Teenage Vegetarians Are On The Rise
By Teresa Ambord
Teenage and experimentation go together. In fact, searching for their own identity is almost a full time job. It's not at all unusual for teens to decide that they are vegetarians. In fact, in the last few years, the number of kids from ages 13 to 17 claiming to be vegetarians has jumped 50 percent.
Watch Out for Nutrition
Teenage is also a time of great physical growth. Whether you are a teen or the parent of the teen, you need to be concerned about nutrition. A lot of vegetarians simply eliminate meat. And a lot of teenage vegetarians end up eating a great deal of junk food like cheese pizza. If vegetarians are going to remain healthy they have to replace the protein of meat with other protein. Meat alternatives like beans and soy products provide excellent substitutes.
Pediatrician Dr. Lillian McLean-Beard says that one of the major concerns with a vegetarian diet is preventing iron deficiency. Green leafy vegetables help alleviate this problem. Vegetarians also need to eat more fruit than most people as fruit improves the body's ability to absorb iron. Dr. McLean-Beard says that if vegetarian teens are sleeping more than they should, that could be a sign of poor iron. They may need to see a doctor and begin taking iron supplements.
A book by vegetarian experts Debra Halperin Poneman and Emily Anderson Greene helps vegetarians and their parents create menus that ensure there is a good balance of protein, vitamins, calcium, and iron that everybody needs:
- What, No Meat?
In this book you'll find such topics as:
- How to Feed a Vegetarian Kid: Shortcuts, easy recipes, dining-out tips, and foolproof tricks to get kids eating nutritionally complete meals and snacks.
- Navigating Holiday and Family Minefields: Learn how to deal with Aunt Patti's famous ham this Christmas, and what to say to Grandma, who thinks malnutrition is a side effect of eating tofu.
- Your Vegan Teen Needs You. Lucky You: How many parents are lucky enough to have a teenager who wants to shop, cook, and plan meals with her mom? You've got a golden opportunity here. Don't blow it.
Another great book:
- Raising Vegetarian Children, by Joanne Stepaniak and Vesanto Melina
The authors help parents incorporate the new lifestyle choice of their teenagers with the rest of the family, without having to make two separate meals.