Teen new Veggie = Stress for mum...

Doom_and_Gloom

Here is an interesting website for you pickedonionspaceraider http://www.youngveggie.org/Information/resources.html . If you go down to where it says The Parent and Teenager Guide to Vegetarianism as that could help you a lot. There is a huge amount of information on the website and it includes recipes for you as well.

kianicky

i've been veggie for 17 years i'm now 32 years old. i've never had a problem obtaining protein or iron in my veggie way of eating. you can obtain plenty of protein if you eat quorn, dairy products, lentils and other pulses. infact quorn contains more protein than chicken. And i too would be fuming if someone put something that wasn't vegetarian in my food. vegetarians do not eat fish or fish products!!

i suggest that your son purchases some veggie cookbooks and there is also a veggie magazine out every month called cook vegatarian. vegetarian cooking doesn't need to be bland and boring. with a little imagination and effort veggie cooking can be fun and tasty.

Mrs_pbradley936

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

My 16 yo son decided about a month ago that he wants to become vegetarian (no fish either but will eat eggs) . I know he isn't doing this on a whim, as he has mentioned this on many occasions in the past.

Problem is, what to cook for him? and how to keep this cheap, as not to enflate my food shopping,by buying extra stuff and be stress free for me...

To be honest, I really am absolutely clueless, as we are a family of meat-eaters, and this is really stressing me out, as every evening im trying to convert a meat meal into a veggie one, ie, buying those quorn sausages and bits n bobs - which is proving expensive.

I work very long hours in a stressful job too, so when i come home after a 12 hour day, I could do with easy meals, that convert to meat also.Im quite a simple kinda cook, lots of lasagne, sheperds pies, bangers and mash etc.I dont really do 'exotic' recepies etc lol

I have got him straight on multivitamins, as am very worried about him not getting nutrients.

So far his meals have been consisting of lots of pasta, and as I said, me trying to convert meat meals, with quorn sausages and burgers.

I probably dont buy/cook as much fresh veg as I should with working and stuff.

I have helped him make a huge quorn bolognaise sauce, most of which was frozen into single meal sized tubs in the freezer, so more ideas like this, which I can freeze for midweekwould be absolutely amazing, and any other veggie ideas would be so appreciated.xxx

I think you are worrying about him quite unnecessarily. Even if he announced that he was going to be a vegan it is unlikely to damage him in the slightest. If you make a Shepherd's pie or a Chilli con carne with the dried stuff from Holland and Barret instead of minced meat I bet nobody will notice if you say nothing.

There are so many vegetarians around that you have to learn to cater for them if you want to enjoy a social life.

buxtonrabbitgreen

My ds has been veggie for 3 years since he was 13. He is skinny but I think that he is so active. I do give him multi vitamins as his idea of getting his 5 a day is 4 olives and an apple.
We now have veggie meals every 2 days or so, keeping 1 or 2 portions to freeze for meat days.
What I find more of a challenge is his vegetarian , wheat allergic girlfriend.

daska

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

daska this part that you wrote 'also isn't as easy to obtain the iron you need' is not correct. Vegetarians and indeed vegans are no more likely to have problems with iron than anyone else. I have written before that grains, nuts and seeds are very good sources of iron and that if you eat a wide range of fruit and vegetables you will be absolutly fine. Just 100g of dried figs = 2.03mg of iron and you need 15mg a day so that is about 13.5% of your daily intake just from the figs! 50g of dried oats, so enough for your breakfast, contains 2.5mg so that's around 16.6% of your daily intake. There is nothing to say that eating a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet that would mean the DIET is to blame for lack of iron as it is in so many foods we eat sometimes without realising it.

As always if you consume something with vitamin C at the same time the body will be able to absorb the iron better but that goes for everyone.

As I said, I'm speaking from experience (I was brought up in a vegetarian household and my dad was vegan for many years). In my experience of watching family and friends moving from a meat based to a vegetarian diet, protein and iron are common pitfalls. You're absolutely correct that it's not difficult to get the correct nutrients if you know about what you're eating, but if you're used to one kind of diet then you do have to be careful that you include the foods that will give you the correct nutrients when you change - so in that sense it is more difficult and I will stand by what I said.

Thinking of one case specifically, a highly intelligent guy of substantial height and girth, aged about 40 when he switched very suddenly from a primarily meat based diet to a vegetarian one. He refused to accept that he needed variety in order to get the nutrients his body required until he collapsed in the street and was hospitalised and got a firm talking to from the nutritionist...

