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What if the children in your life embraced healthy living, wholesome plant-based meals, loved to cook and thrived despite living in a junk-food world?

Discover a delightful community of like-minded parents and teachers guiding children to love health-promoting food and how to prepare it. The Plant-Powered Punks Membership is dedicated to supporting children's self-care and health awareness, providing skills and experiences, leading to healthy habits that last a lifetime.

Join the PLANT-POWERED PUNKS MEMBERSHIP HERE

Margot Freitag

Hi, I'm Margot Freitag, health coach and founder of Plant-Powered Punks, and author of the Plant-Powered Punks Cookbook for children. I'm thrilled you're here and I can't wait to help you guide the children in your life toward healthier, happier living with plant-based nutrition as the guiding force.

As a kid, I had big dreams...

I always believed I was destined to do great things in the world. I had lots of dreams and goals, just like every kid. But my lungs just wouldn't co-operate. I spent way to much time in the hospital, in a croup tent pumped with oxygen. I lived my youth in a mental fog, struggling with allergies to everything and asthma that was at times debilitating. Despite my lung health, I managed to run, puffer in hand, get through school, and even have pets. But at times struggling to breathe was downright terrifying.

Everything changed in my 20's when I landed in a nutriton class with the (now famous) dietician, Brenda Davis, renowned author and speaker. She explained that some things we eat contribute to health and some things we eat make us sick. This was the beginning of a huge turning point.

Several years later, when my sweet three-year old baby boy was diagnosed with asthma, I got serious. We made all of the changes I knew we needed to make, and within days we were both asthma free. The rest is history.

The State of Children's Health Today

the current generation of children is expected to live shorter lives than their parents.
approximately 500,000 children and adolescents receive prescriptions for anti-depressants every year in the US
the most common mental health disorders children deal with today are ADHD, anxiety, behavioural problems and depression. (details of how some of the common food additives cause these exact issues should not be ignored!)
rates of childhood obesity are on average 20%, and these percentages increase with age
both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are on the rise.
diabetes is the leading cause of amputations and blindness in youth.
Type 2 diabetes was once called “adult-onset” diabetes, but the dramatic rise in children has called for a new term, Type 2.
Leukemia is the leading cancer in children. Dairy farmers also experience high Leukemia rates, and Bovine Leukemia virus (identical in molecular structure to leukaemia found in children) is present in dairy products.
there is so much more our children needlessly contend with...asthma, ear infections, skin problems, allergies, the list goes on....

The confusion out there is overwhelming

In 2011, I did my first Nutrition Certification through the T. Colin Campbell Nutrition Studies program at Cornell.

What struck me was how nutrition has become political and corporate more than health promoting. The food industries are powerful and the dieting industy is even more so. There is a saying that "a confused mind does nothing", and it seems that is exactly the intention of the biggest food industries out there.

The influence is powerful. Well-meaning, dedicated people get caught in diet roller-coasters and weight-loss programs that encourage "macronutrient" diets, demonizing important, health-promoting foods.

What's worse is these well-meaning folks think these same strategies must be good for their children....

What's in your favourite convenience foods....

If you find yourself opening a box or unwrapping a package when you give your child a snack, you may want to consider that the additives and preservatives in food have some considerable effects on human health and behaviour:

Artificial Colour is related to vision problems, Adrenal gland, brain and kidney tumours, asthma, severe allergies, neurological problems, and causes behavioural issues including ADD, ODD, OCD and Hyperactivity.
Fat Preservatives effect estrogen levels, causes asthma, rhinitis, dermatitis, cancer, urticaria and hyperactivity.
Mold and bacteria inhibitors like sodium benzoate can cause neuro-degenerative diseases, damage the immune system, deprives cells of oxygen, and causes hyperactivity.
GMO's like glyphosate and BT Toxin are likely carcinogens and cause intestinal damage. Unless you are buying packaged food that is certified organic, you and your family are probably eating them.

....Just to name a few....

