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It's Not Easy Being Green
Preteen Vegetarians
By Kelly Burgess
This can be a complicated decision for a variety of reasons. All cultures value the tradition of eating, especially the family meal. Usually, the kitchen is a place where Mom reigns supreme and her child's decision to "reject" her cooking may trigger negative feelings. In other cases, the parents may feel that their child is not getting proper nutrition.
It's even more difficult if the child chooses a more restrictive form of vegetarianism. Vegetarians can be divided into two basic categories: vegetarian and vegan. A vegetarian avoids meats and meat products, including fish and poultry. Vegetarians who choose to supplement their diets with eggs and dairy products are known as lacto-ovo vegetarians. A vegan is a vegetarian who eats no meat, eggs or dairy products. Their diet is strictly vegetable based. As Robin so succinctly sums up her eating habits, "I eat nothing with eyes."
Watkins thinks the biggest obstacle young vegetarians face is the misconception of our "need" for meat as a protein source.
"A lot of us got our nutrition information from the beef and dairy industries, so a lot of what we accept as fact is actually marketing," says Watkins. "This often causes a genuine concern on the part of the parents wo worry that their kids are not going to get the proper nutrients. The situation becomes even more complicated for parents when you read about things like the Atkins diet's grudging governmental acceptance. That's all fine, except that we don't have any long-term studies on high protein diet's effect on health, just short-term weight loss information."