How child vegetarians can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet

Nutritionists and dietitians are reporting growing numbers of child vegetarians — for a number of reasons. So when your child decides to turn vegetarian, there are ways to ensure the whole family has a balanced diet.

• Happiness diet: Lose weight and boost mood
• Is it okay to call your kids beautiful?

The world has long been filled with fussy young eaters — and generally, it’s vegetables that have featured on a child’s most-refused list. A generation ago you would have been hard-pressed to find more than one vegetarian child in a whole year at school.

Now, in an age of food allergies and a heightened awareness about where our food comes from, they barely raise an eyebrow. Nutritionists and dietitians are reporting growing numbers of child vegetarians — for a number of reasons.

Children who grow up in households that are strictly vegetarian, for either religious, cultural or ethical reasons, will likely follow a meat-free diet.

Then, there are those who, even from a young age, may decide they don’t want to eat meat or seafood when they realise what the sources are.

There are many food options for children who decide to become vegetarians.

And then there are those who want to try it because their friends are vegetarian.

Whichever group they fall into, experts agree, the vegetarian diet of a child needs careful planning to ensure they do not miss out on any of the essential minerals or vitamins that come predominantly from meat and seafood.

Generally speaking, if a child is not eating meat or seafood, parents need to ensure they get enough iron, zinc, vitamin C and vitamin B12 from other sources.

MORE FROM MERCEDES MAGUIRE

CHEF JUSTINE SCHOFIELD’S BATTLE IN THE JUNGLE

‘AGE IS NO BARRIER TO STAYING FIT AND HEALTHY’

Dietitian Kate Di Prima says in younger children who are from an all-vegetarian household, this is not usually a concern as alternate sources are often already a part of a balanced diet.

But she says it is more worrying in pre-teens and teens who come to vegetarianism later.

“I’m finding there is a lot more chit-chatting at school around the eight to 10 year age group about being vegetarian,” Di Prima says.

“And definitely for teenagers, I tell parents it’s almost a rite of passage for teens, especially as they become more politically and environmentally aware.

“They’re starting to develop a moral compass and questioning things like ‘Where does my food come from?’.”

Children question where food comes from and some decide they would prefer not to eat meat.

Meat is one of the most common sources of iron but it can also be found in green vegetables, lentils and beans, nuts and seeds, grains and dried fruit.

Di Prima says if a child removes meat from their diet, they need to replace it with these other sources.

And likewise zinc, which is most commonly found in red meat and poultry but also baked beans, chickpeas and nuts.

Paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher says a concern is that children will replace the meat and seafood in their diet with poor nutritional alternatives.

“Only one in five children is eating the recommended amount of vegetables a day and I worry that junk food, takeaway, processed foods and complex carbohydrates can take over if vegetables are not the main focus,” the Wholesome Child author tells BW Magazine.

“Vegetables are the main food group refused by children under six, followed by meat, and families could fall to complex carbs and a poor diet to fill those gaps.”

A child who has an iron deficiency will be pale, lethargic and have a poor appetite and poor concentration.

“The symptoms in someone lacking zinc are harder to detect but can include dry, scabby skin, acne, wounds that don’t heal and a decreased sense of smell and taste. But these symptoms will not be present at first — they are the end stage result of a lack of these minerals.”

It’s best to plan meals ahead of time to make sure they are healthy and balanced, especially to make sure children get the right vitamins and minerals.

Sacher says a zinc deficiency is often associated with fussy eaters as a lack of this mineral can cause appetite suppression and bland taste receptors.

“I often get zinc levels tested in fussy eaters because the symptoms that arise from not having enough of this in the system are associated with appetite,” Sacher says.

“When you balance the zinc, you often see an improvement in behaviour.”

Libby Teal’s six-year-old daughter Anais made the decision to stop eating meat and seafood after a few confronting trips to the fresh food market revealed exactly where her protein came from.

“She said to me one morning ‘I know where meat comes from and I don’t want to eat meat ever again’,” Teale recalls of her daughter’s strong stance six months ago.

“We had recently been to a shopping centre and she’d been quite teary. I later worked out it was because of the fish market where she saw dead fish with eyes.

“It’s difficult for us to even go to the shopping centre now.

“She’s quite sensitive and once she said it, that was it. I have concerns about her health because she’s quite a picky eater and didn’t have a diverse diet to start with.

“But I have to support her decision because it was made for moral reasons.”

Libby Teale, pictured with her daughters Anais, 6 and Elodie, 3, supports Anais’ decision not to eat meat or seafood.

