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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is kinda a follow up to the other posts about protein. 
DD is 13. 
Breakfast was 2 eggs on naan bread with cheese 24g protein
Lunch ramen with veggies (corn/carrots/edamame) 14g protein

Mango smoothie just now with greek yogurt, mango, almond milk, chia seeds. 16g protein
That’s 54g already today and hasn’t had dinner yet. 
[/quote]

[b]I'm not a trainer[/b], but it's going to be very difficult for a growing 13 year old to be a competitive athlete as a vegetarian. Some chicken or fish solves a lot of issues. A good steak would be best. My kids - boys - are athletes and there's no chance they could compete at their level as a vegetarian. Their caloric and protein intake is insane from an adult perspective. Adolescence alone requires a lot of nutrients. And then add heavy workouts. [b]Almond milk and chia seeds don't do it.[/b] A vegetarian is going to be competing at a severe deficit. You can be a perfectly healthy adolescent as a mindful vegetarian that priorities other sources of protein. But I don't think you can be a competitive athlete in the teenage years as a strict vegetarian. We evolved to be omnivores for very good reasons. [/quote]

It shows that you are not a trainer. Cherry picking two items like almond milk and chia seeds and calling that out of OP's list is ignoring everything else. And chia seeds are an excellent source of fiber and 95% of people don't get enough fiber (vegetarian or not).

Vegetarian AND carnivores have to be mindful of what they eat if they want to be a competitive athlete. There are ways that vegetarians can meet protein and nutrient requirements and there are examples of competitive athletes that follow vegetarian or even vegan diets. Just because that diet doesn't work for your sons doesn't mean that its not possible.

Everytime this topic comes up people jump to the conclusion that there is no way that someone can get enough nutrients and that the only way is to rely on highly processed and high sodium foods. And the assumption is always that the carnivore is just healthier because they eat meat when in fact many carnivore teen athletes eat unhealthy foods! Entire of bags of doritos, whole pizzas, Chik-Fil-A don't get canceled out because your teen also ate some grilled chickent. Vegetarians can have healthy and unhealthy diets and carnivores can also have healthy and unhealthy diets. And both versions can have enough protein. [/quote]

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