Our child is vegetarian. Tofu is fine!

Anonymous wrote:I it is very unhealthy to with hold meat from your children. at this age they need meat everyday to develop. Once they are older into their teen years and past more critical development stages can you start experimenting with vegetarian vegan lifestyles.

You keep posting this on every vegetarian thread and it isn't true. I'm not even vegetarian and I know this. The only issue with vegetarianism and children is that the parents have to be more cautious to balance the proteins and nutrients. But a vegetarian diet that is balanced and contains sufficient vegetable proteins and vitamins is perfectly healthy for children.

If you're going to keep touting this, please cite some sources. And not the nutcase from the University of California. She used poverty-stricken children in Africa as her test base showing market improvement of children who were give small amounts of meat. Those children were on a subsistance diet, not a balanced healthy vegetarian diet. Please find some sources that compare first world, balanced vegetarian diets with omnivorous diets.

Sorry, 'people' not 'cultures'.

Anonymous wrote:I it is very unhealthy to with hold meat from your children. at this age they need meat everyday to develop. Once they are older into their teen years and past more critical development stages can you start experimenting with vegetarian vegan lifestyles.

You do realize that millions of cultures all over the world are vegetarian and have no development problems, right?

We avoid soy because I am concerned about gmo's.

I it is very unhealthy to with hold meat from your children. at this age they need meat everyday to develop. Once they are older into their teen years and past more critical development stages can you start experimenting with vegetarian vegan lifestyles.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. My sister-in-law had breast cancer and her nutritionist has advised her to avoid tofu and other soy products, so it's weighing heavily on me. And when my infant had slightly abnormal breast tissue development during her first year, her doc told me to avoid tofu, other soy products, and BPA, so I probably have a higher-than-average concern about all this.

soy doesn't give you cancer, but it does make tumors grow. then again, so does sugar. if you don't have cancer, soy is not harmful.

Thanks. My sister-in-law had breast cancer and her nutritionist has advised her to avoid tofu and other soy products, so it's weighing heavily on me. And when my infant had slightly abnormal breast tissue development during her first year, her doc told me to avoid tofu, other soy products, and BPA, so I probably have a higher-than-average concern about all this.

Anonymous wrote:You do realize that tofu and soy products are used extensively throughout Asia, right? And that Asians are the most populous race on Earth? I'm sure that there are millions of children that each soy products daily with no harmful effects.

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You do realize that tofu and soy products are used extensively throughout Asia, right? And that Asians are the most populous race on Earth? I'm sure that there are millions of children that each soy products daily with no harmful effects.

They should eat it as often as you do. Every doctor I've talked to on this subject says that these "concerns" about hormone levels in soy products are pretty much unfounded.

I give my son tofu since he could eat finger foods. He eats it once a week at the least. He also drinks soy milk (lactose intolerant). Our pediatrician said not to be worried about that. I would think there's no real limit on tofu as long as it's part of their balanced diet.

My 2 year old and 4 year old have both had tofu periodically. I'm not even slightly worried about it.

Last week I fried slices of tofu (used the whole pack) for a Thai curry, and my 2.5 year old wanted to eat it all. I let her a have a lot of it, but am generally concerned about not exposing my kids to too much soy due to phyto-estrogens. Wondering if there is a general rule about how often kids that age should eat tofu. Also - what about kids ages 7 & 10 eating tofu?

Thanks so much. We're trying to eat mostly vegetarian these days (although the kids still have meat 2x week) so am looking for other good sources for protein besides beans.