Fun Lunches for Picky Vegetarian Kids

Has your son or daughter announced to you his or her decision to "become a vegetarian?" For parents who follow the standard American diet, this pronouncement can be worrisome and stress provoking. If your child is already a picky eater, the notion of even trying to accommodate his vegetarian diet can seem more than daunting.

Parental concerns over childhood vegetarianism range from how to provide adequate protein sources, to what foods to pack for school lunches. It's important for your child to eat a variety of nutrient rich foods to counteract the effects of refined foods, eating on the run, environmental pollutants, and stress. You may want to consider offering a high quality, multivitamin/mineral supplement as added protection.

"Young picky eaters transitioning to a vegetarian diet need to be careful about overloading on carbohydrates, such as pasta, bread, and potatoes, when they eliminate meat and fish from their diet," according to Lisa Margolin, holistic nutritionist and co-author of ViVa's Healthy Dining Guide. "Too many carbohydrates can cause weight gain as well as an imbalance in their blood sugar, which can be associated with the onset of diabetes as an adult." Eating organic eggs and dairy products will help your child obtain the protein every child needs for proper growth. Introduce foods such as beans, nuts, seeds, and soybean products into the diet for additional sources of protein.

For parents who pack their children's school lunches every day, you need to be creative and find appealing alternatives that your child will eat. The basics like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, and cheese sandwiches (prepared on whole grain breads) offer adequate nutrition, but you need to experiment by introducing a variety of foods. This takes patience and tolerance because you may get negative feedback on your selections. Reintroduce these foods over time and eventually your child may find them palatable. Timing is everything. Success is more likely if you are strategic. Offer new foods when the choices for old favorites are limited and you know that your child is especially hungry.

Here are some suggestions for vegetarian school lunches; the recipes can be found by clicking on the links below::

• Tofu Salad Sandwich on whole grain bread
  
• Chili Spiced Brown Rice and Bean Salad
  
• Chickpea Hummus with crispy toasted pita triangles
  
• White Bean spread with garlic toast
  
• Tabbouli Salad with whole grain flatbread
  
• Taco Salad with blue corn chips
  
• Mock Chicken Salad on whole grain bread
  
• Pasta Salad with Vegetables
  
• Barbecue Tofu over Millet

Hot lunches to send in a thermos:

• Lentil Soup with Italian bread
  
• Meatless Chili with Tortilla Chips
  
• Vegetable Soup
  
• Pasta Fagioli (Bean Soup)

If your child will eat some of the foods listed, you are on your way to accommodating a vegetarian lifestyle, and to promoting good health on the homefront. You may also want to experiment with wraps, burritos, and pita pocket sandwiches. But if they are soggy by lunchtime, they'll end up in the garbage.

Along with the foods listed, pack almonds, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, or trail mix for added protein and energy. You can also include raisins, dried apricots, dried cherries, and other dried fruits, an apple, banana, grapes, peach, or pear, carrot and celery sticks, and oatmeal cookies or whole grain muffins. Fruit juice, soymilk, and water are good beverages to pack as well.

School friends will hopefully be supportive of your child's decision to follow a vegetarian diet. However, you may want to discuss how to handle comments from peers. Discuss ways your child can articulate appropriate responses to questions about vegetarianism or remarks made by people who are less informed.

Continue to look for new ways to help your child stay healthy as a vegetarian, and respect his reasons for choosing this lifestyle. Your child will be grateful to you for your support and efforts. You may find that the long-term health benefits of following a vegetarian diet are worthwhile enough for you to "become a vegetarian" along with your son or daughter.

(For the purposes of this article, he or him was used to mean your child, whether male or female.)

 

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