A four-year-old boy has never tasted meat or cheese and his parents claim he couldn’t be healthier.
Proud vegans Amanda and Trent Brewer, who try to feed their dogs a plant-based diet, have likened feeding children meat to ‘giving them a cigarette’.
The young family, from Sydney, started the controversial animal-product free lifestyle four years ago and have ‘never looked back’.
The mother-of-three told Daily Mail Australia they cut out every meat and dairy product from their standard diets, following a path increasingly adopted by families across Australia.
Vegan parents Amanda and Trent Brewer (pictured with their children) are batting away critiques suggesting children raised on a plant-based diet are deprived of vital nutrients
Amanda Brewer’s, 41, young family (pictured) began following the controversial animal-product free lifestyle four years ago and have ‘never looked back’. Their dogs are also vegan
The proud vegan (pictured) said it was a slow and difficult transition at first as they eliminated animal product foods gradually – a hard task for big milk drinkers
Australia is the third-fastest growing vegan market globally, with an estimated two million followers.
Regular rallies take place at major cities, including Melbourne and Sydney, however the popular lifestyle choice is not without criticism.
Dietitians Association of Australia does not recommend a vegan diet for children in the first years of life when they are most vulnerable to nutrition deficiencies, with concerns particularly around lack of calcium.
The association recommends young children, at the very least, eat eggs and dairy products. Older children can eat a ‘well planned’ vegan diet which includes iron, B12, calcium and omega-3 fats.
However, Ms Brewer, 41, told Daily Mail Australia that by meeting vitamin requirements – like calcium and iron – a vegan diet leads to a healthier life.
‘At my daughter’s school, they have a sausage sizzle three times a year and that’s like giving kids a cigarette – it’s really crazy,’ she said.
Once the mother-of-three mastered her family’s vegan menu, Ms Brewer – whose four-year-old son has only ever eaten a vegan diet – said sending her 11-year-old daughter and six-year-old son to school with dietary requirements was not a struggle.
‘They are learning good nutritional habits that will see them through their life avoiding events of ill health related to an unhealthy diet,’ Ms Brewer said.
The young children don’t miss out on the iconic school lunch box staples either as Vegemite sandwiches and fruit still make a regular appearance.
‘My eldest struggled the most initially as she was hesitant to try new foods, but we set up a reward chart for trying new things and now four years in, we are well into the swing of it,’ the mother-of-three said.
‘The kids eat a much healthier and larger variety of food ingredients than they ever did before when they were omnivores, and they love the food.
‘It’s not as weird as people think … it’s a non issue really.
The mother-of-three (pictured second from right) explained the family’s health was better than ever – and they ‘miss a lot of the colds and flus making the rounds’
The young children (all pictured, aged 11, four and six), who are a small number of the two million Australian vegans, don’t miss out on the iconic school lunch box staples either as Vegemite sandwiches and fruit still make a regular appearance
‘I believe I’m giving my kids the best possible chance and a great gift in teaching them how to eat the best nutrition that they can.’
The proud vegan said it was a slow and difficult transition at first as they eliminated animal product foods gradually.
‘We did not do it overnight … our first step was to drop meat and we looked for alternatives to meat in our diets,’ Ms Brewer said.
‘Once sorted with that we moved on to finding alternatives for milk – as we were big milk drinkers.’
The mother-of-three explained the family’s health was better than ever – and they ‘miss a lot of the colds and flus making the rounds’.
The mother-of-three (pictured with her husband and daughter, 11) said the hardest part of following the plant-based diet was making sure her family got all their required nutrients
Australia is third fastest growing vegan market globally where regular rallies take place across major cities including Melbourne (pictured) but the lifestyle choice is not without dispute
‘My kids are not just surviving on a vegan diet, they are thriving,’ Ms Brewer told Daily Mail Australia.
‘My sons are off the chart for height and my daughter is in the gifted and talented program.’
The vegan explained the diet was easy to follow and just took more planning and awareness before putting things in their mouths.
‘I have brought my kids up to live kindly. They know that meat is actually an animal and they love animals,’ Ms Brewer said.
While the doting mother strives to raise her children on a plant based diet, she said being vegan does not necessarily mean being healthy.
Controversy surrounding vegan diets for children was thrown into the national spotlight when a toddler was allegedly found malnourished after being fed the plant-based diet.
NSW Police arrested the parents – aged 33 and 31 – as they alleged the 20-month-old girl was ‘severely lacking in nutrients’ and was suffering from rickets. The toddler’s parents faced court in April and pleaded not guilty.
Controversy surrounding vegan diets for children was thrown into the national spotlight when a toddler was allegedly found malnourished after being fed the plant based diet by her parents (pictured centre in white shirts)