As parents, we want the BEST for our children.

And sometimes, we go to some pretty far extremes to make that happen.

I know because I’ve been that parent.
(Boy oh BOY, was I! lol smh)

My poor kids were actually ‘sneaking’ snack foods from their friends because they felt so deprived back in the early to mid 2000’s when my family and I were eating a raw (nothing cooked), plant-based diet!

And don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret that decision, as it had it’s pros & cons… mostly pros, I would say. I just wish we had done things a little differently, such as supplementation – in which case a good vitamin supplement or healthy meal replacement shake would have been ideal.

Since there was a very limited amount of foods the kids were WILLING to eat (without a battle) coupled with the fact that we were led to believe that we didn’t need to supplement our diet; they (we) ended up with nutritional deficiencies.

Now, at the OTHER end of the spectrum…

There are parents who allow the kids to eat ANY and EVERY thing: soda pop, candy, cookies, chips… you name it, they can have it.

Before the raw food lifestyle thing happened, we’d been there too. :/

And it’s that latter category that makes me a little bit salty at the fact that we’re even sitting here questioning whether or not kids can or should drink meal replacement shakes because I feel that there are way worse things they could be consuming.

In hindsight, a (healthy) meal replacement shake would have been beneficial for our kids during the raw food days.

Should You Give YOUR Child Meal Replacement Shakes?

Before we firmly plant our flag on a “yay” or “nay”, let’s dig a little bit into this matter.
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