How Much Protein Does My Child Need?

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to raise our kids vegetarian?” Question posed by my better half.

When my husband and I were expecting our first child, we had lengthy discussions about whether or not to raise our children without meat. At the time, he was an omnivore and I was plant-based.

Seven years later, our three children are vegetarian, my husband is a pescatarian (plants plus dairy plus fish), and I am still decidedly plant-based.

Every so often, my husband jokingly “threatens” to start offering meat to our children if they slip on the growth charts. Thankfully, this has not been an issue. All our children are not only tall and solid but bursting with energy from dawn to dusk.

While this is certainly encouraging, we would be doing our children a disservice if we assumed that all is well based on these superficial criteria. Health problems that stem from nutritional deficiencies are not always obvious, and can take years to appear.

I decided that it was time to set aside my ethical and environmental motivations, put on my scientist hat, and dig into the research on protein needs.

Learn More here.