Family wants to go vegetarian - HELP!

I guess I am not understanding why if that is what your DD wants the whole family had to jump on the veggie train:confused3

A friend of DD's at about the same age announced the same thing. The Mothers way to deal with it was to tell her DD if that is what she wanted then she needed to get herself educated and learn guidelines etc. for her new choice of eating styles. The Mom did do some research on her own but as a family they made it the DD's issue not the whole families burden.

I don't get that either. Last year dd (9 at the time) decided she wanted to be a vegetarian. I was very supportive, but told her the rest of us were going to still eat meat, so she would have to be understanding. She had no problem with that. So some days I would just make extra vegetarian sides for her, some days I would make her meal with Morningstar "meat" and other days I would make a meatless meal for all of us.
 
I didn't eat meat for a few years after reading Fast Food Nation. I hear that watching the new movie "Food Inc" is going to have similar effects.

I think it is nice that you are willing to help your children decide if this is right for them! If they are willing to eat milk & eggs then you are probably safe with vegetable lasagna, stuffed shells, pasta with veggies (like primavera)

I would also try to work in some beans, chickpeas (roasted until crunchy with a little seasoning they are delish) cottage cheese mixed with fruit, yogurt parfaits, sandwiches with hummus & veggies. There are lots of sandwiches that dont need meat! Nuts are good, cereals are good, oatmeal and cream of wheat, rice, barley, quinoa. There are some really delish veggie burgers out there. I like Dr Praggers and I like Garden burgers.

Do you have a Trader Joes near you? Theya re affordable and have a lot fo stuff!

I'd say try to avoid the meatless fake meat products. Yuck. Will the kids eat fish?
 
I wouldn't worry about the protein so much as long as you and your family educate yourself about proper nutrition. American's eat way too much protein anyway.

If she is going to be lacto/ovo like I am, there are tons of easy ways to get your protein and it can also be done very safetly being Vegan, but then you just need to make sure to watch your intake of vitamins and minerals more closely and make sure you take a B12 supplement.

Beans are excellent. I throw them in soups, and almost just about anything. Lentils and split peas fall into this category too!

I make homemade hummus 2-3 times a week and I put that on salads, roasted veggies, sandwiches, use it in place of cheese in a grilled cheese and quesadilla. Egg salad sandwiches with hummus instead of Mayo. You can make all different kinds of hummus' with different beans, roasted red pepper, sundried tomatoes and more.

Lots of veggies and some fruit have protein in them (as well as tons of vitamins and minerals) - Throw them in and on everything. Broccoli is very high in protein and iron. Grate veggies, get a spiralizer and make different shapped veggies and fruit. Roasting is a tasty way to get them in - you can roast almost any veggie or fruit. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, root veggies, egglplant, zucchine, mushrooms, onions, garlic cloves, broccoli, brussel sprouts......and on and on.

Pesto is great on lots of things including veggies, pasta, sandwiches, etc.
You can make it the normal way - but you can also do it with different nuts and different greens.

Eggs are full of protein, B12 and Iron - Quiches, frittatas, omlets

Whole Grains should be the centerpiece of each meal if possible. Brown rice for instance is full of vitamins, has protein, etc.

Nut butters - Almond, peanut, cashew, etc.
Seed butters - Tahini (used to make hummus) - this is my favorite and I use this stuff to make dressings, add it to my grilled feta sandwich (like a grilled cheese).


The Vegetarian Times is a good recipe source.
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/

This is a good article for becoming vegetarian from the Vegetarian Times:
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/2007/pdf/vegetarian_starter_kit.pdf

Take a look at the things you eat now. Sit down and come up with a way to make them vegetarian.

Some ideas kids likes:
Veggie pizza (even homemade on a whole wheat tortilla is great)
Veggie brown fried rice
Soups of all kind
red potatoes cut into small pieces and roasted with olive oil, onions and garlic
Baked sweet potato or regular french fries
tostadas (Bake corn tortillas till crisp, puree black beans with salt, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne pepper, put the black bean mixture on corn tortillas and add salsa, guacamole, greens, tomatoes, onions, corn, and more)
Veggie spagetti
Veggie Lasagne or Manacotti
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Tomato soup
Quesadillas (salsa and gaucamole to dip in) - grated veggies on cheese is good too
Vegetarian chili w/ beans over rice
Vegetarian burritos
Salads - So many different ways to do this (make your own dressings) - top with nuts, and seeds (I love sunflower seeds on mine)

Think of eating as a way to fulfill nutrition. What is this dish giving me in the way of nutrition. How can I bump the nutriton up? There are websites like fitday.com that you can enter your food for the day and see what your nutrients are.
 