Pretani

There're such wise pionts on this thread, following on from one post to the other, it's a real eyeopener to the wisdom of MSe users

kunekune

I'm going through this at the moment, but with a 7 year old, so I can't ask her to cook for herself. Just yet ... My solution has been to switch to a vege diet for most days of the week. On nights when the grownups and the boy have meat, I do a substantial veg sidecourse and that's DD's meal. Like, last night, I did salmon for us and then a spaghetti dish with broccoli with fried breadcrumbs & walnuts. She got her protein in the nuts. It has involved rethinking what we eat, but we're all enjoying it.

Doom_and_Gloom

daska you don't even need to know what you are eating though. Although I have said before that I do believe that everyone should learn about proper nutrition anyway as it could help us out hugely due to the overweight epidemic going on. I have however stated in this thread that a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet that is varied is all you need and you will be okay. You don't need to know as much about nutrition as I do or even the amount that a dietician does in order to eat a balanced diet. It‘s simply common sense if I‘m honest. Something that many people seem to lack now as they take their doctors/the governments etc word, whatever they say, to be undeniable truth!

You may have been brought up in a vegetarian household but it seems you have a very clouded vision when it comes to people becoming vegetarian from a meat eating household! I would say it is very different. As I said I came from a meat eating household (although my sister was vegetarian also) and thankfully they sat back and respected my choice even though they weren’t all that happy with it at the time although I know many families disregard it as a phase or just outright say no! There is no denying now after all this time that I’m the most clued in on nutrition in my family even telling my ma what vitamins and minerals are in the foods I get/eat if she asks. After all the questions I got asked over and over after I went vegetarian and then vegan I decided I had to get clued up on nutrition. I get sick of people trying to tell me I’m doing myself an injustice in not eating meat and dairy when a lot of the time they know nothing about what they are eating and couldn‘t tell me where they get their vitamin A or K etc. it’s that, that made me want to be a dietician eventually. So many people don’t know where they get their vitamins and minerals as it is. Most vegetarians and vegans read up on it due to the questions we get asked. If you grow up in a vegetarian household when you say your parents are also they are less likely to ask and so you have less reason to find out I am guessing.

So in response no it is no more difficult changing to a vegetarian diet as you make it out to be and no more difficult to get your nutrients. You just start realising what is in what as you have more information at your feet. Also your example is likely to be a very small percentage of people on a vegetarian diet. I could go into detail about the amount of overweight/type 2 diabetic/cardiovascular diseased etc people that all eat the standard diet but that would just be to easy as there are so many! There are so many health issues to the standard diet but people see the diet as the norm and so don’t bat an eyelid. Why then bat an eyelid and then stare to the different types of vegetarians in the world when things go awry with them?

I am sorry for hijacking the thread but health is so precious and the knowledge should be found out and shared for all to know. However if people chose to ignore it that is their choice.

taplady

There are some useful threads here with veggie recipes and here and here too. Hope they are useful.

evilsheep

I thought the days were long gone when people became concerned about vegetarians & vegans not getting their recommended levels, especially given the huge variety of vegetarian foodstuffs in all supermarkets. I remember my mother taking me to the doctor when I 'turned' veggie at the age of 12 as she was concerned about my protein/iron/vitamin levels. She assumed that he'd warn me that I'd be dead from deficiencies within the year (or something along those lines), but instead he congratulated me on my informed choice and gave my mother a stern talking to about the rest of the family's reliance on meat for their nutrients. 20 years later, I still like to remind her of that appointment now and again ...

Both my parents worked long hours in those days, and the family diet consisted of a lot of processed food (potato waffles, SMASH, frozen pizzas, vesta curries ...), and it took my vegetarianism to change the family's diet for the better. My mother also thought that she'd have no time to cook veg, until she realised that boiling/steaming a vat of fresh broccoli/peas/carrots was actually a lot quicker than preparing processed food. And considerably cheaper too!

As others have said, how about asking him to prepare meals? Even if it's just one evening a week? Or, perhaps the whole family could go veggie for a week to explore the different meal options? I don't buy quorn any more - partly due to the inflated price, but mostly as I'm now vegan and quorn products contain egg &/ milk. Try buying bug bags of dried soya pieces. It's not much to look at in its dehydrated state, but soaks up flavours very nicely.

I wouldn't bother with expensive multivitamins either. I've never taken them and never experienced any nutritional problems.

Best of luck!