A light is shed on a glimmer of hope for a decrease in childhood obesity and diabetes, through informed children, making their own choices about their diet for reasons that do not include fast food, but compassion for living creatures.
The New York Times published a recent article regarding children who choose to become vegetarians and vegans. Although the title suggests the article to be slightly morbid, (“When Your Child Believes Meat is Murder”), running themes on animal cruelty and mistreatment are but a mere mention. The author is quick instead, to focus on children that are taking a stance, inadvertently, to change their diets in a healthier way, cleverly disguised as saving animals from death. (Halpart, 2018)
The article profiles two different families, both of whom have children that have made the choice to become vegans, which means no animal products whatsoever in the diet. Challenges are posed when this decision is made by one child on their own account, but their siblings do not follow the same beliefs, and continue a regular diet containing the very meat these blossoming baby vegans feel so strongly against. Difficulties for the parents come in when explanation is warranted for both siblings to respect each other’s dietary wishes. Seemingly, the ‘vegans win’, so to speak.
As the author points out, research is showing the best way to deal with a vegetarian or vegan child in a family who eats meat, is to embrace it. Parents are to get creative in the kitchen and incorporate more meat free options into the rest of the family’s diet, cook dishes that can begin as vegan or vegetarian, then be ‘converted’ with a meat product should it be necessary, and always make sure that the vegetarian or vegan child has a meatless option. Another way to embrace these diet decisions for their children is to get them involved in the preparation and decisions of the healthy options. (Halpart, 2018)
Analysis
The focus of the article is truly on health, and allowing these children to be who they are as they are developing their own views. The bonus in all of this is children are not only doing their part to save animals normally consumed, but in addition, they are learning lifelong healthy eating habits, practicing compassion, and doing their small part to essentially, help the environment. Whether it’s a television show that portrays the treatment of animals to these kids, or informed parents who are able to teach children about healthy nutritional choices, whatever the reason, how incredible for children to be concerned with a concept that was so novel to most of us growing up in earlier generations.
The big picture is this, childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes are out of control problems that have been impacting society and draining our health system, for a long time. One of the saddest, most unfortunate things is to see an 8 year old child come in to the operating room weighing 120lbs for a tonsillectomy…because they have sleep apnea. Teaching vegetarianism and veganism to children of a young age, and most importantly, letting these kids develop these habits and beliefs on their own, could be a key pathway to breaking the childhood obesity culture. These concepts are ways to shift the thinking of a generation from a concept that at one point, (being a vegetarian or vegan) was more rare than common.
Benefits of vegetarianism and veganism are well known for their health benefits. In a study published comparing pre-pubescent children on vegetarian diets compared to those who continued to consume meat products, the results produced a noted finding that adipose in the vegetarian group was characterized with basically, ‘healthier fat’, including more anti-inflammatory properties the meat eaters did not have. (Ambroszkiewicz, et al., 2018)
The choice to consume a plant based diet has been proven over and over, superior in health benefits than that of a diet consuming meat, processed foods, animal products and sugar. The argument it is difficult to get enough protein through a plant based diet has been disproved, and arguments for ingesting the required amount of protein for each specific body is attainable without animal product consumption, found by an experimental study produced by Stanford undergraduates. (Gardner & Hauser, 2017)
What we put in our body as a fuel source is the first step in taking control of our own health, in an attempt to prevent the preventable diseases. Disease prevention and preventative health are something that multiple countries studied, incorporate into their health system. Preventative health, like these children choosing to be little vegans and vegetarians, for whatever reason, is a small start to a seemingly impossible complex issue, that is our current health system.
