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

rwieber wrote: »

So, we recently had her blood tested and she was low on Vit D. She has begun taking Vit D and I will have her take B Complex (6/12) as well. Since she is also stopping any dairy, she is drinking Almond milk which is fine. I think the iron is something to note, so I will have her take a multi vitamin. I'm sure I will also make an appt to see the Dr. again to discuss the vegan choice.

I think we will explore the veggie/bean burger. I love that there are so many options now for vegetarians/vegans. Lots of fabulous ideas. Protein bars are awesome on the go! Cereal is a definite in our house. She likes the almond milk so that helps.

It sounds like you have most of this well in hand. I'm impressed with your attitude to something a lot of parents would not be happy about, especially considering you already have a child with a food allergy.

I just wanted to point out one other thing to watch for... not all multivitamins have iron. I have a digestive issue which causes me to have problems with many pills not dissolving in time for them to do me any good. As a result, I'm taking gummy vitamins. I've not yet found one with iron. As a result, I also take an iron supplement. I had a lot more difficulty than you'd suspect finding one that wasn't too much iron. Recommendation for iron is 18 mg for adult women of childbearing age (15 mg for teenage girls). The most common strength I was able to find is 65 mg and I found that to be far too much iron for me on a daily basis. I was finally able to find a 27 mg pill and I take it every other day since I do get some iron with my food as well.

Google Dr John McDougall, Dr Neil Bernard, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, DR Dean Ornish, and T Colin Campbell and watch their lectures on YouTube. They all promote a vegan diet for health.

Wow, there's already so much great information in here but I'll throw my two cents in as well~ stir fry/grain bowls... easy to make and she can load them up with the veggies she likes and add soy sauce or teriyaki etc. Black bean burgers- I add mine to a stir fry or chop them up for a burrito or anything I feel like needs more bulk. Every morning I make a smoothie and add a scoop of soy protein powder. I don't know if you have a juicer or could get one but making a fresh veggie juice is a really great way to get all the nutrients without feeling like all you eat is vegetables lol you can add orange or carrot to make it sweet and it's fun to make your own combinations. Coconut based yogurt, ice cream, milk etc. are good when she wants something sweet. I've found that the key to tofu is MARINADE! It tastes so much better and is really versatile. I usually us balsamic vinaigrette or soy sauce. Eggplant, mushroom, cauliflower and a few other veggies can be used as a base for meals if she wants to avoid eating fake "meats" or frozen alternatives. Last thing, you can probably find nut based "cheese" at your health food store. They really are delicious and it's healthier than the soy cheese~ I wish my parents had been as supportive as you are! I started eating veg when I was 16 and as someone stated already it really is helpful to have other people around you eating similarly on occasion. Good luck to ya both!

These links may come in handy for recipes and other info.


http://www.vegancoach.com/vegan-nutrition.html

http://www.peta.org/living/food/vegetarian-101/vegans-guide-good-nutrition/

http://www.theppk.com

http://www.happycow.net/vegan_nutrition101.html

http://theveganzombie.com

http://ohsheglows.com

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.