My five year old son has decided to become a vegetarian?!
My five year old son has decided to become a vegetarian?
my son has decided to become a vegetarian. He is already picky and i just don't know what to feed him.....help
Answers:
this may just be a fad he is going thru but try to give him a variety of vegetarian dishes many superstores have baged veggie blends that all you have to do is saute season and serve, but also try some vegetarian comfort foods like mac and cheese, seasoned rice,veggie pizza, and veggie lasangna. but please don't try and give him a veggie burger. i'm a grown chef and even i don't like them. if you need some recipes just search the web.
fruits,vegetables stuff like that.also give him some vitamins.talk to his dr about a good diet for him to stay healthy.
Wow, smart kid for deciding something so major at such a young age. Try to humor him for now. It could just be a phase. This site should help you.
keep feeding him meat. just tell him it's soy meat. he's only 5 so he won't know the difference
At age 5 no one decides. The parents do. So feed him his Meats , and Veggies. And be a real parent. Don't let your kid tell you what he's gonna do. Next thing you know he will wanna get his way in everything.
this is the trick i do with my son because he behaves the same way about the hole vegetarian thing and not eating any thing if you want to feed him meet even though he dont want to eat it put some kind of sauce on it and tell him it some kind of vegetable they have in a nother part of the country or if hes just to picky about not eating his food make him sit at the table all day and night until his plate is empty or is just about empty and you watch him eat his food the whole time just incase he trys to scrap it into the trash when your not looking and dont let him get up from the table until he is totally done with his food hope i helped you and good luck with him honey
Kids go through all kinds of phases with food. But if he chooses to be vegetarian, your should educate yourself about the subject. It is perfectly possible to get all the nourishment you need from
a vegetarian diet, but you have to eat beans and rice to do it.
And pay no attention to the people here who are acting like it's a bad thing. Many professional athletes are vegetarians.
And who know, he might turn around a year from now and try something else.
Be grateful your child is willing to try things out. Nothing's more frustrating than a kid who'll only eat certain foods and is unadventurous.
Don't worry these are the phases in kids life, they all do it. My son did the same & stayed vegetarian for 7years. He is an extremely picky eater doesn't like any veges. it became a challenge so "Morning Star" came to rescue you can find all kinds of things in Natural food section of any Supermarket, it is sure little expensive but will definitely will come to your rescue, try it I am sure even you will start to like it.
Now my son is in college & has started eating meat. I guess he didn't have much choice there.
I have been a teen vegetarian for almost a year...and my parents had the same problem, what do we feed her? I am kind of a picky eater too...but have tried many things that I have grown to love. For snacks/protein, edimomi tastes great, and the Planters Nuts are tasty too. At Target, there are many different pasta mixes to try, there are different types of salads, meatless lasangas, and there are many frozen vegetable packages that you can heat, and you mix them in with rice, and they taste great! There are also different types of pizzas, and the veggie burgers, chickenless chicken nuggets, meatless chili, taco mixes, and more. There are many different brands, so have him try all the different brands for different taste buds. For more, go to
http://vegkitchen.com/kid-friendly-recip...
Hope this helps! :-)(-:
I am an extremely picky eater as well. At age 13 I stopped eating red meat, and recently, at the age of 22, I stopped eating all meat because I have to work with cadavers and now everything looks and smells like dead human to me. I end up sometimes living on smoothies, but they are very healthy. I make one with 1 cup 1/2 cal orange juice (I think made by minute maid), 1 scoop of unflavored soy protein powder (I found mine at jewel-osco for about ten dollars), liquid multivitamin, a chewable calcium supplement, a chewable vitamin c tablet, 3-4 frozen or fresh strawberries (I like frozen best) and about 1/2-1 cups of ice. You can easily modify these by adding yogurt, tofu etc. to accommodate his tastes and also his specific vitamin and calorie requirements. I figure I get all the vitamins and minerals I need plus about 25 grams of protein just from one shake and I love the way it tastes. Plus you don't have to sit still to eat it which is a struggle for me sometimes. You can also add protein powder to foods he likes (it will probably work best if you don't tell him) to get in some extra protein and calories.
