my son is wanting to be a vegetarian!?

[DancingHen]

Just thought I'd add my two cents.... My son is 17 and he is a vegetarian. He has been for a few years, and he is very healthy. Protien is easy to get in a vegetarian diet...nuts, cheese, eggs, beans, lentils. potatoes, brown rice served with some type of legume, soybeans, tofu..thelist goes on and on. However, there are some vitamins that are more difficult to get witout animal sources...particularly B12. If he chooses to eat cheese and eggs then this is not a concern. I do think that supporting your son's choice can help him to gain responsibility for himself, and that researching dietary needs and vegetarian options for meeting those needs is a must.

 

[KristyHall]

while animal meat is the easiest source of a complete protein you can get complete proteins by pairing several sources of protein rich foods. In fact many traditional foods are nutritionally complete. You know beans greens and corn bread? you have iron, complete protein, fiber, complex and simple carbohydrates, which are important for every meal.

If you look at most cultural food pairings that have little meat they usually form complete proteins. It is interesting how traditional food pairings in different cultures ended up forming the nutrients necessary to give us the protein we need. Remember having access to a lot of meat is a pretty recent thing in human history.


It won't be easy for him to adjust but if he does his research and is careful, maybe use different cultural food pairings (beans and rice, beans and grains, beans and greens, or most any legumes instead of just beans) as a guide he should be doing pretty good. You can step it up a notch by researching traditional foods of your family's cultural back ground

Still research research research. If done right it is extraordinarily healthy, if not done right, it can lead to a lot of health problems, but so can a meat rich diet. If all you eat is bacon and fried fish you're not doing yourself any favors either.

You may also want to see if he wants to eat animal based foods like milk cheese and eggs that aren't meat but do have protein in them. IN fact you may be able to get him involved by having him grow a small garden. This way, he can be more involved in his meals. Many garden plants are very easy to grow, can be grown in pots,a re easy to care for, and reward the grower with tasty produce for the table.

Good luck! Sounds like you have a pretty awesome kiddo on your hands.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Well,I haven't kept up with all the details but my sister is vegan and she has had a lot of health problems because of her food (or lack of) choices.I know at one point the doctors told her she really needed meat because she wasn't getting enough protein.

Let me say she is very smart about food nutrition and vitamins as well.I don't know what she has done to help herself but she looks much better now than she did for a long time.

 

[KristyHall]

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I also think a lot of it depends on what is right for the person. some people simply process some foods differently than others and have different nutritional requirements. Some thrive on vegan diets while others need meat.

I can eat very little meat and do fine except during certain times of the month *cough cough* then i crave red meat, rare, and spinach, and anything else high in iron, (but mostly the red meat) and will practically break someone's hand if they try to take it from me. Then I can go back to eating a largely vegetable based diet.

 

[BrattishTaz]

Both of my girls went through the "I'm going to stop eating meat" phase. It usually lasts until the first pepperoni pizza is delivered.

 

[redhen]

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Too true!

 

[KristyHall]

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Too true!

I went through that phase at 8 years old, I actually lasted a year. Then I couldn't resist my mom's roast while I had a big bowl of root vegetables and beans.

 

[chickened]

A former professional basketball player kept breaking bones and would not hea,l it would take 6 months to heal a fracture. The team doctor found out he was a vegan and ordered him to eat red meat and he healed right up(Bill Walton Portland Trailblazer). Your body is very capable of doing some amazing things if you don't starve it for egocentric or peer pressure related reasons.

 

[Carols Clucks]

just a reminder, vegan and vegetarian are very different.

I can to pretty much vegetarian and not realize I have not had meat in days. But I could never skip dairy and eggs......now where is my butter and cheese

 

[KristyHall]

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agreed there.