11 year old vegan

[Anonymous]

If I were OP’s daughter’s siblings, I’d be so furious at having all non-vegan options removed at home. Your other kids are going to start eating McDs outside the house and snacking madly at their friends’ houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were OP’s daughter’s siblings, I’d be so furious at having all non-vegan options removed at home. Your other kids are going to start eating McDs outside the house and snacking madly at their friends’ houses.

Where did I say I was removing other foods from my home? Of course I am not doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were OP’s daughter’s siblings, I’d be so furious at having all non-vegan options removed at home. Your other kids are going to start eating McDs outside the house and snacking madly at their friends’ houses.

Where did I say I was removing other foods from my home? Of course I am not doing that.

Just ignore these types, OP. There is nothing like someone, somewhere being vegan to send these folks into a rage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were OP’s daughter’s siblings, I’d be so furious at having all non-vegan options removed at home. Your other kids are going to start eating McDs outside the house and snacking madly at their friends’ houses.

Where did I say I was removing other foods from my home? Of course I am not doing that.

You said it’s simpler for all your meals to be vegan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD has asked to go vegan. She's been vegetarian for a while, and this seems like the logical next step to her.

I know that going vegetarian or vegan can be an early sign of eating disorder in some kids, particularly girls this age, and we will watch carefully for that, but I'm not as worried as I might be because she's an active kid with a big appetite, who eats a wide variety, and because it's consistent with her love of animals, and her advocacy for the environment.

My questions are twofold.

1) What nutrients should I be most concerned about, and make a plan for? Protein, Iron, B12, what else?

2) It's important to me that we continue to eat mostly the same food, together as a family. I'd love suggestions for both easy vegan meals that the whole family might enjoy, or meals with a vegan and non vegan option (e.g. spaghetti with two types of meatballs has been a hit).

3) What other things should I be thinking about.

This is what I said. I said mostly the same, not all the same, and gave the example of pasta (which is already vegan) with red sauce (easy to make a vegan version) with a choice of meat or lentil balls. Plus veggie and fruit. Served Parmesan to add at the table and cows milk or plant milk depending on the kid.

Plus my kids pack their own lunches, and those have never been the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone, I wanted to come back to a few things.

One is that I read here people saying that fat and protein are issues, but when I put the data for what she eats into the cronometer app, it comes back at high levels for those two nutrients.

The place where I had more the most trouble getting enough in were iron, calcium, and vitamin D (although my kids are already on vitamin D supplements on the advice of the Dr.). I could get those two in, but I had to move things around, and I feel like when I tried to follow the recommendation to serve iron rich foods at meals with no dairy substitutes, I had more of an issue.

Any suggestions on those two nutrients?

Also, someone mentioned concerns with soy. Can you elaborate?

Soy milk and processed, non fermented soy products like soy milk are full of estrogen.

I thought this was common knowledge.

A vegan, or anyone with children, dhould know this.

Fermented soy like miso and soy sauce are not a problem. Processed soy is.

Someone should alert Asia!!!

Asian people are far from vegan, they put fish sauce and chicken broth in pretty much everything they eat.

OP, I became a vegetarian when I was the same age as your child, also because of animal cruelty. I think eating a dead animal is gross. My parents told me it was fad (it wasn't, it's been 30 years), and they would not help me adapt or learn other things to eat, so I commend you for supporting your child. As a result, I skipped breakfast, ate a huge meal after school and gained a ton of weight. There is definitely a right and a wrong way to do it. I will say it's a tough life, meals have to be revolved around me, my extended family has to choose restaurants that can accommodate me, sometimes we have to say no. It sucks to see pictures of animals bred for food, or watch my family eat meat, but I can't mentally get past it. There are subreddit groups for vegan/vegetarian recipes that you should join. Kudos and hugs to your family.

[Anonymous]

Make sure she understands how many animals are killed to plow the fields for her vegetables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not regular hormone free milk and cheeses?

Because she is concerned about animal cruelty and not about hormones.

I’m going to call out OP for pushing this on her 11 YO daughter. Shane on you OP.

Where do you see that I am pushing it. I'm explaining what she told me.

I'm sorry, but are you familiar with the word "parent," and all that it implies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure she understands how many animals are killed to plow the fields for her vegetables.

She's vegan, not the hive mind from Pluribus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not regular hormone free milk and cheeses?

Because she is concerned about animal cruelty and not about hormones.

If you have ever been engorged with breast milk, you will know that milking cows is actually a positive for them.

Explain this to your daughter. This is a no brainer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has asked to go vegan. She's been vegetarian for a while, and this seems like the logical next step to her.

I know that going vegetarian or vegan can be an early sign of eating disorder in some kids, particularly girls this age, and we will watch carefully for that, but I'm not as worried as I might be because she's an active kid with a big appetite, who eats a wide variety, and because it's consistent with her love of animals, and her advocacy for the environment.

My questions are twofold.

