Hey everyone! I’m looking for advice on how to transition older kids to a vegan diet. I have a 9 year-old daughter and would love for her to be as vegan as possible. I have read The Kind Diet several times and personally went vegan when it first came out and felt amazing!! Since then I’ve sort of reverted back to my old ways of being a semi-vegetarian (I will only eat organic, free-range chicken or turkey and sometimes fish, nothing else!) but would love to get myself back on track and take her with me (I’d be ecstatic if my husband would follow suite but one thing at a time, lol) We eat very healthy and my daughter loves fruits and veggies but she will also eat pretty much any kind of meat and dairy if it’s an option. There is obviously not much of that going on in our home (meat-wise) but she goes to her dad’s e/o weekend, over school breaks plus e/o week in the summer and I know she eats a lot of meat and dairy products when she’s there. Her dad is a dairy farmer and avid hunter….need I say more??
I have also always had a sneaking suspicion that my daughter may have some sort of dairy allergy. I guess you could call it mother’s intuition. I have tried cutting it out before but she’s not a huge fan of all the substitutes out there. I myself have a gluten-allergy and it turns out that’s hereditary so there’s a good chance she could have that as well. I’ve called my clinic to see if I could have her tested but apparently that intuition isn’t enough for them to justify testing. Anyway, long story longer, I’m really just looking for some advice. Is there anyone else out there with even a smidgen of a similar situation that could share their experience? There is so much to take into consideration with kids; school, lunches, friends’ houses, b-day parties, and in my case another parents’ house. Feeling very overwhelmed and don’t know where to start!
Please help!!!!