So many questions people start asking when the topic of BRINGING UP YOUR CHILDREN ON VEGAN FOOD ARISES.Most of them arise from lack of proper knowledge of anthropology,ignorance of food history and nutrition.
Most common questions that get asked are as follows
"BUT ARE WE NOT NATURALLY CARNIVORES?"
"Won't children have nutritional deficiencies if we feed them only vegan food?"
"But our natural food has milk and eggs,Milk and eggs are what keep our teeth and bones strong"
WELL, WRONG!
I left this comment on a forum somewhere where they were discussing about bring up children as vegan.
Here goes a copy of my comment:
Hunting by humans came into practice only after humans figured out a way to make stone instruments .
Humans existed for many many many centuries before they invented stone instruments.So, essentially, we are all genetically VEGAN..Nature designed our bodies to NOT EAT MEAT. We as humans lived for thousands of centuries NOT EATING MEAT and obviously thriving before inventing STONE INSTRUMENTS used for hunting.
Human bodies are NOT genetically designed to hunt.WE do NOT have large heavy crushing jaws like a LION AND A CROCODILE (which are true carnivores) , we don't have heavy paws and claws,we don't have poison mechanisms like the snake, we just don't have any bodily hunting equipment.
Thus, I am pretty sure we are genetically inclined NOT to need meat for our dietary requirements.
Monkeys don't need meat.We are descendants of apes, and thus evolutionally speaking too,our systems do not really require meat .
WE are mammals ,so babies will drink human mother's milk till the completion of infancy.
BUT,Drinking milk BEYOND infancy came into practice only after farming was adopted by humans where animals of other species were FORCEFULLY AND MANUALLY IMPREGNANTED, their milk deprived from the calf(to which it rightfully belongs-the calf would die on its own or would be killed of conveniently) and then the poor cow would be stolen from each day.
Eating eggs is a practice that is a result of poultry farming too.
For centuries before diary farming became a common practice, humans never ate milk or eggs on such a regular basis.Milk consumption was limited to the infancy period must like any other mammal's life.
NEEDLESS TO SAY, it is perfectly safe to bring up your children vegan---all monkeys in the wild bring up their baby monkeys vegan and they turn out just fine.
Having said that,
Any child, irrespective of whether it is brought up vegan or non vegan, if it is fed UNBALANCED meals that are not nutritious, eventually will have nutritional deficiencies.
I know a lot of meat eating and egg and milk consuming children who develop all sorts of nutritional deficiencies just because their parents don't care enough to feed them nutritious balanced food and keep giving them junk to eat.
Please feed your child well balanced meals..
That is all that is required. Well balanced vegan meals are perfectly adequate for children during their growing years and beyond.
I speak this as a physician, as a woman and a future parent who is going to bring up her kids vegan.
It is just the
psychological fear that has been instilled in us by what we are not used to.It is just the unfamiliarity factor associated with bringing up your children vegan.So, overcome the fear and try it out
in all honesty.
Also, PLEASE DON'T EXPERIMENT ON YOUR KIDS AS YOU GO..First research food, make meals plans for your baby, have a good FINANCIAL PLAN TOO..then PLAN A PREGNANCY..
Don't just randomly get pregnant, then after the child is born, go around researching veganism and feeding the kid all kindsa experimental crap.
children are not here for you to experiment..YEAH?
