Food Choices Page #9

point of my journey,

I already had seen

enough evidence

about the benefits and

safety of a plant based diet

for adults, but was this

lifestyle also ideal

and safe for children?

- Not only can

children grow healthy

on a plant-based

diet, they'll grow

healthiest on a

plant-based diet.

I mean, we have an

epidemic of childhood

obesity, and children

raised plant-based,

actually grow taller

by about an inch,

they grow about an inch

taller than meat eating

incumbents, and

most importantly,

they grow less in a

horizontal direction, right?

They don't have

the same problems

with childhood obesity,

so Dr. Benjamin Spock,

the most esteemed

pediatrician of all time,

wrote one of the

bestselling books

in human history,

recommended in his final

edition, the 7th edition

of his book before he died

in his 90's, that all

children should be raised

with zero exposure

to meat and dairy.

And he did this

because he saw what

you know, the older

generations were dying

from, and wanted to get

them off on a good start.

I mean the leading

killers of our children

will eventually be, same thing.

Heart disease,

cancer, strokes, copd,

diabetes, hypertension.

These are diseases

that can be prevented

in many cases arrested,

or even reversed

with a healthy enough

plant-based diet.

- As a new

father, I wondered,

how could I get my

daughter to eat healthy?

Since getting her to

eat anything at all

can sometimes be a problem.

There's so much

junk being marketed

to kids out there, and

it is often difficult

for parents to

transition their children

to healthier food options.

- I would not be

surprised at all

that if in 15,

20, 25 years time,

people will look back at

the last 10 to 20 years,

and they'll say, "how did

those people give that food

"to their children?"

- A big question that

we get all the time

is, "how can I get my

kids to eat better?"

I think every parent

wants their kids to eat

healthy, and it's

difficult, especially when

everywhere you look, there's

a fast food restaurant,

or a processed food snack

that is being marketed

towards children.

And the first thing

that I always say is,

"you have to lead by example."

As a parent, you can't

be eating lousy foods,

and expect your

children to eat healthy,

because you tell them to.

So you have to walk your

walk, that's number one.

The second thing is, i

encourage all parents

to make the preparation

of meals and the shopping

of food inclusive

with their children.

The more you can bring

your kids into the fold,

the more they're going

to develop an emotional

attachment to where

their food comes from,

how it's prepared,

and the impact that

it's having on their health.

- Really get inside their heads,

and sort of think

how they would think.

Keep telling them what

is good, what is bad,

won't probably work, you

have to interact with them,

you have to show

them what's possible.

Get your hands dirty,

get the kids to help you,

and let them own

what they're doing.

If you always put

something in front of them

in a silver platter,

and let them consume

that information,

you know, it'll only

work for so long.

What you've got to do,

you've got to get them

involved, let them have

the responsibility.

The way I approach it

is that I try to make it

as fun as possible, use

colors, use flavors,

teach a little thing that

they never knew about,

use gadgets that,

normal people won't see,

but I want them to go

away with a feeling

of accomplishment,

and something that

they're eager to share

to their friends.

Hopefully their parents.

I think that's the best part.

It's like holding a bird.

You don't want to

hold it too tight,

you're going to hurt the bird.

You don't want to

hold it too loosely,

or it's going to fly away.

That's something that

each individual parent

has a specific

knowledge of their kid.

- I get the questions

all the time.

"What do I do, how do I start,

"how do I tell my kids,

oh, they're going to be

"so disappointed that

they're not having

"meat on their plates, that

they're not having dairy."

Try a vegan burger, it's

basically the same thing,

you just leave the meat out.

That's great for

kids, because why?

You're going to put

that burger on that bun,

you're going to put all

the fixings on that,

whatever your kids like, you

make it exactly the same,

that's a great way

to get started.

- When I think with

the younger generation,

what's so exciting is,

is that they get to start

young, I mean, I'm not

going to have any regrets,

but it sort of bums me

out a little bit that I'm

just now discovering

this in my 30's because

I wish I would have done

this when I was younger,

because just the thoughts

of like the energy,

that I would've had in college.

- I think the other

thing is to not have

hard and fast rules,

with your children,

you can't eat that, and you

know, you have to eat this.

And instead, respect them as

independent sentient beings,

who have you know,

the wherewithal

to make conscious

decisions for themselves.

So, at our home, we

serve plant based foods,

all the time, we don't

have any animal products

here, but when my 10

year old daughter goes

to a birthday party, she's

surrounded by you know,

chicken McNuggets, and

birthday cake and all of that,

and we don't say to her,

"you can't eat those foods."

We say, "have a great time

at the birthday party,

"and make the right

choice for you."

And that doesn't mean

that she always makes

the right choice, that

way you are empowering

them, this is a lifetime

we're talking about.

This is a long road ahead,

so it's about getting

your children to think

consciously about their

own choices, so that

when they reach the age

of maturity, they are

informed and educated

and prepared to be responsible

stewards of the planet,

and responsible stewards

of their own bodies.

- I could not

make a film about food choices

and not explore the

topic of organic,

versus non-organic.

It seems that

everybody's obssessed

with those words, and

it's becoming increasingly

adverse to foods that don't

carry an organic label.

Others fear that consuming

more plant based food

might be damaging

to their health,

due to the increase of

pesticides in those foods.

But should this really

be our biggest concern?

- Fear of pesticides

should never keep anyone

from maximizing their

fruit and vegetable intake.

There, you know, so there's

been like chemic computer

modeling studies that

suggest that, so for example,

if half of Americans ate

a single more serving

of fruits and vegetables

a day, we'd prevent

20,000 cancer deaths every year.

If just half the people,

just one more serving,

20,000 people would not

have died from cancer,

would normally have died

if they hadn't done that.

So that's how powerful

fruits and vegetables are.

But, because these

were conventional,

pesticide laden

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