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Vegetarian Diets For Kids
from: Jay BauderIf you are a vegetarian parent you have probably considered
putting your child on a vegetarian diet. Not only would it save
you time and make meal planning easier, but for dietary reasons
or ethical reasons you may believe it is the best choice for
your child.
Conversely, you may not be a vegetarian but you may have a child
who is at a vegetarian phase where he or she is rejecting meat
but doesn't eat enough healthy foods to compensate for the
nutritional gap.
Whatever the case may be, you may be wondering if a vegetarian
diet is a sustainable, healthy choice for your child. Or,
perhaps you have heard that a vegetarian diet could potentially
stunt the growth of your child.
These concerns probably prevented you from putting your child on
a vegetarian diet up to this point.
You should be aware that these concerns are in-fact legitimate
issues and that if a vegetarian diet is poorly planned, it can
cause serious long term and short term deficiencies especially
in children who do not have sufficient stores of vitamins and
minerals in their bodies as yet.
If you have not done sufficient research and are not
well-prepared for the task of putting your child on a vegetarian
diet, then you probably should not. However, if you've done your
research and are aware of the kind of nutrients that vegetarian
diets lack, then you know that these problems can easily be
over-come with some meal planning.
You will probably be aware that putting your child on a
vegetarian diet can greatly improve his or her health and limit
the exposure to animal products that are often linked to
hormones and preservatives.
To begin your child on a vegetarian diet you should make sure
that you your meal-planning ensures enough of the following
elements that vegetarian diets lack:
1) Protein - make sure that your child is getting enough protein
from additional sources such as nuts and soybeans.
2) Calcium - ensure that your child is getting enough calcium in
his diet by including lots of green leafy vegetables to his
diet.
3) Iron - add more iron to your child's diet by increasing
beans, soybeans, tofu and cereals.
4) Zinc - enhance your child's Zinc intake by increasing, nuts,
peanut butter, and mushrooms.
If you concentrate on compensating for all of these common
deficiencies that vegetarian diets lack, then, you can
absolutely put your child on a vegetarian diet without any
negative consequences.
About the author:
Jay is the web owner of http://www.weight-loss.biz
that provides information and resources on nutrition, weight
loss, and fitness. You can also visit his website at:
http://www.diet-pill.info for
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