The truth about "animal protein"

Despite popular diet strategies like keto and macro diets, high protein strategies can be dangerous, and can lead to the idea that children need a lot of animal protein. More protein does not equal better health, in fact the opposite is true. Humans are "obligate carbohydrate consumers", we produce salivary amylase, a carbohydrate digesting enzyme in our saliva, which ensures carbohydrates are our first source of fuel. This is a trait we share only with herbivores. Some things to think about regarding animal protein:

eggs are linked to ovarian cancer and other hormone related cancers.
chicken is linked to colon, prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer and is the most fattening meat.
In the largest studies of diet, meat consumption is consistently associated with increased risk of dying from cancer, dying from heart disease, and dying prematurely in general.
Dairy products are linked to breast, prostate and colon cancers, leukemia, chrons and colitis, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, asthma, allergies, bone loss, iron deficiency, constipation, ear infections and is the leading dietary source of lead. Enough said.

How the longest-living and healthiest people on the planet eat

So, what are we supposed to eat? How do we feed our children?

To be clear, we don't need to "veganize" our children for them to experience good health.

However, it turns out that the longest living and healthiest people on earth (located in the "Blue Zones") eat a plant-based diet, with minimal consumption of animal products. Specifically, upwards of 95% of their diet is plants. They eat whole foods, unrefined unprocessed food, and often grow it themselves. The message here is to focus on nutrient density, and food in it's whole form. The less processed the better.

So you're thinking "that sounds great, but how do I get my kids to like healthy food?"

You feel like you're at war with every chip and candy company out there. It's overwhelming.

Getting kids on board with healthy eating is no small task. But there are some great strategies that can help:

Lean in. Without making drastic changes, or telling your kids they can never eat cheese again, (bad idea), just start adding in some new fresh foods.
Choose some recipes that your kids agree look good, and get them to help you make them.
Good habits are a game changer, especially if implemented early in life. Design a bedtime routine that doesn't include snacking, drink water, eat veggies before meals, plan ahead for busy evenings....

If you're skeptical - welcome to the club

Back in the early 90's when there was no such thing as a 'cheese substitute" I couldn't imagine a day without cheese. I ate pickles until the cravings passed!!

And years later when we shifted our diet away from animal protein and processed foods, I never thought my kids would go for it, but I was wrong....

I remember hearing that plant-based eating would be expensive, but our grocery bill decreased.

I thought I'd be chopping vegetables all day long. I thought this whole thing would take way too much time. I found a few favourite recipes and got some strategies and tools in place that made food prep more efficient than it ever was in my past.

Deep down, I wasn't sure it would make much of a difference, but our kids have thrived. No weight issues, no major health scares, and their overall good health tells me we are doing something right.

So rest assured I understand that the hardest parts are not knowing...

if a plant-based meal will give children the right amount of everything
how to make healthy food delicious
how to get the children involved with groceries, prep and cooking
how to keep children motivated and on track
how to keep myself on track
how to do it all alone when no one else cares about healthy food
how to get my questions answered
how to teach my kids about proper nutrition and how to make it themselves
how to take control of the health of my family
how to teach my students or children skills and habits that will help them for a lifetime

And that is why I created the Plant-Powered Punks Community and Membership!

Introducing:

A community of like-minded parents and teachers passionate about children's health.

Designed to inspire children to embrace healthy food and healthy habits, this platform provides all the resources parents and teachers need so that children can celebrate new skills, develop their knowledge about healthy living, learn to tune into their body, and make nourishing plant-based food.

Plant-Powered Punks is a community of like-minded people: parents, homeschooling parents and classroom teachers who value nutrition but are competing with dopamine-producing, addictive junk foods, a busy schedule and, hungry kids and a fast paced, fast food world. You know that bad food and sedentary lifestyles are impacting children’s ability to learn, participate and thrive, and you want support and a community as well as guidance and strategies as we navigate a food system like nothing we have ever known.

This Community is focused on 4 Main Areas:

A community of like-minded people
Nutrition Education
Resources and Support
Strategic guidance and a plan

Here's what's inside the community...

Communication Feeds:

There are three "circles", one for introductions, one for adult discussion, and a third for children to share pictures of their creations, post their success, share their exeriences with each other.

A monthly masterclass

which covers all sorts of topics including healthy habits, and lifestyle, as well as cooking demonstrations, In this masterclass each month there will be a task or challenge to participate in.

