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Dr.
Spock: Veg diets good for kids
June 14, 2007
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Most
of us would agree that sugar and spice aren’t sufficient
to sustain little girls. What about nuts and berries?
Can plant matter provide what a child needs?
A spitting match, instigated by a column in The New York Times
last month, pitted a book author against proponents of vegetarian
diets. Nina Planck’s column, headlined “Death
by Veganism,” can be summarized by her conclusion: “Children
fed only plants will not get the precious things they need
to live and grow.”
Oh, no? The science says otherwise. But that’s yesterday’s
news.
An old stand-by on child-rearing – Dr. Benjamin Spock’s
“Baby and Child Care,” the seventh edition of
which was published in 1998, tells it like it still is.
Despite the science that affirms plant-based diets as optimal
for humans and other primates, a vegetarian eating style is
outside mainstream American culture and at odds with the economic
and political forces that sustain it. In what he knew would
be the last edition of his classic, Spock was determined to
make explicit the advice he believed passionately.
When I met Spock in the late 1990s, I had been called in to
help negotiate a dispute between Spock and his co-author.
Spock wanted to include a chapter testifying to his personal
experience with a vegetarian diet. His coauthor was uncomfortable
with this approach. Being an expert on plant-based diets,
I was asked to offer input into the debate.
When I arrived at Spock’s home in Camden, Maine, his
wife greeted me at the door. I stepped inside and could see
Spock at work on his manuscript, sitting on a barstool, stooped
over a drafting table in the kitchen that overlooked the backyard
and marina. He was writing longhand on yellow legal paper.
In one of the more surreal moments in my life, the famous
Benjamin Spock said to me, “Call me Ben.”
Speaking out on controversial topics was nothing new to Spock.
As he put it to me: “When I came out against spanking
in the 1960s, they said I had lost my mind.” He told
me that he saw his recommendation that children follow a vegetarian
diet as a similar ground-shifting moment and just as vital.
Spock died in 1998 at the age of 94 just before his book came
out. In the end, the chapter describing how a vegetarian diet
improved Spock’s health was scrapped, but his advice
for children remained intact and is still valid:
* Feed children vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans
regularly and with a positive attitude. Parents should model
the same eating style.
* Eat plenty of green leafy vegetables – two to three
servings each day – because they are loaded with absorbable
calcium, iron and vitamins. Broccoli, kale, collards, bok
choy and chard are examples.
* Vegetables should make up 25 percent to 30 percent of the
diet. Buy fresh, organic, locally grown vegetables from the
farmers’ market or another local source, or grow your
own.
* Eat beans and bean products (such as tempeh and soymilk)
regularly, and include fruits, seeds and nuts for flavor and
variety.
* Whole grains, vegetables, beans and fruits are the basics
of good nutrition. If a child’s diet includes them,
the most important nutritional bases are covered.
* Dairy products (other than breast milk) after the age of
2 years are not recommended. He listed many health reasons.
Vegetables and legumes provide calcium and have other nutritional
advantages, so milk from cows is unnecessary.
* Eliminate meat and poultry and reduce fish consumption.
Children raised on plant proteins have better health as adults.
Spock’s approach is borne out by research findings published
since his death, pointing to health advantages of diets based
on plant foods.
Nearly ten years on the shelf and his nutrition advice is
as fresh as ever.
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