I posted a rather long winded response in the 'Why are you a vegetarian' thread, so I won't go into detail again. To sum it up, I have ethical issues with the way animals are treated from birth to slaughter, and will, now, only purchase animals products that are a result of humane, natural animals that were treated with respect throughout their life.

What do I do? For me, I can very easily get my protein from nuts, legumes, eggs and fish. However, how do I reasonably keep my children's (2, 3 and 5) nutrition at an excellent level without the incorporation of meat? What do I buy for snacks? What do I use instead of chicken broth (does veggie broth work as well)? Is rice/soy milk appropriate for my children?

It may sound like a silly question to some veteran veggies, but this all kind of hit me like a ton of bricks over the last two weeks. I was eating chicken I had prepared, and was in one of those existential moods, and it just hit me that this poor chicken was born in a cage, has it's beak removed, was force fed chemical laden feed, pulled it own feathers out, mutilated itself and others, and was killed brutally as it rotated on an assembly line. Needless to say, it was kind of an insta-vomit situation and I couldn't finish my meal. I'm a little disgusted with myself for not noticing it earlier, and don't have any idea where to go from here!

Congratulations on your decision to give up meat! Many parents raise happy and healthy children on vegetarian and vegan diets. The Vegetarian Resource Group is a great place to start reading up, here is some info on feeding vegan kids. There's a lot of support out there on the web for families that want to eat compassionately.

I am very happy you are considering doing this for the animals!! Please visit this site. It will help you with deciding if this will be good for your kids. www.milksucks.com

Dinner 1 with no animal products went very badly.

We had fish (cooked in apple cider), spaghetti squash and broccoli. My 2 year old and 3 year old decided to play with the squash, and my 5 year old ate half her plate and threw the rest away.

I'm very depressed...

What do your kids normally eat? If you give us some examples maybe we can suggest some veggie versions of food that might be less foreign and more appealing to your kids.

There are alternatives to every meat dish that are just as yummy. I agree with Shananigans- give us an idea of what they like to eat and perhaps we can make some suggestions.

My father is raising my younger brother (age 10) as a vegetarian and he is pefectly happy and healthy.

Spaghetti squash and broccoli are pretty par for the course in my house, actually. The fish was a substitute for chicken, so I kind of expected that they wouldn't like it.

Why don't you try easing into this. Dont take away all meat at once. Do it slowly, making small changes a little at a time. That is what I am doing so it wont be such a big shock and feel like I am deprived of stuff. Try making pasta....spaghetti is fun for kids and you can do a meatless sauce. You can discuise onions and peppers by blending them into a liquid. You still get the flavor but not the chunks the kids can crunch and say..."ewww....onions".

Or....macaroni and cheese made with soy milk, or oven french fries, just cut up some potatoes like fries and spray with cooking spray and season and then bake till crispy. You can make for breakfast some scrambled eggs from an egg substitute, toast with jelly, and fake meat sausages or something.

You just have to put your thinking hat on and search the net for recipes, go to the library, ask others on here as you are, and just plain ole research. That is how I have learned all the stuff I have so far. I am no expert at all, but I know more now because of the internet and especially PETA.

YOU CAN MAKE THIS CHANGE IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH....Just remember it's for the animals. Dont give up, do some research, and make changes gradually.....Keep us imformed too. We will help you any way we can.

Altari: I found a great website for you. Take a look!
http://www.vegfamily.com/

There are veggie-versions of chicken nuggets and such things made by MOrningstar Farms that my kids really liked. We'd use the soy crumbles to make sloppy joes. We used a lot of things like this as we transitioned to vegetarians. If you don't tell them it isn't meat, they won't know. My kids finally caught and would ask hey is this meat? I'd shrug and they'd eat it.

I am sorry you are having a hard time transitioning your diet. It is doable and you can healthfully make the transition from omnis to veggies if that is what you want. If you aren't going to be vegetarian, then eating as you have described (fish, eggs, animal milks) doesn't require any special tinkering to have enough nutrients at all.

Naturally, you can talk to your doctor/pediatrician about this too but know that most doctors have very little nutritional training so be prepared for that possibility.

Try www.pcrm.org and look for veg info on raising children.

The links listed are great, I have more and will post when I am not at school (I am supposed to be studying! ).

I can say that I went from omni to vegan overnight and my family went along with me, so never fear...it CAN be done, even with children!

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/v..._children.html

Here's a direct link.

Altari,

How are you doing with your endeavor?

On a side note, Americans eat more meat than any other culture as far as I know. We also happen to be one of the unhealthiest cultures around. There are many much healthier cultures and most of them eat meat in very limited quantities if at all. Many cultures/subcultures around the world don't eat meat at all. So I wouldn't worry that taking away meat is going to somehow leave you and your family malnourished. Also, if you are still eating fish then that is definitely equal to chicken or whatever other meat you were eating before.

My recommendation is to try a variety of foods. I'm not a vegetarian although I strive to eat a vegan diet. I use cookbooks and online resources as well as scope out various items at my grocery store to see what I can incorporate into my daily diet. I just tried polenta for the first time tonight and it was pretty good. I think it is hard though to go from the typical american diet to one that focues on veggies, legumes and grains. It takes a bit of practice. I'm still trying to learn and I think I do get better over time.

Try the chickenburgers those are pretty good. They also have tofupups (fake hot dogs) as well and fake corn dogs...the kids will something they like you just have to keep trying out stuff.
I hope things get better soon!

on a side note...
I consider fish an animal product and do not eat any. Is someone a vegetarian if they eat fish?

Its pescitarian and it depends on who you ask. I'm pescitarian and say yes, other people say no. I don't think there's a 100% definite answer to that. I guess its how you view it.