Vegan children have been desperately trying to have playdates with meat-eating families so that they can ‘steal’ forbidden food, which they are ‘obsessed’ with.
One mum from an area ‘where it’s become fashionable to be vegan gluten free’ said it is ‘insane’ watching children with restricted diets come to their house who then ‘never stop eating’ the forbidden foods.
She said these children are allowed to have an unrestricted diet when they visit other people’s home but are not ‘interested in vegan food when they are over’.
‘They want meat! And bread,’ she said.
They ‘don’t seem to want to play, just eat’ and this feral behaviour means they ‘don’t invite them for play dates’ anymore, she explained.
The mother ironically believed it was an ‘unhealthy relationship with food’ and ‘if they see meat, it’s insane to watch’.
‘The kids eat everything outside the house – I mean everything!’
The vegan children were so rabid that they even ‘steal food from others’ plates’.
She acknowledged that the children were not ‘being starved’ but instead just needed to ‘eat a lot in order to feel full’.
‘They’ve clearly lost the ability to know when they are full.
‘But if kids are deprived of certain things at home, then I understand why they are so obsessed with things like meat and pasta and bread.
‘It’s actually very sad.
The mum wasn’t sure whether she should ‘mention something to the parents’ and asked ‘is it normal for a child to eat non-stop?’
‘I think if they follow such a strict diet at home because they believe that it’s healthier, then why let the kids eat meat outside the house?’
The advice of another parent on mumsnet was to not ‘bother telling the parents’ because ‘they’re just on the latest bandwagon’.
Another suggested to ‘invite them for a two hour slot nowhere near mealtimes’.
One user said it was ‘bonkers trying to make children who are by default omnivores confirm to a nutrient-deficit diet’.
‘Of course their bodies are crying out for real food and protein, and something with an actual taste!’
However, one parent said that the children with dietary requirements they knew were ‘no more likely than any other kids to pick random food up’ and said they were ‘definitely not mindlessly eating everything in sight rather than playing’.
There are around 2.5million people following a vegan diet in the UK, which is set to become 3.4million in 2025.
With the right planning and knowledge, vegan children can get all the nutrients they need but parents need to be well-informed so that the children don’t risk a shortage of vitamin D, calcium, iron, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12.
NHS Lanarkshire’s Nutrition and Dietetic Department have said ‘a well planned vegan diet rich in beans, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables, whole grains such as oats, rice, cereal based foods such as breads, and pasta along with fortified foods and supplements may provide all the nutrients needed for good health’.
‘This includes essential fats, protein, vitamins, minerals and plenty of fibre too.’
A study by University College London’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in 2021 showed that vegan children are shorter and have weaker bones.
Researchers found that children aged five to ten who eat plant-based diets are on average three centimetres shorter than those who eat meat.
Their bones were also smaller and less strong, putting the children at risk of fractures or osteoporosis in later life.
They recommended vegan children be given vitamin B12 and vitamin D supplements to reduce potentially long-term health consequences of being raised on plants only.