Sticking to plant-based foods is easier than you think -- and healthier than some critics would have you believe

By Pam Smith O'Hara

When I see my children rummaging through the refrigerator for an afternoon snack, I know I don't have to monitor their choices. Minutes later they're at the table munching a bowl of fruit or crunching peanut butter crackers.

They usually make good choices. And they make them because they were raised that way.

Both kids, now 8 and 10, are lifelong vegetarians. This has not been a hard journey. They eat what I eat, which is nothing out of the ordinary or hard to prepare. No tedious planning, calorie counting, protein balancing or chart making -- just good-sense eating.

That's why I find the flap over the vegetarian recommendations in the latest edition of Dr. Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care so silly.  

Earlier editions of Spock said a vegetarian diet was fine for kids but urged the inclusion of dairy. The newly released seventh edition, however, recommends a ``vegan'' diet -- a vegetarian diet minus dairy and eggs -- for children over the age of 2.

Spock became a vegan when he was ill at age 90, and credited the change in his diet for forestalling declining health, improving his quality of life and giving him the time to write a final revision of his guide. He died in March at 94.

Since its release, some pediatricians have labeled Spock's proposal ``insane'' and ``dangerous.'' But there are plenty of nutritionists and parents who think he was right on target.

Many support Spock

``Well-planned vegan and lacto-ovo [milk and egg] vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle,'' according to a statement from the American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ``[They] satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth.''

``To say that vegan diets cannot be nutritionally adequate is just plain wrong,'' says Suzanne Havala, a registered dietitian and the primary author of the ADA's 1993 position paper on vegetarian diets. ``Anyone -- vegan or not -- can eat Coke and french fries and be poorly nourished, but we're talking about diets that are reasonably well-planned and in keeping with basic principles of good nutrition -- not rocket science.''

Havala was one of several experts called to Spock's home in Maine while he was writing the revision to discuss the issue with co-author Dr. Steven Parker, who considered the recommendations too extreme.

Ahead of his time

``You have to remember that Spock was roundly criticized years ago for his disapproval of spanking and his stand on the Vietnam War,'' Havala said in an interview. ``He was an incredibly principled man.

``On this subject, he's right and everything is on target and scientifically accurate. But all of this is outside the culture, at odds with our traditions.

``He's ahead of his time once again,'' Havala said. ``In 20 years, we'll be looking back and wondering what all the scuffle was about.''

Reed Mangels, who has a doctoral degree in nutrition and is an adviser to the Vegetarian Resource Group, can't understand all the hoopla either. A longtime vegan, she is raising her children, ages 6 and 3, as vegans as well.

``A lot of people who have very little practical experience with vegan diets are very willing to give lots of advice about a subject they don't know a lot about,'' Mangels said.

``The comment made by one doctor that `raising children on an all-plant diet would be like climbing Mount Everest' is very hard to believe. I do it on a daily basis and I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it.''

Her kids eat what most kids eat: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pancakes, pasta, fruits, raw veggies and dips, bean burritos, bagels, beans and rice -- with the addition of an occasional veggie burger or tofu shake.

Blender in hand, Mangels made a trip to her daughter's kindergarten class this year when the teacher was discussing calcium and whipped up strawberry soy shakes. ``You've never seen a bunch of 5-year-olds finish a shake so fast,'' she said.

Get adequate calories

The best way to see that children achieve their ideal rate of growth is to make sure they have adequate calories. Vegetarian diets -- especially vegan ones -- tend to be bulky, and little stomachs can fill up fast. Offering between-meal snacks like fruit muffins, shakes, or half a sandwich, can help boost calorie intake.

Vegetarian kids are not shunned, odd kids who sit around eating tofu. They go to baseball games and eat popcorn and Cracker Jacks. They go to fast-food Mexican restaurants and eat bean burritos. They play on baseball teams and sing in school choruses. They are normal, healthy kids.

``This is not a handicap for the kids,'' says Mangels. ``It's an advantage.''

She says she hasn't been to a gathering of kids and families yet where there wasn't a kid who couldn't eat something because of allergies or lactose intolerance. Being a vegan is no big deal.

``What if you kept kosher?'' she asks.

Feeding children takes extra time and thought -- whether they are vegetarian or not. On a well-planned plant-based diet, your child will eat less fat and cholesterol, more fruits and fiber, and establish lifelong healthy eating patterns.

``The risk is not in eating vegetarian,'' she says. ``The risk is kids continuing to eat a typical American diet.''