Daughter going vegan.....help!!!!!

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  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    rwieber wrote: »
    My daughter is 15 and still growing and I'm concerned about protein and other nutrients she will need. How do I (as the mom) provide well balanced meals/food options for her?

    Heh, you can take that horse to water, but no matter how much you beat it, it won't drink.

    Teach her the tenets of quality nutrition, and let her make an informed decision, then talk about it with her.

    Educate the silly veganism out of her. If more parents had done that, we wouldn't have to deal with veganism, or raw veganism.
  • ShinyFuture
    ShinyFuture Posts: 314 Member
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    AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »
    I would never pander to a 15 year old's dietetic preference. She's a teenager. For all you know she'll be trying Freelee's fruitarian diet after a week. Have her eat what you fix her, or have her make her own food. If she's old enough to start making demands of what she eats, she's old enough to make it herself. Stop enabling her. What happens if your other kids start insisting that they all want to follow different diets? Are you going to cook separate meals for all of them? You're setting a dangerously exhausting precedence, here.

    Wow, that's a lot of directives you've just given OP. Never mind that nothing was said that gave any kind of indication - not even a little - that the daughter was "making demands", clearly you know this family better than the mother does and the mother is being forced to "pander" to the daughter.

    I can see why you're worried - first she treats her teenage daughter with respect, and as a near-adult who needs to start making her own choices, but also as a not-yet-adult who still may need some guidance about those choices. Dangerous precedence indeed. Or, perhaps, that's how more people should be dealing with teenagers.



  • amblight
    amblight Posts: 350 Member
    edited October 2014
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    She deffinitely needs B12 as a supplement.

    As for protein, I've been really surprised by how many foods that we don't think of as the protein on our plate actually has a lot of protein. So it's important to not only think of swabs for meat, but rethink the whole plate.

    For instance, a small serving of rice with a tomato and onion sauce, some carrots, and a salad of iceberg, sweet corn and cucumber, where you might think, then the meat-eaters can have chicken, and the vegan will have tofu or falafel., only has 7g of protein, so while a small serving of chicken breast brings the meat-dish to 26g protein, the vegan would only get 17g from the dish.

    Though with easy swabs like lentils instead of rice, a sauteed leek and mushroom with sauce/topping, some brusselsprouts instead of carrots, and a salad of spinach leaves, green beans and broccoli, you've got a basic meal with 22g protein, so subbing meat for a not as protein-rich vegan alternative isn't such a problem here.

    The most commenly eaten vegs in the US are potato (1.5g protein/cup), tomato (2.3g/cup), onion (1.5g), lettuce (0.6g) and sweet corn (5g).

    Swabbing those vegs for brusselsprouts (3g protein/cup), broccoli (2.6g), artichokes (5.2g), asparagus (2.9g), mushrooms (2.2g), kale (4.3g) and spinach (2.9g), green peas (5.2g), is easy, and will get you a bit of the way with the protein before even starting to incorporate beans, soy, and other protein-rich foods. Try to make sure everything on her plate contributes to her protein - so probably cut back on rice and pasta - swab it for lentils, beans, quinoa, or just more of these suggested vegs.

    At 15, she should deffinitely also take responsibility in this. I'm guessing she is mostly in charge of her own breakfast, lunch and snacks, so she could prepare things with saitan, hummus, falafel, seasalt and chili edamame beans, chia-puddings, avocados, making high-protein spreads (nut butters, mushroom patés, yeast extracts, or all of the above in one!) etc. If she prepares these things ahead of time, it would also make it a lot smoother and less of a distrubance in your family life - rather than you having to make seperate meals for everyone, you can just grab her a falafel when you are serving meat-loaf, and use her nutty-spread when making cream cheese sandwiches for family lunch etc.
  • FatJockSing
    FatJockSing Posts: 164 Member
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    If she is making the choice, make sure she helps by proving she knows by tellin gYOU how to do it!
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    edited October 2014
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    Most Nutritionists are pretty clueless regarding a vegan diet some links for you. As long as she goes for a balanced diet there really is no need to worry about her getting sufficient nutrients.

    http://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-health

    If she is serious she will do a lot of her own research. When I became a Vegetarian at 15 I did all my own research the same way I did research when I became Vegan as an adult.

    Also to add a lot of multivitamins are not Vegan and in reality she probably wont need one. Most Plant milks are fortified with B12 anyway so that is a good source so if she goes for a lot of those she wont need to take a B12 supplement.
  • littlekitty3
    littlekitty3 Posts: 265 Member
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    Since no ones mentioned protein needs: seitan (straight up gluten, but I'd mention it anyways), tofu, tempeh, mock meats (I don't recommend those), beans, beans, more beans, lentils, peas, broccoli, all the veggies.
  • dazwan
    dazwan Posts: 81 Member
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    I've been vegetarian since 15, way back then it was a lot harder, these days with a lot more health food shops and products in the supermarkets its far easier. I'll echo the advice to make sure she gets her multivitamins and minerals, and make sure she takes them religiously, its easy to forget and find yourself anaemic or lacking in vitamins.

    If you have a large Holland & Barratt or decent health food shop nearby try them out, some of the larger ones have a fridge/freezer section and you can get some good vegan foods that you may never have considered, saying that even some supermarkets have a large selection these days, but the health food shops will sell things you'll never see in the supermarker (I doubt you'll ever see porkless pies in Tesco's)

    Get some good veggie/vegan cook books, you'll find that many vegetarian recipes can be adjusted to be vegan by swapping the dairy out for substitutes and get used to keeping in a large bag of lentils and strange grains like millet and bulgur wheat.

