Bonjour!! and hello to all! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
This picture above was the first thing I thought of when I read an article this weekend about "young, baby, veggies". Remember Veggie Tales... I always loved the Tomato! haha But, like any other day I was on the CNN health section and came across this wonderful article "Young Vegetarians, Getting the Nutrition they need." Of course, if you know me, I started this venture of being a vegetarian a little over 3 months ago and would NEVER GO BACK ( I feel great!!) So I was thrilled to read this article!!
In the article we meet a young girl Niki Gianni who at the age of 11 or 12 watched a YouTube video entitled Meet Your Meat. Totally grossed out by the whole thing she told her parents that she was giving it all up. Her parents said they had no idea how to cook, the benefits of this lifestyle, or how to get PROTEIN. They started out with doubling up eggs, a lot of veggie patties and veggie chicken nuggets. But, this is the beauty of being a vegetarian or vegan (especially for a child), it helps you expand your options into things you would not normally choose! Niki, now 18, her sister, mother and father, are all either vegetarian or vegan!
Lilian Cheung, director of health promotion and communication at Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Nutrition made an outstanding point that I cannot emphasize enough, "Teens who abstain from eating animal-based foods but who take in refined and sugary foods such as French fries and sodas are not doing themselves any favors" Many of times, teens will give up meat and just decide to eat all processed foods (chips, cookies, cheese pizza, mac and cheese). All these foods are full of fat, trans fat, additives, preservatives, and about 50 different ingredients. "Eating a variety of vegetables and fruits of all colors and eating the purest form possible is vital in these diets" Cheung said. "Beans, legumes, nuts, tofu and seeds all are excellent protein sources" said Cheung.
With numbers expected to rise over the next decade of Vegetarianism, I'm sure Niki is more than thrilled to see the US slowly changing their ways. With lower risks of heart disease, hypertension, and cancer rates, the benefits are just too great to ignore.
"You can really feel the difference when you are eating something from the ground and something from a factory," said Niki Gianni
Things to watch:
In such an essential time of growth for young children, we need to look out for these nutrients: Calcium, B12, and Iron.
Calcium: More for children who decide to go Vegan, or Vegetarian with NO dairy... these children will need to find another source of calcium. Soy milk has just as much Calcium as milk, which which Edamame (soy beans) also does, leafy greens, and almonds.
B12: B12 stores great in your body (in the liver). So, if your child has been previously eating meat and decides to go vegetarian this will take a LONG time to deplete. Naturally only found in animal sources, try and add fortified cereals to the diet.
Iron: When cut out of the diet, children can feel groggy or tired. It can be found in beans, lentils, fortified cereals, and leafy greens.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/21/health/young-vegetarians-nutrition/index.html?iref=allsearch
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