Vegetarian children. Do or don’t?
Recently, Bethenny Frankel spoke out about her 15 month old daughter, Bryn being on a vegetarian diet. Do you think it is necessary for young children to get protein and all the health benefits from beef, poultry and fish while they are growing and developing? Or do you think it is ok for children to be put on a vegetarian diet for a more “healthy” lifestyle? Now-a-days everyone is looking towards healthier options and now more than ever there are many different healthy diets to choose from. Here is part of an article from www.HealthyChildren.org .
“Vegetarian diets tend to be high in fiber and polyunsaturated fat, and low in cholesterol and calories.
If your child is following a vegetarian diet, you need to guard against nutritional deficiencies. There are various degrees of vegetarianism, and the strictness of the diet will determine whether your youngster is vulnerable to nutritional shortcomings.
Following are the common categories of vegetarians. Although none eat meat, poultry, or fish, there are other areas in which they vary:
- Lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume eggs, dairy products, and plant foods.
- Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products and plant foods but not eggs.
- Vegans eat only plant foods, no eggs or dairy products.
Children can be well nourished on all three types of vegetarian diet, but nutritional balance is very difficult to achieve if dairy products and eggs are completely eliminated. Vegetarians sometimes consume insufficient amounts of calcium and vitamin D if they remove milk products from their diet.
Also, because of the lack of meat products, vegetarians sometimes have an inadequate iron intake. They may also consume insufficient amounts of vitamin B-12, zinc, and other minerals. If their caloric intake is also extremely low, this could cause a delay in normal growth and weight gain.”
With all that said I am in no way saying that you shouldn’t choose this for your family but just wanting to educate parents about the different healthy options out there.
So what do you think? Would you consider this for your child/children? Or are you personally a vegetarian? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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