Q: My 13-year-old daughter has recently decided that she no longer wants to eat meat. I'm concerned about the health risks, and trying to come up with meals for her is time consuming. Could you help with this dilemma?
A: Addressing your concerns about health risks, have her talk to your family doctor, nurse practitioner, or registered dietician. There are health benefits to eating smaller amounts of meat (especially in these days of beef recalls). But when one omits a food from their diet, others need to be added to make up for it. She will need to get her protein, iron, and vitamins from other sources. Buy her a couple of vegetarian cookbooks and books on nutrition and let her experiment.
If she is old enough to make this decision, then she is old enough to learn how to properly manage her diet so that she gets the nutrition that she needs as her body is still growing and developing. I would turn this over to your daughter. Once she has talked with a health professional, let her come up with recipes and menus. It could actually be less work for you in the long run, and could actually benefit the entire family.
Teach her kitchen safety and how to prepare foods safely, and how to store cooked foods. Teaching her the basics will give her a good foundation to something that will benefit her now and in the future when she has her own kitchen and family.
The family will likely be introduced to new foods, or foods prepared in different ways. It will be fun and provide valuable mother-daughter time for the two of you to cook together.
Copyright 2007/2009 Julie P. Clark
Sunday, July 8, 2007
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