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Benefits and Important Tips For a Vegetarian Diet For Children
You probably heard that question more than once, and the answer is simple: “of course yes!” a vegetarian diet can help your child to have a better relationship with food (as for instance they won’t consume as many processed foods) and avoid health issues.
Doctors as well as nutritionists state that a vegetarian diet might be as dangerous as an unbalanced diet (which includes meat or fish) might have negative consequences for your health.
If you follow a conscious balanced diet, the vegetarian diet Will bring more pros than cons for children’s body and growth.
Benefits of a vegetarian diet for children:
Reduced saturated fats consumption – it is important as it lowers the probabilities to suffer from chronic diseases.
Helps to avoid obesity (lower consumption of processed foods)
Reduces cholesterol problems
Lowers the risk of chronic diseases with adulthood onset but that originate from childhood. Namely type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases and arthritis.
When deciding to give our children a vegetarian or vegan diet, it is important to take a well-planned conscious informed decision.
The trick is to consume a wide variety of vegetables, pulses, seeds and dried fruits to manage to obtain all the nutrients that children need for a healthy growth. And that is where the superfoods come and make our life easier as they will work as natural supplements for the nutrients that we usually only get from eating meat. Here are a few advices you should follow to guaranty that the vegetarian/ vegan diet of your children is healthy and balanced:
Calcium – a vegetarian diet must include foods with high calcium content: sesame seeds, almonds, hazelnuts or broccolis.
Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3 and 6): one of the principal sources of fatty acids are oily fish. Yet there are in the plant world excellent alternatives. For instance, Our Omega 3 Mix, contains flax and chia seeds. With only one tea spoon of this mix your children will be consuming the daily dose they need of Omega 3.
Iron – The secret lies in combining, if you combine green leafy vegetables or vegetables rich in iron with a source of vitamin C you are improving iron’s absorption. We can for instance consume lentils with an orange juice or have spinach with lemon juice. Baobab is high in vitamin c and iron; on top of being great to support the immune system, it is also rich in soluble fibres which contribute to a healthy digestive system and to balance blood sugar levels.
Vitamin B12 – is the principal problem of vegetarians and more specifically vegans. It is essential for our organism that can only obtain it thru animal products. This vitamin is essential for the nervous system and although we only need small quantities of it and we can store it for years (unlike other water-soluble vitamins), it is difficult to absorb and we can’t get it thru a vegan diet without specific supplementation. Its deficiency can lead to permanent neurological damage.
Proteins – one of the worries of a vegetarian diet. Animal protein has a different composition from plant protein and that’s why it is important that vegetarians choose to consume high quality plant proteins (which is the case of Iswari’s Hemp Protein powder). It was with vegans in mind that Iswari decided to create Super Vegan Protein, a combination of three fantastic plant proteins: hemp, pea and rice. It is easy to absorb and won’t overload the liver.
Spirulina is the food that naturally provides with the highest content of protein: close to 65% of its content! Not to consume at night as it is highly energetic.
Standing out as well is Moringa, a tree of which leaves gives us one of the highest level of protein on the planet with an incredible 30%! Adding to it its impressing nutritional performance, you will have in front of you the miracle tree, by which it is known of in many African regions! Just take a look at this : Moringa is 20x higher in calcium than milk; 25x richer in iron than spinach; has 15x more magnesium than in a banana; 11x more zinc than meat; 7x more vitamin C than an orange.
We can add one tea spoon (Rice, Pea and Hemp Protein) or coffee spoon (baobab, spirulina and moringa) of these super foods to juices, smoothies, salads or soups.
A trick for the for the most gluttonous ones: have you ever tried little Budha?
It’s not because they have a vegetarian diet that children should not have the right to get a delicious breakfast. Iswari developed the Little Buddha range thinking about all those parents that want to give a healthy diet to their children, providing all the nutrients they need to grow and that is also tasty. Our mixes are 100% natural, organic, gluten free, without any refined sugars. They are also a natural source of magnesium, iron and fibre. They can be used as a porridge, smoothie, in yoghurts, or in recipes (such as pancakes, energy ball, biscuits, cakes…). Have a go, try the mixes flavoured with Carob, Blueberries, Banana and apple.
