Is A Vegetarian Lifestyle Safe For My Children?

If you are a vegetarian and a parent, you have probably thought about putting your child on a vegetarian diet. Not only would it save time by making meal planning easier, but for ethical reasons, you feel it is a better choice for your kids.

Or, you might not be a vegetarian yourself, but live with a child who is going through a vegetarian “phase,” where she rejects meat, but doesn’t consume enough healthy foods to make up for the nutritional gap.

Whatever the reason, you are curious about whether or not a vegetarian diet is a maintainable, healthy choice for your children. You may have worried that placing your child on a vegetarian diet could potentially stunt her growth.

Maybe these concerns deterred you from placing your child on a vegetarian diet up to now.

All of these concerns have merit. Obviously, if a vegetarian diet is not well planned, it can create serious short and long term health problems, especially for children, who are still developing–and who don’t yet have sufficient stores of vitamins.

If you are not ready to put your family on a vegetarian diet, you definitely should wait. On the other hand, if you have done careful research and you are familiar with the nutrients vegetarians often lack, then you know that these problems can simply be fixed with careful meal planning.

You may also know that having your child on a healthy vegetarian diet could improve her health greatly in the short term and down the road. It would also reduce her consumption of animal products which contain hormones and preservatives, which are associated with cancer and various developmental problems.

If you haven’t researched vegetarian diets before, but you feel ready to start your child on one now, you should really begin by making sure that your meal plans increase the amounts of these nutrients (that vegetarians usually lack):

1. Protein: Ensure your child is eating enough protein by adding more sources, such as soy beans, wheat, isolated soy protein, and nuts.

2. Calcium: See that your child is getting enough calcium by adding calcium-fortified foods and leafy green vegetables to her diet.

3. Iron: Make more iron part of your family’s diet by increasing servings of tofu and cereals, pinto and soy beans.

4. Zinc: Improve your family’s zinc intake by increasing the portions of almonds, peanut butter, and mushrooms you serve.

If you plan to compensate for these frequent nutritional deficits, you can absolutely place your family on a vegetarian diet without the negative health consequences.

Ignore the mythology surrounding vegetarian diets and instead focus on meal planning and research.

Filed under: Articles, Vegetarian on August 22nd, 2008