What are the nutritional needs for young vegetarians?!
What are the nutritional needs for young vegetarians?
Answers:
Humans aren't "naturally" vegetarians so first I might question the legitimacy of making small children vegetarian.
With that out of the way, make sure they get enough: calcium, protein, and vitamins; particularly vitamin B12 which is hard to get in a sufficiently "usable" form other than from meat.
Foods like whole grain breads, lowfat yogurt, tofu, and soymilk are important parts of their diet (or should be, if they aren't yet). If they're not going to get any meat in their diet, then please at least give them some fish (fish is better/healthier than meat for a lot of reasons anyway). Be careful about what fish you choose, some contain small amounts of Mercury, or other toxins. Small fish such as sardines are a good choice, with larger medium size fish like Salmon, they're ok but not as often, maybe once a week or so.
Try to find out about "balanced protein" combining protein sources like beans and corn so that they can get all the "essential amino acids".
There is a grain called Quinoa which is packed with nutrition. You can make an easy and nutritious meal if you lookup (google etc) this recipie: quinoa corn and black bean salad - you'll find several different ones.
And, as with any advice of this sort, there is one more thing you should do: check with your child's doctor or a nutritionist about your child's needs. There are potential serious health concerns for vegetarians, but if they get the nutrition they need, they will certainly be healthier than the average American (unless they pig out on cheese all the time, some vegetarians eat too much cheese and some use too much salt (miso, soy sauce, etc).
The same as us who eat meat!
Meat!
Protein and Calcium.
sufficient and complete protein, amino acids and vitamins/minerals... the hardest one to get is B-12 I think, which comes from animal proteins... so long as it's vegetarian and not vegan it is much easier for children to get their nutrional needs met. Make sure the child gets plenty of eggs/yogurt/cheese to get these.
lots of potein because thats what meat is lol!
How young are we talking? The most important thing, just as in any diet, is to keep balance with all of the nutrients. The number one question that always arises for vegetarians is 'how do I make sure to get enough protien?' It's easy if you eat vegetables, like beans, soy, or tofu, which are all high in protein. Other than that just try to get the recommended dose of each food group just like you would if you ate meat.
The same as anyone else. But they don't need to eat meat in order to satsify the needs. They can easily get vitamin B, protein and calcium from non-animal products and multi-vitamin capsules.
spinach ,mothers milk,
Iron man! ive ben veg. for a year now and i get that from spinach and beans. also up your protein with soy products such as tofu and/or soy milk. Youll be fine. Dont let others tell you you cant survive without meat;im proof of that since ive been veg for a year a live a very active lifestyle.