Live Q&A Meetings

Once a month we meet inside the community on a live call, where all of your questions will be answered.

A Success Path

For children, families and classrooms to follow while they acquire skills and achieve milestones and graduate to the next level. Downloadable interactive checklists can be put on the fridge or on a bulletin board. Children can check off tasks as they grow from a Budding chef to a Blooming chef.

Shopping Lists

Downloadable shopping lists for every recipe in the Plant-Powered Punks cookbook, easy to access on the community app, so you can see what you need with a click while your grocery shopping!

Lesson Plans

Every month a new lesson plan complete with a rubric is uploaded to the site. You can print them off and keep them in a binder or access them in your membership. Lessons will highlight plant-based nutrition, but will cover almost every subject area you can think of, from drama to math, science to art, and everything in between. There are 3 to get started: a sprouting project, fruit salad lesson and making garnishes, great for teachers and the classroom and also wonderful for at home, for parents to do with your child.

Tips, Tools and Kitchen Tricks: Video Lesson Library

There is a tips, tools and kitchen tricks video lesson library. This section has been launched with a "knife use and safety video"....very important as we get our kids helping in the kitchen!

Nutrition Guides

Simple guides you can put on your fridge at home or up in the classroom, these nutrition guides, highlighting the benefits of common whole plant-foods and guiding parents and teachers with details about plant-based nutrition that will help them help their kids.

Your own EPub copy of the Plant-Powered Punks Cookbook

An electronic version of the Plant-Powered Punks Cookbook is yours as part of this membership. This is great to pull up on the big screen in the classroom or on your computer at home!

Hands-on experiential learning that lasts a lifetime...

In this community I’ll be coaching you to best guide your children and students through experiential learning and hands-on participation. Children are at the centre of this membership, and parents and teachers, become the experts who guide them. We celebrate their achievements, embrace the learning curves, and learn to laugh more and try again. Culinary can be kid-friendly, creative and healthy... and plant-based nutrition can be delicious. It's a hands on education that children will take with them as they grow.

This membership may be for you if you:

Are a parent wanting a healthier approach to nutrition in a fast-paced, fast food world
Are a teacher, hoping to teach children that what they eat matters for their minds, their health and their ability to learn.
You are looking for more creative and fun ways to integrate plant-based foods into every subject, from drama to math to art, reading comprehension, health and more.
You know the importance of plant-based nutrition but struggle to convince your family to give it a try
You are want to take action, and could use support and a community to help you get your family onto a healthier path.
You are open-minded and ready to collaborate and support others
You want your children / students to have a positive and healthy youth, without limiting factors related to health or their weight.

This is NOT for you if:

you are not a parent, grandparent, family member or teacher ...or a child's caregiver
you are not interested in helping your children or students lean in toward healthier food and healthier habits.

So if this is you, I am offering an incredible opportunity to join the Plant-Powered Punks Community

The role of Plant-Powered Punks is to educate you, guide you and provide the resources you need so that you can shift both your own habits and those of your family, your kids or students. The collaborative nature of this community is key.

Truly there is nothing like a community and ongoing support to make goals happen.

If you choose to join the Plant-Powered Punks Community, you’ll get all of the benefits of this community for $28.00/month. That's less than a lunch date.

Consider what we are all up against as parents and teachers of children today...

we all want our children to experience a wonderful quality of life. No child should miss out on anything because of their health.

The idea of our children feeling uncomfortable in their body, or self conscious, missing out on experiences because of physical limitations, or developing pre-occupation with food or dieting, can be all consuming and devastating. Gosh kids are already dealing with so much. The food is at least one thing we can teach them can empower them.

We want our kids to be free for a lifetime. A child’s health should support that freedom.

The truth is, if information was all we needed, we wouldn’t have a weight crisis, an obesity epidemic on our hands and we wouldn’t need to worry about convenience and junk foods seeping into our daily lives. But information is not ALL we need. We need community, on-going support and resources for sustainable change.

The Plant-Powered Punks community can help our kids thrive in a world where so much is working against them. A healthy body and the best guidance from parents, grandparents, teachers and caregivers who have the answers is part of their path to personal power and a long, healthy life.

To join us, click the link below.