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Veganfamily
Feb 2nd, 2009, 06:57 PM
My 5 children have all been vegan since conception. They are all very healthy and are at the right weight and height for their ages. However recently I have had several comments from other omni parents about 'how that vegan diet is making the children too skinny'.
After several of these comments I started to get a bit worried. Out came the weighing scales and tape measure and it was confirmed that my children are all at healthy weights.
I cant understand the comments. Do you think they are directly against our veganism, or it is just that against so many overweight kids, mine look particularly scrawny?

cookey
Feb 2nd, 2009, 07:00 PM
I think that children are getting fatter generally, as are adults. I shouldn't worry about such comments. As long as you know your children are eating healthily, you have nothing to worry about.

Buddha Belly
Feb 2nd, 2009, 07:06 PM
Hi,
I am a very bad example of what i am about to say:
Most people's perception of what is a healthy looking person has been modified by more people and children being overweight to obese. So your children probably look very healthy, but not to those that have fed their children to a slightly (?) overweight size.
This is getting much more prevelant now in the western world.
It may be that they do not understand the vegan diet and think it is a bad thing. There are too many things in this forum about omnis and peoples thoughts on them so i won't start any anti-omni stuff.
It may be a time to slowly educate the other parents.
A vegan diet is best, a slightly smaller vegan child is probably healthier than an overweight/ obese child.
Sounds like you are doing a 5 brilliant jobs and an inspiration to us all.

Agatha
Feb 2nd, 2009, 08:24 PM
i'm going to say exactly the same thing.

There is of course natural variation between children.

i would imagine that omni children are just fat.

the national average has gone up over the last couple of decades so what we perceive of as a normal weight is in fact overweight. in terms of adult sizes women used to be on average a size 12 in the 1950s, this is now a size 16 today, and the average height hasn't gone up enough to justify that.

It sounds like you children are all fine in terms of their heights and weights correlation. as long as they are getting a healthy balanced diet and plenty of exercise you have nothing to worry about.

doesn't make other people's ignorance any less hurtful i know. maybe you need to think of a line thats both polite but firm that you can whip out whenever you get these comments. OR if you're brave the more direct route of "My children are healthy. Yours are porkers! must be all the pigs you feed them! they say you are what you eat!"

veganf
Feb 26th, 2009, 05:36 PM
If you had skinny omni kids they probably wouldn't comment. Also, I think genetics and activity level has almost as much to do with it as diet.

vava
Feb 26th, 2009, 08:29 PM
I would go along the "I know they'll never get fat eh? They are always active and rarely ill - it's great!

You are doing something that is out of the mainstream - it gives folk a reason to gossip. There was a case recently in the paper of a child being ill from a vegan diet so that probably fuels the fire. Any diet type can be healthy or unhealthy. Ignore them and go with your 'mothers instinct' - tis never wrong! Well done you I say!:thumbsup:

DiaShel
Feb 26th, 2009, 11:34 PM
Well sure you're kids are going to be skinner then most, have you seen what most kids eat?! It makes me sick that a parent would do that. It should be considered abuse to give your kid McDonalds 3xs times a week. I know, I know, there's a lot of vegan junk too, but I seriously doubt someone with enough sense to raise a kid vegan would let them eat noting but chips and soy icecream.
Rant over...

Quantum Mechanic
Feb 27th, 2009, 10:20 AM
I think it is probably a combination of the overall average weight is greater now, and many people unfortunately think that "typical = good and healthy", which may not be true at all. Also, since knowing that you are vegan, then they are more likely to make a correlation, particularly if they come with a stereotype of "sickly thin vegans" in their minds.

I grew up in elementary school and there were many thin kids, and I didn't know any vegans until junior high or high school. They didn't get their weight called into question, I suspect mainly because it was assumed that their omni diet would "protect" them from being too underweight. That, and they were at what were most likely healthy weights, not overly thin anyway. I am sure though that if there was a vegan with a thin appearance, and stood in a room next to some children slightly heavier, then they might gather some comments or thoughts about their weight and veganism if it is know that they are vegan.

genisis
Feb 27th, 2009, 03:53 PM
If you had skinny omni kids they probably wouldn't comment.

I totally agree! Sometimes people will look for an excuse to say something bad about being vegan,even though they will not know anything about vegans properly.Anybody that is 'different' others will try to find fault :rolleyes:

Bellarose
Apr 2nd, 2009, 07:17 AM
I would say it is probably the natural tendency of your kids to be thin and these people are just assigning the cause to veganism. My daughter has been vegan since before birth and is extremely chunky. She is in the 97th percentile for height and weight. I am thin but her Dad is a bigger guy (not fat but has a large frame). I have seen lots of super-thin omnis. As long as they are healthy and not in a dangerously underweight zone, I would not worry.