Any vegetarians or vegans out there with advice on parenting and nutrition?? (breakfast, shakes)

[megh]

I am hoping to find some vegetarian and / or vegan parents out there to converse with about children and nutrition. My husband and I have been increasingly health conscious over the last 5 years to the point where we have pretty much gone vegetarian within the last year. Even more, we are concerned about not just abstaining from meat but also from other horrible nutritional pitfalls like aspartame, MSG, HFCS, and other over processed foods.

We both come from pretty much your average middle American - ground beef in every meal - kind of families and are struggling with raising our kids in spite of that. I find it really hard to diplomatically and logically talk about nutrition with kids when our family's eating habits are the exception to the rule. Grandma & Grandpa don't think us. Our school doesn't think us. Our friends' parents don't think that us. Etc, etc..

Anyone else out there with these same issues and concerns? What do you do?? What kinds of things to you say to your kids? (By the way, my kids are still quite small 4.5 years old and an infant -so I'm mainly talking about my very perceptive and inquisitive 4.5 year old)

[groar]

i'd suggest checking out the parenting forum (called the playground) on postpunkkitchen.com. people there are really helpful. it's a vegan site but there are people there with all different diets and most people are pretty tolerant.

[megh]

Originally Posted by groar

i'd suggest checking out the parenting forum (called the playground) on postpunkkitchen.com. people there are really helpful. it's a vegan site but there are people there with all different diets and most people are pretty tolerant.

Awesome!! Thank you so much for the suggestion and I definitely will check it out!

[53lisa]

Here is a recipe for healthy milkshakes. You will need to make the oat milk ahead of time so it can cool.
Oat milk:
1 cup cooked old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cups water
pinch of sea salt
1 Tbsp. agave nectar or local raw honey or 100% pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp. unrefined coconut oil (optional, but tastes delicious)
Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth; about 3 minutes

To make milkshakes:
Amounts are approximate
1 cup oat milk
1/4 cup Breyers or Turkey Hill all natural vanilla ice cream
Suggested flavor additions:
-1/3 cup frozen strawberries
-1 tsp. carob powder and 1 tsp. sweetener (from oat milk recipe)
-1 banana

Mix in blender until smooth.

I usually have a milkshake every morning with breakfast, because I take garlic pills and it helps get the taste out of my mouth. This is a good way to include more oats in your diet, and fruit, if you add strawberries. My son tried the strawberry version and said it wasn't too bad. He is 16 (15 at the time) and eats mostly what I consider to be unhealthy food. Another advantage of this recipe over conventional milkshake recipes is that you use less ice cream because the oat milk is thicker than regular milk. Warning-Oat milk is not good to drink by itself! Hope you like it.