We make our own hummus. I was blown away how incredibly easy it is, and how much better it is, when you have totally control over what goes in it. Hummus and carrots, or hummus and snap peas, are a favorite snack food. In a pinch, I can make a lunch out of it.

Agree - Hummus is seriously my fall back food. Here is my super easy recipe. I eat mostly organic so I'm going to say buy organic when possible - its so yummy.

1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1/3 cup tahini paste (in a jar like peanut butter)
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp lemon juice (I use an organic bottled brand-if using fresh 1-2 lemons)
sea salt to taste
1-3 cloves of garlic (optional-if you want to avoid garlic breath :) )

Put in food processor and blend. Add a tiny amount of water a little at a time until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Push the sides down with a spatula in between adding the water.

Like I said in my previous post - Its so good in lots of things.

By itself
Dip
On roasted veggies by themselves or in a wrap
on sandwiches
used in place of cheese in a grilled cheese type sandwich
in place of cheese in a quesadilla
on crackers
 

I think it's a great idea to do meat free meals. I do one each week- my family doesn't seem to be too upset about it and we like to look at it as a challenge. We've done quite a few different things- veggie pizza, veggie subs, pasta with veggies, casseroles, soups...lots of things.
I don't think we could ever go 'meat free' but we do limit our red meat to two or three times a month! That has actually helped my husband and I a lot.

I got a good laugh when I heard OP say "she wants to go veg. but doesn't like salads..." Yeah, I know, there's a lot more things than salads for vegetarians now days- but it just sounded funny. Most veg. usually like salads. Because in some form or another, she'll have to like all the stuff that goes into a salad if she wants to be a veg.

Also, I agree w/ the others she should visit a Dr. or nutritionist...but also, you need to be with her to talk about healthy ways of being a veg.

Good luck to you all.
 
My nine year old has decided she can no longer eat meat.:scared1: :confused3

So my husband and myself are trying to go vegetarian for the most part (after much resistance from me). :scared:

I am at a loss on what to pack DD for her for lunch besides PB&J - she is not a big salad eater. I'm also concerned about her not getting enough protein.

We bought some of the Morning Star products to try them out so I'm hoping we like them but they are not cheap.

Can you give me some recipes, list any recipe websites, products that are liked, ect. I am at a total loss so I appreciate any help.

Beans, legumes, hummus,tofu (you can broil it or grill it it will accept any flavors and go with the extra firm this is from a vegitarian friend not me I don't do tofu) cream cheese, cottage cheese, edemame plus there are a few grains that are complete proteins like Quinoa (Keen-Wa) that can be cooked like pilaf or rice. Can't help much with recipies since I'm not vegitarian but look up those ingredients and you should get some good recipies.
 
I guess I am not understanding why if that is what your DD wants the whole family had to jump on the veggie train:confused3

A friend of DD's at about the same age announced the same thing. The Mothers way to deal with it was to tell her DD if that is what she wanted then she needed to get herself educated and learn guidelines etc. for her new choice of eating styles. The Mom did do some research on her own but as a family they made it the DD's issue not the whole families burden.

I think this is a reasonable way of dealing with this. I don't see having a child that wants to be a vegetarian any different then having a picky eater-I wouldn't cave into their picky eating habits either.

My nephew saw Slaughterhouse Five in school and now is a vegetarian-although he doesn't like vegetables either :confused3. He eats a lot of rice and beans.
 
I don't see having a child that wants to be a vegetarian any different then having a picky eater-I wouldn't cave into their picky eating habits either.
Well, becoming vegetarian is often very different from being a picky eater. In such cases, facilitating that choice is not the same as "caving into" picky eating habits.
 
