Children-vegetarians

The dislike of children to the meat — a sign of our days. I don't remember during my childhood, someone fed him disgusted. The meat then was a terrible deficit, so the product is expensive and desirable.

Now the situation has changed: an increasing number of parents complain that children refuse it or eat very reluctantly.





The child does not like meat
To quote one of the moms who consulted with me on this burning issue: "do children eat meat? Can it be replaced by something? What to do if child refuses to eat meat dishes?" And again: "My little schoolgirl is an active and agile child, the results of a recent medical examination showed that she is healthy, height and weight correspond to age. Willingly eats only vegetables and fruits, white bread, pasta, chocolate, biscuits, nuts. Everything else is under duress or at times, i.e. it so happens that maybe a week there and ask for fish, chicken, etc. But it's so rare!"
Listen to the motivation of the children: "When I was little I refused to eat meat because I was too lazy so long to chew". This girl is not alone, often children do not like the shape, not the content of the food.





The use of animal food
Meat contains a complete protein that is easily digested and is the main building material of cells, the iron in optimum digestive form and zinc. Proteins associated with growth and development, they work as enzymes and hormones, special proteins – immunoglobulins – immune response, i.e. identify and neutralize foreign objects for us. Iron is essential for hematopoiesis, it is an indispensable part of hemoglobin (carrier of oxygen to cells), zinc is essential for the formation and development of intellectual abilities.
Many of us know about these useful properties of animal food, therefore, the main cause of concern for parents whose children are rarely or little, in their opinion, meat eating is that the child will not get something valuable and important.

I always say that if the child is not eating, do not force, do not persuade, do not cram. And especially don't replace meat with substitutes, if only the child ate something. I remember one mother eight month old boy, who with tears in the eyes complained of the cold son only eats hot dogs and only under the TV. It's surprising that such a small man not only knows how to turn on the TV, but he is buying sausage.
A child who is reluctant to eat meat can love other products of animal origin, i.e. milk and its derivatives, eggs, and occasionally small amounts to consume meat, poultry or fish. This is no problem with protein and iron should arise. Even if a child eats meat (fish, poultry) every day, but only from time to time or periods, this does not mean that something is wrong. Iron in the body accumulates in the depot and need a few months to these reserves are depleted. If your child is healthy and active, nothing to worry about.

Kid-friendly vegan
Children who refuse from meat, fish and poultry, you need to offer other products to make their diet more balanced:

• milk, dairy products and eggs;
• a wide variety of vegetable proteins from legumes, nuts and grain products, combinations thereof and combinations comprising one meals or one meal, as is customary in traditional kitchens, without costing meat;
• plant sources of iron (prune juice, white beans, tomato paste, cooked spinach, pumpkin seeds) need to eat along with foods containing vitamin C for better absorption of iron.

When you need extra iron
The absorption of iron and other nutrients, a very individual thing. Some children, especially primary school students, adolescents in the period of intensive growth, the women with abundant menstruation, child athletes, it is better to do a blood test and consult with your physician as additional iron in the form of preparations.
Parents should be wary if a child looks pale, lethargic, tired quickly, often catches a cold, he had a desire to eat something malosedobnaya, his skin looks dry and scaly, worsens the condition of nails and hair. Urgently to the doctor! Blood tests will show whether the child has anemia. There are also indicators of transport Fund of iron, which reveal his hidden deficit, i.e. the depletion of the depot.
Here it is, nothing can be done, the child will have to take iron as a food to restore it to a normal state is impossible.

Baby-vegan
In the practice of pediatricians in Western countries, where children from an early age are educated in the principles of vegetarianska and even vegan (strict vegetarian diet excluding all animal products), iron deficiency of vitamins and minerals kompensiruet their drugs.





Possible areas of concern for veganism:

• low intake of iron and zinc;
• insufficient amount of some essential (not synthesized in the body) amino acids;
• calcium deficiency due to the exclusion of dairy products;
• lack of vitamin B12, which is found only in foods of animal origin;
• a deficiency of vitamin D under conditions of low insolation (lack of sunlight).

The doctor may not recommend to the child a vegan diet, because exclusion from the diet of one or more food groups is fraught with lack of some important nutrients. However, if the family chose a system of power, the child needs the supervision of a pediatrician-nutritionist, meal planning and, as a rule, the addition to food of vitamins and minerals.





Source: www.gastronom.ru