There will always be a teacher that has beliefs different that what a parent exercises in their own home. The key is to raise confident intelligent children that look in their own home first for role models and that sounds exactly like what you all are doing.

Don't give up on the example model you are being. She will see that you are perfectly healthy eating raw vegan. I can't imagine a raw vegan could eat very unhealthy unless they ate lots of nuts and very little fruits and veggies.

No advice for dealing with schools. I have had my daughter in the public schools here in AZ and in FL. FL was by far way better for public education. Next year she will be going back to charter. I have to options to see ab out but I just don't have the time to bother with teachers and staff that will not listen. Fortunately the public schools do have the option for either pb&j and always salad if the student doesn't want what is offered. I wish they offered soy milk though. If I'm going to send soy milk I may as well send an entire lunch. This year we were in the situation to have free lunch(single mom and had very little income) and so we dealt with it.

While the school wont always be willing to listen, you can always talk with kids to explain that the health teacher is following what someone else wants her to follow(or has some personal issues with it) but also that they are not nutritionist so what they say can include false information. If she grows interested you can get books at library and read them together. As another that went vegetarian(almost vegan I ate eggs rarely but other wise no milk products) in high school I did read some on it but most was in magazines until we got a computer.

I agree - that the school's dietician has no idea what she/he is talking about.

I gained an enormous amount of weight during puberty - tried weight watchers.... tried watching my portions of animal products... went to a dietician that tried to get me to eat low-fat animal products as a way to solve my problem.

All I can say is all of this expensive advice brought about absolutely nothing. In the end, I was so confused - I started to starve myself as the only way I could get the weight loss results I wanted.

If only I had someone to tell me about eating a healthy vegan whole foods diet, about cooking, and about how wonderful and energetic food could make me feel.... that I didn't have to be afraid of it.

Good Luck

Thank you everyone for the replies and support. It really means a lot to me to come back and read them all.

I have to say that at times, everything about diet just isn't easy in this world. Especially when everyone has their own opinions.lol

I try hard to study up on many things. I love to research and always look at both sides of things. I feel that's the way to come up with the best conclusion for myself. Of course, there will be times when my "conclusions" differ than those in mainstream, such as becoming raw vegan. That's when it really gets hard! I have a family to deal with too now, and those people in my family are getting to the ages of wanting to decide things for themselves. (yikes!lol)

My two girls are put in public settings such as school, they deal with peer pressure and not just peer pressure, but even teacher pressure at times. (such as the health teacher my daughter has)
I'm trying to show my girls not by just talkign but also by action. I want them to see me thrive and let that be a positive influence. I can only hope that when they are older and on their own, they will want to be healthy and if they can't decide on what is the best way to be healthy, to atleast research and come up with what they feel is best for them.

Now I just need to get my older daughter to see that just because mom has been losing weight and we may become the same weight, that she is still very healthy for her own height. She is about 5in. taller than I am and is now beginning to have issues with me possibly weighing the same amount eventually. Ugh, it's going to be an interesting road to travel with her so I may need some good luck wishes on it.

Track you and your childrens food intake for a few days, diferent days, different week. The numbers will prove that EDUCATED vegan/vegetarianism is the most healthy liestyle.

You are a mindful parent, and this is teaching your kid a whole lot of lessons: eating healthy, communicating, debating, being different, caring about more than just humans. I hope your daughter learns strength from this, I have a lot of respect for that girl

Unfortunately, teenagers who turn to vegetarianism often live off potato chips, from what I saw. I wasn't, I must bhave gained 40 lbs in one year around grade 9 from stress, eating, sadness It's hard to be a kid. Sometimes I wished someone had said something in a.. smart way.

That really bothers me, too. And what's really frustrating is that I can't use my body to help support the fact that vegetarianism can be healthy. I can't exactly say, "It is healthy! Just look at me!" But people don't understand that if you're a vegetarian and unhealthy, it's because you're not doing it right (like I wasn't).

This reminds me of a story that Sergei and Valya Boutenko tell in their raw vegan "cook" book-- someone called CPS on their parents for feeding them all raw veggies. The day the CPS worker showed up, the kids were experimenting in the kitchen with new raw recipes. The CPS worker asked them what they'd had for lunch. They looked at eachother and replied "McDonalds." The CPS worker left.

BIZARRE double standard, if ya ask me!!

Wow, really sad story.

They don't advise 5 servings (as in 3-4 ounces as a serving), they advise 5 ounces. Either the teacher is quite confused on that point herself (which wouldn't exactly shock me), or the child relayed it wrong. But the advice is supposed to be 5 ounces, which is about 1.5ish "servings" as most people think of them (the "deck of cards" advice).

it's stupid and annoying!
My best friend flipped out at me when I told her I planned on going vegan! And I mean it- she wouldn't talk to me unless it was to lecture, and then she said that we needed to 'take a break from eachother for a week or two'- ridiculous, right?
Calcium in dairy is not a good source of calcium! All the crap they do to it makes it unabsorbably by the body! Kale, molasses, broccoli, collard, and other leafy greens are much better to get calcium!