I also make my own black bean/rice/cheese/lettuce concoction which I like very much even though it doesn't always look extremely appetizing. Other protein options are different cheeses, yogurt, granola...
I have seen vegetable-derived imitations of many things such as cheese, hot dogs, burgers, etc. but I am not much for trying them for some reason so I couldn't tell you how good they are. I'm sure anything is worth a try if it keeps you both happy!
Oh...and my dad originally compromised with my pickiness, so I agreed to eat poultry as long as I didn't have to eat red meat.
Get a copy of Laurel's Kitchen (old or new versions) and the Moosewood Cookbook. Both are full of interesting and easy veggie recipes. Laurel's Kitchen also has some extensive information on nutrition issues, which at his age is critical. It's possible to raise healthy vegetarian children (my family did it), but you can't just wing it.
I think that it is awesome of you to support him in this...
Not all parents do that...
I don't have any children, but I will give you some links,
http://www.vrg.org/family/index.htm...
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/t...
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/people/...
Hope that helps.
For kids you have to ask a dietitian (blah blah) but to get you started remember that to get complete protiens that can be used as proteins in the body you have to mix together GRAINS with LEGUMES or NUTS/SEEDS, which is why rice and beans is a perfect mix to get a complete protien. Any two of those three in combination will be good to keep you going until you figure out this whole vegetarian 5-year-old thing.
I highly recommend that you accomodate and support him for several reasons. I wanted to become a veggie when I was very young, but my mother wouldnt allow me to. I just didnt feel well when I ate meat. It turns out, I am allergic to meat, and it caused me a great deal of medical issues before figuring out what the cause was. There is a reason why he wants to be one, and likely its his body telling him its right for him. You can easily get him the nutrition he needs by feeding him a variety of whole grains, such as rice, millet, and quinoa, which are complete proteins. You can make pilafs by adding in an assortment of veggies. Make him some mashed bean and potato cakes, cous cous, pasta with tomato, alfredo or mushroom sauce. Encourage him to eat leafy greens (tough with kids sometimes-I juiced them with an apple for my veggie daughter-to this day she loves the juice. Rice, almond or cashew milk provides good protein as well. Try nutritional yeast (not brewers or bakers) as it contains protein, iron, and all of the B vitamins including B12. You can make a nice cheese like sauce with it and serve it over pasta, or add it to a smoothie. Its very likely your lil guy is picky because he knows what makes him feel bad. Feel free to email me if you need more ideas
edit: please dont take the advice of the idiot above who lies to her son and tells him he is not eating meat-what a horrid example of bad parenting that is-teach your kids to lie. Her son will figure it out eventually, then her credibility will be in the toilet where it belongs.
You could feed him Veggie Burgers(Morning Star Products), Salad, peanut butter and jelly. peanut butter and jelly is a good source of protien. He might also like crackers. Try to put some peanut butter on them too.
Don't buy Boca Burgers, they're from oscar myer. But, morning star makes anything from chicken nuggets, to different kinds of burgers -- all animal friendly!
your son is a groovy little dude!!!
peace and love
t-par and ally
McDonald's Happy Meals - get him obese and american before he joins PETA or Al Queda
Give him meat, say it's vegetarian or Veganm which ever the idiot decided to be now and there you go.
And the fact that you are letting your 5 year old CHILD be vegetarian/Vegan shows how incredibly irrespoonsible you are and that you SHOULD NOT be a freaking parent.
And that age you NEED MEAT.
Have him wait until he is atlesat 10 or so......
My Son is 8 and vegetarian all his life,never missed a day of school from sickness. As for being picky how about pizza veg, hot dogs/burgers mine likes cheese ravioli and lots of fruits. Good luck