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| Where's the beef? These kids are eating their vegetables |
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| Tuesday, Apr 6,1999 By Rebecca Taylor
Four-year-old Avery Lewis is in a picky-eating stage. Ask her what she wants for dinner, and she'll likely peer up at you through brunette bangs and answer matter-of-factly — "Tofu and rice and broccoli." As if that's what all kids want to eat. It's a refrain her mother is growing weary of hearing. "All she wants to eat is broccoli, tofu and rice," says Kimberly Lewis, 36, of Schertz. If Avery's favorite foods seem an odd choice for a 4-year-old, consider that her entire diet is atypical. Since birth — nay, since conception — Avery has been a vegan, the strictest form of vegetarian. Her mother is president of the San Antonio Vegetarian Society and also a fitness trainer. In addition to not eating meat, vegans do not use any animal product including chicken broth, gelatin, eggs, cows' milk, honey or leather. Avery is among a growing number of children who have adopted some degree of vegetarianism, either because their parents are vegetarians or because they have chosen on their own not to eat meat. Perhaps they've realized those noisy animals on Old MacDonald's Farm ended up on the menu at McDonald's. Also, there are groups of people such as Seventh-day Adventists and Hindus who won't eat beef ribs no matter whose secret sauce the meat is slathered in. Though most become vegetarians for reasons of religion or personal conviction, there is increasing support that the best reason is for good health. Vegetarian advocacy groups — including the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine which claims a membership of about 5,000 doctors and 100,000 lay people — cite studies which indicate vegetarians have a lower prevalence of hypertension, certain types of cancer, cholesterol levels and rates of obesity. But eliminating meat from a diet does not automatically make it healthy, and the diets of vegetarian children especially should be monitored. The more you limit your diet, the more you need to know about good nutrition, says nutritional consultant Eva Nestor-Alcantar. "I do think (vegetarianism) can be an extremely healthy diet if it's done correctly," says Nestor-Alcantar of Nutrition Therapy Associates in San Antonio. Parental knowledge is key, she says. Parents need to know what nutrients children miss when they give up meat and how to replace them. Most people are aware that meat products provide protein, which also is found in foods like peanut butter, beans, cheese. Tofu, Kimberly says, is an easy-to-digest form of protein. "Adolescents have a high need for calories and protein growth as they get real active and into sports," says Nestor-Alcantar. "Are they getting adequate protein to maintain their muscle mass and their growth or are they limiting it so much that it's pulling from their muscles?" But parents of vegetarians also need to look at replacing iron in their childrens' diet. "The biggest thing is iron and anemia, because we get a nice absorbable iron from animal where we don't from the plant," she says. Foods that are high in iron include Avery's favorite — broccoli — and other edibles such as spinach, black-eyed peas, raisins, watermelon and pinto beans. Eating foods high in vitamin C, such as orange juice or tomatoes, along with iron-rich foods will increase the body's absorption of iron. Calcium, too, is important, especially to adolescents and is found in dairy products and also in leafy green vegetables such as collard greens, turnip greens and kale. The need to replace these nutrients varies depending on what type of vegetarian diet a child is eating. Many children who decide to become vegetarians on their own might only give up beef and pork, but still eat poultry and seafood. In that case, they're probably not missing out on any nutrients. Others become lacto-ovo vegetarians, meaning they give up the meat but still eat dairy products such as milk and eggs, also prime sources of nutrients. Strict vegans, like Kimberly and Avery, need to add vitamin B12, which only comes from animal products, to their diet. Fortified cereals like Grape-Nuts and Total contain B12. "If they can take a dairy product, if they can take an egg product, they're going to get their B12 and they're going to get a good source of protein," says Nestor-Alcantar. "But if they're strict vegan, it's a little more difficult and they really should do something like the soy bean and the tofu." Anything a vegetarian is not getting in the diet can be added with a vitamin supplement, she says. General practitioner Dr. Lawrence Cohen of San Antonio's Center for Complementary Medicine agrees that vegetarian diets can be very healthy, even for children. Cohen has practiced complementary medicine for 18 years and has been a vegetarian — mostly vegan — for 27 years, though he recently started eating fish because he thought he needed more concentrated protein in his diet. "If your child wants to become vegetarian, it's important to recognize it requires a very balanced diet," Cohen says. "What you get from a meat diet is a lot of B12 and iron. If you go vegetarian, there's plenty of iron in lots of foods. Make sure you get whole grains, and make sure you get beans and a lot of your leafy green vegetable, and those are going to give you a lot of the minerals and things that you need." That's been the case so far for 16-year-old Amber Tolbert of San Antonio, who became a lacto-ovo vegetarian about 1 1/2 years ago after reading about The Artist formerly known as Prince. "I don't care for the entertainer, but I read a quote from him saying that he was a vegetarian because he didn't like the idea of eating anything with parents," Amber says. "That just struck me hard. It was something I'd never even considered." Amber decided she would try giving up eating anything with a head for one week, but that week has now turned into 18 months. Though she initially lost weight on her new diet, she says her health has not suffered. "That was a concern my parents had," Amber says. "They took me to the doctor and everything to get blood work done after I'd been a vegetarian for over a year. . . . But after the blood work came back, everything was completely normal just like it had been when I had been eating meat." Though Kimberly Lewis has been a vegetarian since she was 20 and a vegan for about 10 years, she felt like she had to learn more about proper nutrition when she became pregnant with Avery. That her child would be vegan like herself and husband James was a foregone conclusion, but because she was now making decisions that would affect her childs health, she says, "I realized I needed to bone up on things." The family naturally eats a lot of fruit, and, Kimberly says, "We're always trying to get as many vegetables in our diet as possible." Of course, they're not limited to Avery's favorite meal of tofu, rice and broccoli. Stores such as Whole Foods Market are great places to find vegan products, Kimberly says. From stores or specialty catalogs, vegans and vegetarians can get meatless chicken tenders, pork strips, pepperoni — even vegetarian ribs. Instead of ice cream, the family enjoys Rice Dream, and for a recent baby shower, Kimberly made finger sandwiches using fake tuna and vegan mayonnaise. No one seemed to notice the difference, she claims. But Avery is becoming increasingly aware that she doesn't eat the same foods her schoolmates and friends eat. She can tell you, "Meat comes from cows," and she knows that her family does not eat cows, but she has a harder time understanding why her mom doesn't want her to eat Chee-tos. She is aware that her milk and cheese is somehow different from regular milk and cheese. "Sometimes she says soy milk or rice milk, but I don't think she knows what that means," Kimberly says. One day, Kimberly knows, Avery will have to decide on her own whether to continue her vegan diet. In the meantime, she allows her daughter to break her diet for special occasions. "Our one exception is, at birthday parties, we let her eat birthday cake," Kimberly says. © 1999 San Antonio Express-News |
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