    We eat a lot of recipes from a book called "The Green Diet" its a diet book obviously but the dishes are tasty and just eat bigger portions if you need the calories or they can be bulked out with other food if they don't fill you (potatoes/pasta/etc), the lentil Bolognese is a family favourite (even though I'm the only veggie in the house everyone else likes this as well). Also a camping cookbook called "The Trailside Cookbook" has a few good dishes (lentil chilli and the Pasta Bowl are tasty as well as easy to make as they are designed to be prepared around a campfire). I think its the same as anyone who cooks, over the years you collect recipes you like from all over the place, we have several go to books if we fancy something different but are always on the lookout for other recipes.

    Good luck!
  • rwieber
    rwieber Posts: 188 Member
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    Super thankful and impressed by all of the positive information and responses!

    One thing I have done and will continue to do is have my daughter grocery shop with me. I do the majority of it but having her choose some new things will be good (informative) and interesting.

    ShinyFuture, you are spot on. Thank you!!

    I didn't realize peas were so good for her. I hate them and she likes them lol so I will make sure to buy some for her to eat. Excellent ideas and info....I totally appreciate it. It has made me think about things I definitely wouldn't have otherwise!

    Thanks again and have a great day :smile:
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,834 Member
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    Pedal_Pusher2point0 wrote: »
    Tell her to make her own food. Problem solved.

    ^^^^ and tell her she is responsible for purchasing her vegan food. Let me just tell you - vegan food is wicked expensive. Your grocery bill is going to skyrocket.

  • rwieber
    rwieber Posts: 188 Member
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    LOL yes, my 15 year old who has no job yet should buy her own food. I am sorry, but I'm not that kind of mom. She can help prepare her food but until my kids are 18, my husband and I provide for them. Call me crazy....just the way we do things in my house. School is her priority until she graduates.

    I'm also aware that vegan/gluten free food is sometimes more expensive. I have one child that is gluten free, 21, has a job and does purchase and prepare her own food that lives in my house.

    All that being said, it's interesting to hear other people's opinions. :wink:

    Libbydoodle and zardoz, thanks for the links!! I'll have my daughter check them out as well!
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    tracyannk28 wrote: »
    Pedal_Pusher2point0 wrote: »
    Tell her to make her own food. Problem solved.

    ^^^^ and tell her she is responsible for purchasing her vegan food. Let me just tell you - vegan food is wicked expensive. Your grocery bill is going to skyrocket.
    How are vegetables expensive?
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
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    dbmata wrote: »
    tracyannk28 wrote: »
    Let me just tell you - vegan food is wicked expensive. Your grocery bill is going to skyrocket.
    How are vegetables expensive?

    For some reason, a lot of people think that eating vegan or vegetarian means "shop at Whole Foods." It doesn't.

    Any Asian or Mexican market will have good, cheap produce, assuming you live in city. There's no reason vegans can't eat cheaper than anyone else. (As a meat-eater, I can tell you: Buying good meat is what gets pricey.)
  • rwieber
    rwieber Posts: 188 Member
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    I believe the person was referring to vegan substitutes (things that have protein). Right now, everything is expensive.....it's just a matter of preference and priorities.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    rwieber wrote: »
    I believe the person was referring to vegan substitutes (things that have protein). Right now, everything is expensive.....it's just a matter of preference and priorities.
    If you start buying the marketed vegan products, then yes. However all packaged items are far more expensive than they need to be.

    Vegetables though, which is really what the diet is about, are cheap.

    @xmichaelyx - Yeah I know what you mean. That's why I buy a lamb and a pig once a year, and eat that over the course of the year. Saves money and is excellent. Also great way to opt out of factory meat. Granted, my meat bill from now until September 2015 is $1100.

  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
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    Have your daughter sign up for spark teens as well, it's similar to MFP but obviously geard towards teen, that way she can log her food and you can make sure that she is getting the proper nutrients, and she can probably find other teens that are vegan as well.
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,287 Member
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    hmmm 15? Nah. Eat what I cook for the family or buy and cook your own stuff. Parents now crack me up how they let the kids run the show.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    lol. Jenn, at 15 I was cooking for my whole family.
  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
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    Just going to throw this out here: in what universe is a parent being blatantly not supportive and maybe even obnoxious (as per some of these suggestions) towards his/her teenager ever going to be productive for anyone involved?

    OP, glad you liked Thug Kitchen! My one warning is that some of the recipes are surprisingly spicy so just keep an eye out if that's not something your family enjoys! =)
  • tanek747
    tanek747 Posts: 37 Member
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    The more unprocessed vegetables and fruits your family eats the better your family health will be. You could try to embrace variety in vegan recipes for home cooked largely unprocessed Asian, thai, indian, Malaysian also Mediterranean etc cuisine. Don't try and recreate vegan versions of Anglo meaty cuisine that doesn't taste exactly the same. Avoid fake meats burgers bacons etc. Instead create some meals for the whole family together that are exotic, make it an interesting culinary voyage that just happens to be based on plants. Without animal food can sound like being denied something, discovering home cooked indian etc can sound like a reward.

    Personally I was intensely sceptical of veganism before trying it as a 30 day challenge with my other half, but the health benefits have been so remarkable I don't understand why we weren't prescribed whole plants foods instead of the medicines we no longer need.

    There's a chance this could be a really good thing for your family as a whole not just your 15. y.o.
  • happydaze71
    happydaze71 Posts: 339 Member
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    I am vegan, my two daughters are vegan and my son is vegetarian. No ill effects, but we eat clean whole food, not processed food. which I think is very important for making sure you meet all your health needs (I believe this to be true whether you are a vegan or meat eater)
    A vegan is so called for ethical reasons... I think its great you are trying to support her, and believe me there are so many websites, soooooo many cookbooks, there is no reason for her not to learn about food and how to cook etc.
    I think its awesome that a 15 year old is thinking about her world and what is going in her body.

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