Awesome that you are doing this with her! :) Just off the top of my head:

- Cheese (I hope she doesn't decide to go vegan! IMO soy cheese is disgusting!)
- whole grain crackers
- Baby carrots
- cheese sandwiches on whole grain
- cucumber slices
- apple slices with peanut butter
- soy pudding (actually tastes like regular pudding)
- whole grain cookies (they are actually better than leading bran cookies)
- Cold pasta salad (many recipes on the internet)


My nine year old has decided she can no longer eat meat.:scared1: :confused3

So my husband and myself are trying to go vegetarian for the most part (after much resistance from me). :scared:

I am at a loss on what to pack DD for her for lunch besides PB&J - she is not a big salad eater. I'm also concerned about her not getting enough protein.

We bought some of the Morning Star products to try them out so I'm hoping we like them but they are not cheap.

Can you give me some recipes, list any recipe websites, products that are liked, ect. I am at a total loss so I appreciate any help.
 
My nine year old has decided she can no longer eat meat.:scared1: :confused3

So my husband and myself are trying to go vegetarian for the most part (after much resistance from me). :scared:

I am at a loss on what to pack DD for her for lunch besides PB&J - she is not a big salad eater. I'm also concerned about her not getting enough protein.

We bought some of the Morning Star products to try them out so I'm hoping we like them but they are not cheap.

Can you give me some recipes, list any recipe websites, products that are liked, ect. I am at a total loss so I appreciate any help.

Chickpeas, edamames, celery & carrot sticks, olives
Stir fries with rice
lentil sloppy joes
falafel in pita pockets
fried egg sandwich
scrambled eggs
spaghetti with marinara sauce
home-made veggie pizzas
home-made mac & cheese
fruit smoothies
fruit salad
pasta salads


My son doesn't like the Morning Star products. He has learned to like vegetables, since becoming a non-meat eater when he was 8. Now at 19 he eats a vegan diet.
 
You may also want to let your child know that being a vegitarian because you don't want to eat animals also cuts out a lot of foods that we don't think of having animal products in them. A vegitarian friend of mine in high school always complained that she couldn't eat Oreos beause they used some sort of animal product in the cream (I want to say beef tallow? not sure if that's right). Jello-o and mashmallows are out too, they also use an animal something in the gelatin.

This isn't to try and talk your child out of it, but just to make them aware that they aren't just giving up burgers and hot dogs. There are more animal products in the things we eat than we realize!
 
I guess I am not understanding why if that is what your DD wants the whole family had to jump on the veggie train:confused3

A friend of DD's at about the same age announced the same thing. The Mothers way to deal with it was to tell her DD if that is what she wanted then she needed to get herself educated and learn guidelines etc. for her new choice of eating styles. The Mom did do some research on her own but as a family they made it the DD's issue not the whole families burden.

This is exactly what we did. DD16 has been vegetarian for over 2 years now. We had the same conversation with her--educate yourself well enough that you can educate us(and I did my own research so I'd know if she understood), take a multivit with iron every day, and if she suffers an illness we have to right to revoke the diet. We made sure she understood that the rest of the family will still eat meat and we expected her to not grouse about it or in any way make anyone feel bad.

So far, so good. DD did have an episode last year when she became pretty anemic(she has heavy cycles) so she did comply with the increased meat protein and iron regimen. Later her doctor agreed to allow her to go back to the vegetarian diet.

I make all my side dishes vegetarian so that anyone can eat it. I serve meat to those who want it. In fact, my entire Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner is completely veg except for the turkey, ham and gravy. :thumbsup2 We eat a lot of beans and cheese, eggs & cheese to make a complete protein. I keep boiled eggs, cheese, fruit, cooked and raw veggies available at all times. I don't buy junk food at all, so there's not eating chips instead of real food at my house. DD eats a very healthy diet(she's a dancer) so we haven't had issues with food. SHe has a friend who calls herself a vegetarian--her diet consists of pancakes, cheese pizza, french fries and candy. I'm not even kidding. I believe she has an eating disorder masquerading as vegetarianism.

If it would help, talk to the ped with your child present. Most peds know enough about vegetarianism to sign off on it, at least. GEtting educated will be pretty much up to you. But there are families around the world who are totally veg and their children are healthy & growing normally. Good luck with it all. It will take a little bit to get into the groove but once you do, it will become quite natural.
 