1) What nutrients should I be most concerned about, and make a plan for? Protein, Iron, B12, what else?

2) It's important to me that we continue to eat mostly the same food, together as a family. I'd love suggestions for both easy vegan meals that the whole family might enjoy, or meals with a vegan and non vegan option (e.g. spaghetti with two types of meatballs has been a hit).

3) What other things should I be thinking about.

This is what I said. I said mostly the same, not all the same, and gave the example of pasta (which is already vegan) with red sauce (easy to make a vegan version) with a choice of meat or lentil balls. Plus veggie and fruit. Served Parmesan to add at the table and cows milk or plant milk depending on the kid.

Plus my kids pack their own lunches, and those have never been the same.

Meat balls are not vegan under any circumstance

Do you mean vegetable patties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not regular hormone free milk and cheeses?

Because she is concerned about animal cruelty and not about hormones.

I’m going to call out OP for pushing this on her 11 YO daughter. Shane on you OP.

Where do you see that I am pushing it. I'm explaining what she told me.

I'm sorry, but are you familiar with the word "parent," and all that it implies?

Yes, I didn't realize you didn't know what it meant.

Parent means to teach your children so they can grow up to be independent healthy adults who know their values and act in accordance with them.

So, in this case, some of the things that I did which would be parenting:

I listened to my daughter when she decided that eating eggs and dairy products wasn't in keeping with her own values.

I encouraged her to learn more about the dairy and egg industries to find a source she was comfortable with, but unfortunately she could not do so.

I helped her research vegan nutrition, to learn about her body's needs, and to make a plan to meet them.

I taught her to plan and cook healthy vegan meals.

I continued to provide the ingredients for healthy vegan meals.

All of those things are examples of parenting.

Another word that you don't seem to know what it means is "push". That means to encourage or force someone to do something. It doesn't mean to allow them them to do something they've decided to do on their own.

For example, I could say. "I didn't push my child to become vegan, but I did push them to learn to cook vegan meals, to take B12 supplements, and to incorporate more vitamin C into their meals to increase the absorption of non-heme iron from plant sources."

Please let me know if you would like any further vocabulary lessons. I am sorry I didn't realize you needed them earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has asked to go vegan. She's been vegetarian for a while, and this seems like the logical next step to her.

I know that going vegetarian or vegan can be an early sign of eating disorder in some kids, particularly girls this age, and we will watch carefully for that, but I'm not as worried as I might be because she's an active kid with a big appetite, who eats a wide variety, and because it's consistent with her love of animals, and her advocacy for the environment.

My questions are twofold.

1) What nutrients should I be most concerned about, and make a plan for? Protein, Iron, B12, what else?

2) It's important to me that we continue to eat mostly the same food, together as a family. I'd love suggestions for both easy vegan meals that the whole family might enjoy, or meals with a vegan and non vegan option (e.g. spaghetti with two types of meatballs has been a hit).

3) What other things should I be thinking about.

This is what I said. I said mostly the same, not all the same, and gave the example of pasta (which is already vegan) with red sauce (easy to make a vegan version) with a choice of meat or lentil balls. Plus veggie and fruit. Served Parmesan to add at the table and cows milk or plant milk depending on the kid.

Plus my kids pack their own lunches, and those have never been the same.

Meat balls are not vegan under any circumstance

Do you mean vegetable patties?

I called them lentil balls. I said I prepared meat balls (balls made of meat, in this case I used turkey) and lentil balls (balls made with lentils), served them both, and let the kids choose.

I don't know why I would call them vegetable patties, when they aren't patties or made of vegetables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not regular hormone free milk and cheeses?

Because she is concerned about animal cruelty and not about hormones.

7.3 billion animals die annually because of crop production. https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2018/07/how-many-animals-killed-in-agriculture/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone, I wanted to come back to a few things.

One is that I read here people saying that fat and protein are issues, but when I put the data for what she eats into the cronometer app, it comes back at high levels for those two nutrients.

The place where I had more the most trouble getting enough in were iron, calcium, and vitamin D (although my kids are already on vitamin D supplements on the advice of the Dr.). I could get those two in, but I had to move things around, and I feel like when I tried to follow the recommendation to serve iron rich foods at meals with no dairy substitutes, I had more of an issue.

Any suggestions on those two nutrients?

Also, someone mentioned concerns with soy. Can you elaborate?

Soy milk and processed, non fermented soy products like soy milk are full of estrogen.

I thought this was common knowledge.

A vegan, or anyone with children, dhould know this.

Fermented soy like miso and soy sauce are not a problem. Processed soy is.

Someone should alert Asia!!!

Asia uses a ton of pork, eggs, fish, seafood and chicken broth in just about every meal.

They also eat eggs daily (asian breakfast, anyone?) And they do not drink soy milk or fake overprocessed vegan "meat" products.. Their yogurt is dairy based. The asian diet is sooooo far from vegan, even if they eat a lot more veggies than the typical American.