Teal, a pilates instructor from Sydney’s north shore, worries about the vitamins and minerals her daughter may be missing in her diet and plans to see a dietitian to help her develop a healthy eating plan.

Meanwhile, she tries to cater simultaneously to Anais and her three-year-old daughter Elodie, who loves meat.

“It’s a challenge as a parent, especially when you’re running late from work because you can’t just throw anything together,” she says.

“We end up eating more homemade pizza than I’d like. When I’m organised, I’ll make tacos with beans for Anais and chicken for us and things like lentil bolognese. It has ended up that we all eat more vegetarian meals now, maybe half the family meals I make are vegetarian.”

Experts believe children can enjoy an entirely healthy and balanced diet as a vegetarian. And their main message for parents who are confronted with a young vegetarian in the home is to seek out a professional to ensure they don’t suffer nutritional deficiencies.

“Before you go to see a dietitian, arm yourself with information,” Di Prima says. “The best way to do this is by keeping a food diary for your child so when you go to see a health professional, you can tell them exactly what is going on diet-wise.

“And also get a blood test done so you know what is going on internally. It’s best if you can fill in the nutritional gaps before a deficit becomes a full deficiency and leads to those end stage symptoms.”

LIVING WITH VEGETARIAN KIDS

Sheridan and Will O’Neill have two vegetarian kids with their youngest, Connor, 10, giving up meat two years ago. Sheridan says:

“My eldest daughter, Caitlyn, now 20, became a vegetarian when she was 12. She just decided to stop eating meat for moral reasons and has since become a vegan.

Over time her decision influenced our 10-year-old son Connor. When he was about seven he started to question where meat came from and that was it. He was a full vegetarian by eight. His reasons were also moral, it wasn’t a case of not liking the taste, so I had to respect that.

I was a little better prepared when Connor became vegetarian because I had been through it with Caitlyn.

Ten-year-old Connor O'Neill, pictured with his dog Atticus Finch, has been a vegetarian for two years.

My biggest concern with Connor was his weight, he tended to fill up on a lot of carbs rather than veges. I had to literally get rid of white bread from the house.

It means I have to be quite careful with meals at home, so for instance if I make pasta I’ll shy away from a creamy sauce in favour of a tomato-based sauce. And when I add meat, I add it separately once I’ve split the base meal. I can now quite easily cook a vegan, vegetarian and carnivorous meal from one base.

It can be a bit limiting and I find we stick to the same dishes, but it works. Summer is easier because we eat a lot of salads and you can add the protein separately.

I use the crockpot a lot for things like vegetable soup. I find I cook mostly vegan, because it’s easier to add to a meal than to take away from it.

I think that because it’s more popular now to be vegan or vegetarian than even five years ago, there’s a lot more on offer so eating out as a family has become easier.”

LIVING WITH VEGETARIANS AND MEAT LOVERS

Two of Mandy and Clifford Hook’s children — Lily, 16, and Lauren, 17 — chose a vegetarian diet but only Lauren stuck with it. Ava, 10, and Callum, 14, remain dedicated meat lovers. Mandy says:

“When Lily came home and said she wanted to be vegetarian, I was surprised. This was a kid who was known for saying “chicken nuggets are my family”. In her group of friends about half are vegetarian, so I think it was a peer group thing.

I didn’t take her seriously at first but she stuck with it, for eight months. The problem was Lily never liked veges or fruit much and pretty much just ate deep-fried chips and plain pasta.

About the same time, Lauren pushed to also become a vegetarian. But it made more sense for her, she had been refusing to eat meat for a while and she was pretty good at eating vegetables.

Mandy Hook with her children Ava, 10, Lily, 16, Lauren, 17, and Callum, 14. Lauren is a vegetarian. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Even when she was little, she’d leave the meat on her plate but eat all the veges or salad.

Lauren has always been concerned for the environment and believes we don’t need meat to survive and that it’s cruel to slaughter animals for food.

It made mealtimes a bit of a challenge but I soon learned to amend the meals. For instance, I would make stir fry and add the meat at the end, or make chili con carne and separate the vegetarian portion before adding meat, and add lentils or black beans instead. So, we were still able to have family meals together.

Lauren is pretty good at eating well. She’ll come home from school and prepare tofu or mushrooms for a snack. But to start with, it really affected them in that they were so tired. They’d come home from school and need a nap, which was very odd.

In the end, Lily says chicken nuggets broke her. She told her friends she was going to stop being vegetarian and they took her out and shouted her nuggets as a kind of celebration. But Lauren will be vegetarian for life.”

Originally published as How child vegetarians can enjoy a healthy and balanced diet