So, my 6-year-old daughter has decided to be a vegetarian. What does she need to be eating instead?

here we go 🙁

My wife an kids are veggie, which makes me one by default at home. Does she like her greens?

Does she like her greens?

She'll eat pretty much anything, and lots of it. Greens for iron?

Assume we need to eat lots of beans and pulses and the like? She polished off a load of chickpeas in a sausage casserole tonight (we picked the sausage out of hers).

My eldest lad decided to be a veggie aged 4.

Just came in from school and said 'I want to be a vegetaria' no idea where he got it from, no family members are veggie…

We went with it, and never cheated him; never passed anything off as veggie when it wasn't and now that's just the way he is, 16 years old now.

It's not a problem, just think of it as being picky like all kids are. Only time it has caused a problem is eating out occasionally in places that don't get it; no big deal, we just say thanks and goodbye.

Just a normal balanced diet. careful with going overboard with dairy 'cos of the fat. Some amino acids and vitamins can be hard to find – pulses, greens and soya are good for completeness. Vit b12 may have to be supplemented unless she eats a fair amount of dairy

http://www.vegsoc.org/ Lots of good info expecially http://www.vegsoc.org/info/basic-nutrition.html

the darker greens are good for iron… most veggies are generally healthier than meat eaters as they are more aware of what they are eating, or at least they should be, but a lot of veggies only eat yellow food (potatos, beans, battered stuff) and processed muck. So long as there's plenty of balance she'll be fine.

maybe a good time to get her growing veg in the garden?

Would you let her stop going to school if she decided she was going to be home educated?

curry 24/7……………….. works for me 🙂

maybe a good time to get her growing veg in the garden?

Already in hand 🙂

there's some great ideas on this blog here mike (she makes/made a lot of veggie meals for her young kid):

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

That link looks great. I'll have a look through it with her.

Our kids have been pescatarian (fish eating veggies) from birth and they're some of the healthiest, resilient kids around – don't worry.
Cheese, a mix of veggies (amino acids add up to protein), pulses, 'quorn' etc.

Think yourself lucky – our 5 yr old came home and announced he was a christian and wanted to go to church – 😯 (not Wheelbase/Biktreks, but REAL church)

I didn't think iron in green veggies was well absorbed…?

I wouldn't consider being pescatarian as posing any kind of health challenge btw. Fish is meat after all.

I didn't think iron in green veggies was well absorbed…?

taking Vit C makes a big difference to absorption

I wouldn't consider being pescatarian as posing any kind of health challenge btw. Fish is meat after all.

we don't, we just like fish – you can't cuddle those buggers after all!

Boxelder,
Why?
If it's because fish can't feel pain, they can, research suggests: here.
Never understood that whole I'll only eat chicken or fish or whatever.

I've got eyes in the front of my head and canine teeth for a reason, and it's not to hunt carrots. Fair comment from some about poor animal conditions and all that, but there are options around that which we exercise when we can.
And frankly I'd rather eat a raised animal than pillage the sea for fish that have uncontrolled stock – last time I looked we weren't in danger of running out of beef…

Anyway, someone had to bite, and I guess it was me! Apologies to you Boxelder, it's your choice even if I think it's nonsense.

Our three year old knows that chickens are good to eat, that lamb is both meet and a fluffy animal and that lions etc are top of the food chain. Whilst we won't sit down and watch an Attenborough about killing etc we have gone through Africa books, some with lions eating etc. She's never been fazed and as it's not something we draw attention to or try and avoid it's accepted as part of what animals do (that being eat each other). And we're just another animal in the food chain – she gets that too. Or at least as far as a three year old does I suppose.
Should stress again, it's not an every day event to show my kid animals eating each other, just when a picture comes up we don't shy away from it.

When my daughter was 3 or 4, we had one of "those" conversations in the car…

"Daddy? You know how we get milk from a cow and eggs from a hen?"

" Yes darling"

* long pause *

"How do we get bacon from a pig?"

I told her, but it didn't put her off at all 🙂

ex pat, you bit for sure.

Surely the wrong day to be renouncing your Irishness anyway!

Ooops, yesterday now, when I'm posting.

I'm of farming stock…

I get even more irate with overseas folk (when I was in the UK) refusing to eat the beef 'cos of all the mad cow and foot and mouth.

Utter tosh, and a long tirade from me when I hear that.

For me it's tomorrow…

I think we've had a row 1 column 5, and a row 2 column 3.

mike – my daughter declared herself vegetarian about the same age, on the grounds she disagrees with keeping animals to kill and eat cos it's cruel. Can't argue with that I suppose, although I still eat meat. She's 11 now, and survived ok! 😉

So, my 6-year-old daughter has decided to be a vegetarian.

Do you cry yourself to sleep at night.?

Both my daughters went through the veggie stage [a couple of years or so]

TBH – I just let them get on with it, we didn't serve any different meals, they just picked the bits of it they wanted to eat.
They stayed very healthy on it

They've both cured themselves of it now & are back to a normal diet

I went veggie at the age of about 4 years. I think it was because my Grandparents kept chickens and once I made the link between the living animal and the food on the plate, I couldn't eat meat again. I was vegan for 2 or 3 years in my late teens. I think I have always been pretty healthy, and my parents were pretty understanding about it (Mum was into wholefoods, so had lots of veggie recipe ideas).
My kids on the whole eat a veggie diet, but if they ever want to try meat, I let them, in the same way my parents let me eat a veggie diet. I do worry about cooking it right though, and I confess I really don't like having it in the fridge. 😕

If I have kids, I'll be "forcing" them to be veggie. There'll be no choices like that in my house.

