Raising Healthy Vegan Children (Part 2)
Supplements
My children take most or all of the above supplements on a daily basis. They pretty much mirror what my mother fed my sisters and I growing up. This supplement thing is a good habit I maintained from my youth.
I give my children vitamins not because I feel that they will become ill without them, but because I think a daily supplement in addition to their healthy diet is a good idea.
B12 deficiency in vegans/vegetarians has been debated back and forth for years. My mother did nothing to shore up our B12 reserves when we were vegetarian children and as a vegan mother of four I am certainly not deficient nor have I ever been. The same goes for my children. The B12 myth/debate is explained in great detail on this website.
However, I will add that as children Nutritional Yeast (nooch) was used as a daily seasoning, so I guess my mother did something although not deliberately. Lol!
UPDATE: The B12 issue is still up for debate. However one of my wonderful readers gave me a link to a vegan nutritionist rethinking her stance on the issue. http://www.theveganrd.com/2010/07/vitamin-b12-supplements-how-much-is-enough.html
She recommends visiting this website veganhealth.org for vegan nutritional info and supplemental dosage information. Here is the link for B12 dosages for vegans. http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/rec
The best thing about being vegan is the wealth of information that is available to us all and there are so many of us willing to help each other on this journey!
These Lovites are the same brand and taste from my childhood. My children love to take these every day. These vitamins taste like candy. Vitamin C, check.
Animal Parade, a vegetarian multivitamin. The older children take two of these every day and the toddlers 1 each. The Lovites and the Animal Parade are made by Nature’s Plus.
I put Brewer’s Yeast on top of our salads, sprinkled on the toddlers food (they don’t notice), in peanut butter banana smoothie’s (a favorite around these parts) and I also make a mean gravy with it.
Brewer’s yeast contains all of the essential amino acids, 14 minerals, and 17 vitamins
Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/28790.aspx#ixzz10Jkza2mg
Nutritional yeast aka “nooch” is another inactive yeast. This yeast is very popular with many vegans because of the cheesy flavor it adds to recipes. We use it in the production of our vegan cheese and in so many of the dishes we create on a daily basis.
Read more: http://www.suite101.com/content/benefits-and-uses-of-nutritional-yeast-a71903
Kelp is sprinkled on our salads as a topping as well. Kelp is high in iron, calcium and potassium.
Vanilla Spirutein is used in my daily milk production. I make sesame seed milk every day for my daughter and Vanilla Spirutein protein powder is an essential ingredient.
EmergenC is a treat for the kids. It’s a fizzy drink mix they mix with water. They consume EmergenC about once a day when I have it on hand. There is no threat of scurvy at my house, lol.
OK, so that was the essential list of supplements. Feel free to ask questions.