more are realising that being vegan also helps you make informed and ethical choices. Eliminating meat and dairy from your diet is not only benefiting your physical health, but you also stop contributing to animal cruelty.
Although your children may not understand this at first, you can explain to them that animals are friends, not food. You can take them to a sanctuary farm and show them the compassionate treatment of the animals and that being vegan is what makes this possible. It will be a fun day out for the kids and they will learn to appreciate all the animals.
Reduces their carbon footprint
Eating meat and dairy contributes to the carbon footprint. When it comes to raising farmstock, animals that are raised and sold off to factory farms need to be fed grains in order to grow quickly. Factory farms are crowded and because these animals produce faeces constantly, a lot of waste is produced.
When you eliminate meat and dairy products from your diet, you’re not only making an ethical choice but you’re also contributing to a better environment. You can teach your kids that being on a plant-based diet means emitting less toxic chemicals for the planet and improving the state of the environment for future individuals.
Vegan meals are delicious and super creative!
Want a burger? Pizza? Pasta? You got it! As a vegan, you don’t have to miss out on all the food you love. It just means you have to be creative and buy ingredients that are cruelty-free. More and more vegan products are being created and by now, vegans and vegetarians have the option to purchase different mock meats and dairy-free products at their local supermarket.
Since your kids are vegan and assuming they have not eaten meat before, they will appreciate the cruelty-free version of meals you’ve prepared for them. Also, if you’re too lazy to cook for the family, there are plenty of restaurants offering vegan alternatives and if you go to a vegetarian restaurant, most of what you order is vegan. You just need to double check and call ahead just incase.
If you’re a vegan and are raising your kids as vegans, not only are you doing them a solid when it comes to their health, but you’re also making a compassionate and positive choice eliminating meat and dairy from their diet. With the alarming rates of cruelty in factory farms and the toxic chemicals that are produced by the mass of farm animals, you’re not only looking after their health but you’re also showing them creative ways to eat plants!