There is a movement in this country towards more conscious eating; eating that requires thought about how food choices effect the environment, how animals are treated and, of course, how foods affect our bodies. It has been estimated that 7.3 millions adults follow a vegetarian diet and of those 1 million are vegan (do not eat any animals or products that come from animal sources such as milk or eggs). Experts are reporting more and more children are choosing to go vegetarian  and more parents are opting to raise their kids without meat.

 Best sellers like Skinny Bitch , Eating Animals, and Food Rules have caused people to become more conscious about their food intake on a deeper level. According to a poll done by Vegetarian Times,  

• 46 percent of people report that they chose to become vegetarians to become healthier
• 15 percent made the switch for animal welfare
• 12 percent due to the influence of family or friends
• 5 percent because of ethics
• 9 percent did so for other reasons

Gone are the days when parents had to worry about their vegetarian kids having poor nutrition. Today’s markets, specialty stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc.) and online stores are filled with nutritious vegetarian options. It just takes a little more time, research and reading to make sure your child is getting a balanced diet, but it is worth it. There are many reasons for you to considering going vegetarian.

1) Avoiding disease and increasing lifespan.

I don’t know about you, but I want to dance at my grandchild’s wedding and I hope that my children will live well into the triple digits. In fact, research shows that vegetarians and vegans have far fewer incidents of heart disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, gallstones, kidney disease, obesity, and colon disease. Research at Loma Linda University has found that vegetarian men live, on average, about seven years longer than their meat eating counterparts. European studies have shown that vegans may live an additional 15 years over the animal-eating population. The China Study, which is considered to be the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted, quite simply found that people who ate the most animal-based foods had the most chronic diseases and those who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and had the fewest chronic diseases.

2) Inhumane treatment of animals

When I was ten years old I saw a documentary of the slaughterhouses and never ate meat again. Once you are aware of or, even more powerfully, witness the slaughter of animals, it is difficult to eat meat ever again. It is also difficult to explain to your child why she should not pull your dog’s tail but it is okay to put animals in some of the cruelest of imaginable conditions, as are done on factory farms which account for 99 percent of all animals eaten in this country, and then slaughter them mercilessly. According to one worker at IBP, the world’s largest meat packing company, “Workers can open the legs, the stomach, the neck, cut off feet while the cow is still breathing… I would estimate that one out of ten cows is still alive when it’s bled and skinned.” Others, John Robbins author of The Food Revolution, estimate that number to be closer to 90 percent.

We work very hard to disconnect from the truth of what we eat. We call cows “beef,” and  pigs “pork while we protect our children from the truth that we don’t want to face ourselves. When a friend’s insightful three year old son asked if the chicken he was eating was like the chicken he had seen on a farm, she was at a loss for words. As hard as it is, children deserve accurate and age appropriate information. Some may argue with me that telling a child that the chicken he is eating was once just like the one he saw walking on the farm is not age appropriate, but I disagree. Young children don’t need to know the details of the slaughter but they deserve to know where their food really comes from.

3) Environmental impact

Meat production is harmful to the planet and our children need us to keep it in good condition for their future. Research has shown that animal agriculture is the single largest source of methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is twenty-one times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Factory farming also creates a huge amount of toxic sludge. According to the WorldWatch Institute, animals raised for food produce nearly 89,000 pounds of excrement per second which is 130 times the waste of the entire human population of the United States. Disposing of all this animal waste is problematic for the planet. While there are very strict laws about the disposal of human waste, equivalent laws do not exist for animal waste. Because of agricultural waste emptying from rivers and tributaries in to the Gulf of Mexico there is a “Dead Zone,” where there is no oxygen in the water and it cannot sustain any life. In 2008, this “Dead Zone” was reportedly 8,000 square miles.

Factory farming also uses incredible amounts of water, which is one of the earth’s most important resources. According to the Water Education Foundation it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. By comparison, it only takes 23 gallons to produce one pound of lettuce. Based on these numbers Robbins estimates you can save more water by not eating one pound of beef than if you skipped your daily shower for six months.

4) Avoiding toxins.

A recent study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives revealed that people who frequently eat poultry and beef have higher levels of PBDE’s (Polybrominated diphenylethers), a common flame retardant, in their blood. How did flame retardants get in your food? These chemicals are everywhere: in children’s pajamas, mattresses, computers, TVs, furniture, upholstery, rugs, draperies, home electronics, and car interiors. They leak into the environment through the air, are carried by dust and water and enter the food chain. These hormone disrupters have been linked to impaired memory, abnormalities of coordination, hyperactivity, and infertility. The study found that vegetarians had PBDE concentrations that were 25 percent lower than omnivores.

Because fish are known to be a great source of brain-boosting omega-3 acids, parents tend to be especially pleased when their children are willing to eat it. But it is important to note that mercury-contaminated fish are the main source of human exposure to this toxic heavy metal. While freshwater fish and large, long-living fish generally accumulate the highest levels, a government test of fish pulled from nearly 300 streams in the USA found every one of them was contaminated with some level of mercury. Mercury is a neurotoxin especially dangerous to neurological development in infants, children and fetuses. The study found that 27% of the fish had mercury levels high enough to exceed what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers safe for those who eat fish twice a week,.

5) Contaminated food

If you think that thoroughly cooking your child’s burger is an assurance that he will not get a food borne illness, think again. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food borne illnesses such as E. coli and salmonella still sicken an estimated 76 million Americans each year; 325,000 get hospitalized; and 5000 die. Many are children. Since her two year old son died from eating a tainted hamburger, Barbara Kowalcyk has devoted her life to advocate for safer food. But in many ways she is fighting an uphill battle. Since 1998 the USDA has been able to shut down a meat plant for the repeated presence of salmonella and E. coli microbes, but the federal agency has lost that power due to lawsuits from the meat and poultry industries.

While there have been cases of E.coli being found in fruits and vegetable contaminated by water containing cattle waste but it is most commonly found in ground beef. According to Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer organization, slaughter house workers kill and gut as many as 350 animals per hour and are under tremendous pressure to work faster, causing errors such as puncturing intestines, bladders and bowels during cutting which releases waste matter that ultimately gets ground up into burgers. As Eric Schlosser reports in his powerful documentary Food Inc., mass-produced ground beef hamburgers are composed of pieces of thousands of different cows. If one of those pieces of meat is contaminated with fecal matter, the whole lot is contaminated. According to Gail Eisnitz author of Slaughterhouse  it is not a question of “if” there is fecal matter in your family’s meat but “how much.”

Make That Change!

Whether you go ovo-lacto vegetarian (no animals), lacto vegetarian (no animals, eggs or dairy) or vegan, you stand a good chance of making a difference in the health of your family and the planet. The animals will want to thank you too. According to PETA by switching to a vegetarian diet you will save more than 100 animals each year.

Food has a lot of emotional meaning for most people and making changes, even when you want to, can be challenging. It can be helpful to get educated about vegetarianism and nutrition and also to share books with your child that reinforce the new family plan.

Recommended books for adults:

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins

The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell

Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love by Jennifer McCann

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Erik Marcus

Recommended books for kids:

This is Why We Don’t Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things by Ruby Roth

Herb, The Vegetarian Dragon by Jules Bass and Debbie Harter

Each Living Thing by Joanne Ryder and Ashley Wolff

Hey Little Ant by Phillip Hoose, Hannah Hoose, and Debbie Tilley

‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

* A condensed version of this article appeared in Los Angeles Family Magazine March 2010