You may also want to let your child know that being a vegitarian because you don't want to eat animals also cuts out a lot of foods that we don't think of having animal products in them. A vegitarian friend of mine in high school always complained that she couldn't eat Oreos beause they used some sort of animal product in the cream (I want to say beef tallow? not sure if that's right).
To be fair, many (most?) products that once had such hidden animal products unnecessarily included in them no longer do so. Oreos, for example, now list:
Ingredients: SUGAR, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), HIGH OLEIC CANOLA OIL AND/OR PALM OIL AND/OR CANOLA OIL, AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), SALT, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), VANILLIN - AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CHOCOLATE.
So they're not only vegetarian, now, but actually vegan. You are correct, though, that that wasn't always the case... there are many (old) threads on vegetarian forums discussing how to make one's own, vegetarian Oreo's, presumably a hot topic while Oreo's themselves were not vegetarian.

Jello-o and mashmallows are out too, they also use an animal something in the gelatin.
Specifically, the gelatin. :) (Gelatin is itself, wholly and completely, an animal product, made from the collagen from the bones of animals.)
 
am i the only one that thinks a 9 year old making this decision and then having the rest of the family follow her lead is insane?
 
am i the only one that thinks a 9 year old making this decision and then having the rest of the family follow her lead is insane?

Nope, not the only one. I think it's OK for the 9YO to make that choice for herself/himself, but I don't know why the rest of the family has to do it too. Especially since the OP said she doesn't even want to.
 
I love that your DD is making this choice. My DD was 8 when she chose to follow a veggie liefstyle (I have been a vegetarian for 21 years now). Lunch meals were always a bit of a challenge for us, but we did a lot of peanut butter and hummus. She always had fresh fruit and veggies in her lunchbox.

Here's a very simple recipe for a "mock" tuna salad. I've never had tuna before, but DH said it was oddly realistic. It was pretty good!

Mock Tuna Salad

1 cup garbanzo beans (canned or pre-cooked)
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 small onion, finely minced
vegan mayonaise (e.g. Vegenaise or Nayonaise) or regular mayo (if not vegan)
salt and pepper to taste
bread


Mash the garbanzo beans. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Spread on bread.
 
My DD "turned vegetarian" on us a couple of years ago...she might have been 13 years old or so.

We were adament that she could only give up meat. Vegan was not an option. We kept a lot of milk, eggs and yogurt around the house.

DD had to do the research. We also asked her when we were going grocery shopping to provide us a list of items she wanted to eat. We did not allow for the junkatarian lifestyle either.

We also were specific that DD was not "allowed" to turn up her nose at anything else that was being served at dinner. In addition, I was only cooking 1 meal a night. DD needed to cook her own most nights. She could "swipe" starters from ours...but I am barely a cook...I'm definitely not a short order cook.

Luckily (for us) DD must have got hungry one day, and the vegitarian thing sort of stopped. DD still doesn't eat a lot of meat, but at least she will eat some.
 
am i the only one that thinks a 9 year old making this decision and then having the rest of the family follow her lead is insane?
Right there with you. 9 year old children should not make this sort of decision...
 
It amazes me how many positive posts there are about their children going vegietarian. And then you get a few in here with negative attitudes.

The OP agreed to do it with her child, so be it. She only asking for help on how to do it correctly. They are no way imposing on your life style.

I wish i had the guts to cut out meat, but I love red meats. Although it's expensive and I usually only get it a few times a month.

Would you be really this opposed if said child wanted to go on an excersize program?? It's about making healthier choices. Who knows, maybe they'll find out something new. And doing anything as a family is a great idea, it broadens every one minds, and can bring them closer. It looks like now all of them will be planning dinner and having nicer family meals together.
 
It amazes me how many positive posts there are about their children going vegietarian. And then you get a few in here with negative attitudes.

The OP agreed to do it with her child, so be it. She only asking for help on how to do it correctly. They are no way imposing on your life style.

I wish i had the guts to cut out meat, but I love red meats. Although it's expensive and I usually only get it a few times a month.

If you want to do it, just do it. Why do you needs "guts" to cut out meat?:confused3 It's not like it's a permanent decision. Plan it out and try it for a few weeks and see how you like it. If you miss hamburgers and steak that much go back to being an omnivore.
 





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