Vegan for Life (20 page)

If you feel like your little one isn’t eating enough, focus on higher-calorie foods that he or she enjoys, such as avocado, nut butters, and tofu. Don’t overdo it with fiber, which can fill up small stomachs. Avoid foods like bran cereal, which are very high in fiber. While it’s good to serve mostly whole grains, it’s also okay to include some refined grains, such as regular pasta, in a toddler’s diet. Low-fat diets can
make it very difficult for young children to meet calorie needs, so don’t skimp on fat in your child’s diet. Toddlers and preschoolers will benefit from several small meals throughout the day; nutritious snacks are especially important for this age group.

As you explore new foods with your child, it’s important to keep an open mind. You’ll hear over and over again: Oh, no three-year-old will eat asparagus! Well, guess what? Some three-year-olds do. He may indeed be the rare three-year-old, but he may also be yours! So don’t second-guess what your child will or won’t eat based on what
most
kids prefer. After all, toddlers in Mexico eat pinto beans, and two-year-old Chinese kids dine happily on tofu.

Research shows that it takes as many as ten exposures to a new food before a young child will try it, so be persistent. If your child turns her nose up at baked beans, serve them again, in a different type of meal, after a week or so. And again. And again. It can help to serve new foods in small amounts alongside foods that are already familiar, and it’s also important for children to observe you enjoying the food you’re introducing.

Children are more likely to try foods that are easy to eat and that they can pick up with their fingers. If a toddler or preschooler is going through a picky phase and refuses to eat a variety of foods, it’s okay to sneak foods into the diet any way you can. Your child may turn up his nose at a glass of soymilk but might be perfectly content to consume it when it’s used to make mashed potatoes, pancakes, or chocolate pudding. Getting vegetables into the diet of a young vegan can be more of a challenge. Here are ideas that parents have found helpful:

Although there is no requirement for any type of milk in a child’s diet, fortified soymilk can make it easier for vegan children to satisfy their nutrient needs. Other fortified milks, such as almond, oat, rice, or hemp milk, can be used in moderation, but since they are low in protein, they can displace protein-rich foods from the diet.

Nuts and seeds and the butters made from them can also be important in the diets of young children since they are energy and nutrient-rich. Red Star–brand Vegetarian Support Formula nutritional yeast is a
good source of B vitamins, including vitamin B
₁₂
. Add nutritional yeast to bean dishes, veggie burgers, scrambled tofu, or mashed potatoes.

Blackstrap molasses (but not regular molasses) is a great source of calcium and iron. It has a strong taste and is likely to be more acceptable to children when mixed into other foods like smoothies, baked
beans, or baked treats. It can also be mixed into peanut or almond butter and spread on crackers or bread.

The school years bring a new set of challenges as children encounter school lunches, birthday parties at McDonald’s, and overnights with friends. Some kids may be savvy to the ways of the meat-eating world; others may have had less exposure to the idea that their diets are “different.”

Will your child’s vegan habits follow him as he heads out the door? Parents are likely to be faced with a series of decisions about this—personal decisions with no right or wrong answer. Some parents believe that a 100 percent vegan approach is most in line with their family’s values and least likely to be confusing to a child. Others might allow some flexibility in certain social situations. Regardless, as children grow older, there will be times when parents no longer have control over what goes into their young ones’ stomachs.

At home, however, parents can provide well-balanced vegan meals by following the food guide in Chapter 7 with some modifications to the number of servings as we’ve shown on page 158.

In public schools, cafeterias are unlikely to have regular vegan choices, and lunches brought from home are usually the best option. Try a laptop lunch box, based on the Japanese bento box. With compartments for four or five different foods, it allows you to create lunches with variety and fun appeal.

Growth during the teen years is faster than at any other time except for infancy. Needs increase dramatically for calories, protein, calcium and—for girls—iron. Meeting these needs can be a challenge since teens eat many meals on the go or on their own, and nutrition isn’t always a high priority. Many adolescents, vegan or not, fail to get enough calcium and iron. Diets often are too high in fat and sugar and low in fiber.

Teens raised in vegan households might have an edge over omnivore teens since they are likely to be familiar with a wide range of healthy plant foods. On the other hand, vegan teens may have to pay even more attention to calcium and iron than their omnivore peers. The biggest challenge faces teenagers in omnivore families who have chosen to adopt a vegan diet on their own. In that case, it’s important for parents to offer support by learning about vegan diets and making sure the kitchen is well-stocked with lots of vegan foods.

The food guide on page 158 can be used to help teens make healthful food choices. During growth spurts—when teens can grow several inches over a period of a few months—calorie and nutrient needs are much higher than usual. Growth spurts are accompanied by increased appetite, and it’s important to make sure your teen is consuming plenty of foods that provide protein and calcium.

Since teens will choose many of their own meals and snacks, it’s a good idea to have plenty of healthful foods available that can be quickly prepared or carried in a backpack. Some ideas that are likely to have teenager-appeal:

It’s critical that teenagers regularly consume high-calcium foods like fortified soymilk and orange juice or calcium-set tofu. You should also include beans, a good source of iron, in foods that teenagers tend to enjoy, such as baked beans, salads with chickpeas, hummus, and burritos.

The widely varying nutrient and calorie needs of the teen years make it difficult to come up with a sample menu for this age group. The menu on page 162 provides approximately 3,000 calories and offers ideas for teen-friendly meals that are packed with good nutrition.

While some research suggests that eating disorders are more common among vegetarian teens, this is because girls sometimes adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet as a way to manage and disguise their unhealthy food behavior.
⁵
That is, the eating disorder comes first and a vegan diet is merely one of many tools aimed at controlling calorie intake. But healthy girls who become vegan or are raised in vegan households are no more likely than anyone else to develop an eating disorder. A vegan diet is not a sign of an eating disorder.

The causes of eating disorders are complex and poorly understood. Parents who are concerned that their child might be adopting unhealthy attitudes toward food should look for these classic signs of eating disorders:

Most parents worry at some time or another about their child’s diet and nutrient intake. In today’s world, where children are bombarded with advertisements for fast foods and have constant access to fatty, salty, sugary, processed foods in school and out, there is a deepening crisis regarding children’s nutrition. The evidence lies in the dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes among young Americans over the past several decades.

Questions about meeting nutrient needs on a vegan diet seem to pale in comparison to those larger public health concerns. When it comes to feeding vegan children, parents need to give extra attention to vitamin B
₁₂
, calcium, vitamin D, and essential fats. Like adults, vegan kids need a reliable source of iodine and plenty of foods that are rich in iron, zinc, and protein. But once your family is in the swing of planning balanced vegan meals, you’ll see that it isn’t difficult. And we know for a fact that vegan children can thrive.