Your child on plants! What do you do when your 3,5-year-old tells you that she won’t eat animals?

Some of you already know my struggles with depression and sleep. To understand a bit better how to alleviate those pains I keep on learning new stuff, some of which I would like to share with you today.

Most of us would recognize now that a global shift towards plant-based diets is crucial for preventing climate breakdown and guaranteeing a more just world. But becoming vegetarian or vegan demands from us a little bit of studying. Processed vegan and vegetarian products will not give us what we need. Now I am partly responsible for the nutritional intake of two children and must step up my game in the kitchen.

In the words of Dr. Małgorzata Desmond (UCL and the Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw)

“We were initially surprised by the poor cardiovascular health profile of the vegetarian children, but their dietary data showed that they were eating a relatively processed type of plant-based diet, with less healthy levels of fiber and sugars compared to the vegans. So, we are learning that just eating plant-based diets is no guarantee of health, we still need to select healthy foods.”