She's always known where meat comes from, but has never been that keen on eating it. Her younger sister would happily live off sausages.

The Southern Yeti – Member
Would you let her stop going to school if she decided she was going to be home educated?

Yes Good point I am off home to pin the little feckers to the ground and force feed them food they have a moral objection to consuming instead …seems reasonable to me.
I have [oh the shame] vegan children. Essentially give them a well balanced diet and they will be fine – use the links above and contact any of the veggie/vegan promoting site [VIVA, Vegetarian Society etc] who will be helpful re what they need to eat etc. Avoid the processed easy stuff – Quorn etc and eat meals instead

Can we just not have this thread descend into a veggie bashing thread we know it offends some meat eaters and their canine teeth 🙄 but hey freedom to choose and all that

It's a bit of a nonsense really to talk generally about veggies being healthy and the implication that the meat eaters aren't. End of the day it is about eating a balanced diet. Seen plenty of veggies who were skinny, anaemic and generally lifeless. Hardly a picture of healthy living. Like most things isn't it – people have a choice and are free to exercise that choice. When it comes to eating meat or not, respect my choice to eat it and don't force me to comply with your ideals and preferences especially with hokum such as it being healthier for me.

Now, where's that bacon sarnie gone…. 🙂

It's a bit of a nonsense really to talk generally about veggies being healthy and the implication that the meat eaters aren't.

I can't see anywhere that's been said. Maybe you're reading a different thread to me?

Every veggie I know – and I know a fair few are healthy and well. Children as well – and they get less respiratory issues like asthma.

a good veggie diet is very healthy indeed – how much meat do you think privative man got? No much. Western people generally eat far more protein than they need

I think he's referring to this comment

meehaja – Member

………… most veggies are generally healthier than meat eaters as they are more aware of what they are eating

I missed that one. Must have been because meehaja immediately followed it with a comment about how lots of veggies not being heatlthy 🙂 And the complete lack of any attempts to force anyone to be a vegetarian.

don't force me to comply with your ideals and preferences

where is this on the thread ?

especially with hokum such as it being healthier for me

You are correct on an individual basis re health you get helathy and unhelathy meat eaters or veggies- hence the qualification of GENERALLY BUT

"Vegetarians have a 40% less risk of cancer and much less risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and other problems that are common among meat eaters," Barnard says. "Vegetarians also live several years longer and enjoy better health."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/diet/2001-12-07-vegetarian.htm

It is actually science and stuff hence the 5 a day for veg rather than the 5 burgers or bacon butties a day diet being promoted for health reasons.
Them main reason is likely to be due to the fact that an average veggie is more health conscious than an average meat eater – they watch what they eat, excercise more , drink less smoke less etc it may not be vegetarianism per se that is the cause of the health benefit but someone who watches what they eat are generally more health conscious.
As you say you can be a healthy or an unhelath veggie or meat eater.

All this talk of bacon is really making me want to go to the greasy spoon!

Mmmmm bacon sausage and egg sarnie!

Strangely, my lion dog prefers eating veggie kids to the omnivores.

It is actually science and stuff hence the 5 a day for veg rather than the 5 burgers or bacon butties a day diet being promoted for health reasons.

I am aware that there is some science and stuff involved in all of this. But that campaign is not about only having 5 a day but that your daily balanced diet should include 5 portions of fruit and veg. I completely agree that a diet that comprises 5 portions of burgers, chips and pies is not going to be a healthy one.

I was only offering a general observation abot the topics that often come up when discussing the relative merits of being a veggie. And personally, I believe it is hokum to argue that a strictly vegetarian diet is healthier for me. While I cannot find the links (no time to search and I'm not bothered enough about it to do it) there have also been studies that show there are plenty of benefits to including meat in your diet. I would agree with you that we probably eat too much of it but would reject the notion of leaving it out altogether.

And I still haven't had that bacon sarnie!

I quite like some vegitarian food however there are some days when nothing less than steak or sausage or bacon will do so don't ever see myself turning that way.

There is no chance of my kids turning vegitarian though. Partly that's their own preferences but also partly because one set of cousins are vegitarian (preference of the parents) and it seems to cause no end of hassle (although that's the particular parents rather than anything about vegitarianism as a whole). They're also aware that of those cousins one has already dabbled with burgers etc. without his parents knowledge and for the other it's only a matter of time.

I believe it is hokum to argue that a strictly vegetarian diet is healthier for me.

It's my opinion that anyone who turns vegitarian will, by definition, care more about their diet than the average man in the street. That doesn't mean that a healthy vegitarian diet is any better than a healthy omnivore one – it's almost certainly not.

What to veggies do for Steak & BJ day? [Google March 14th] NSFW

Junkyard – Member

It is actually science and stuff hence the 5 a day for veg

Find me the "science" which came out with that number.