Am I not feeding my kids enough? Is it because we are veggie?

[MrsJackman10]

Ages 6, 4 & 2. We are all veggie but I try very hard to ensure they have a good diet.

Breakfast: Normally a big event, will do fruit, beans on toast for all, cups of milk... Sometimes pastries or pancakes instead of beans on toast. Eggs sometimes...

Snack: hummus and cucumber sticks, cheese, crackers, nuts...

Lunch: varies but I normally give a pasta dish with veggies sneaked in with salad, and desserts of fruit with yoghurt. Occasionally sandwiches but if they have that then there are plenty of extras like hummus, cheese etc.

Evening meals, whatever we are having but decent sized portions and normally something like cottage pie, always something with protein and a carb and I have veg etc available on the table so if they aren't full there is more. Dessert would be frozen yoghurt, or pie and custard. After if they are still hungry there is cheese and biscuits.

I have portions of raw veg, cheese cubes, fruit, falafel, boiled eggs etc in fridge for them to snack on as they want. They also have crisps and sweets a couple of times a week and on a Friday we have doughnuts and brownies (homemade and then snacked on throughout the weekend or taken on a picnic)

Bedtime they always are hungry so they all have a bowl of porridge or cereal. There is food available as they want it but they just eat and eat all day! They are all normal weight, all slim and tall. They seem to eat more than me! They constantly ask for food and ask for snacks... Is this normal or could our veggie diet be meaning they are missing something? I try very hard to cover the main vitamins and minerals and they all take supplements.

@NotTheWayISeeIt thats interesting, I have always provided lots of healthy snacks because I thought grazing was healthy for children - stops sugar levels dipping and soaring etc.

Portion sizes are decent I think, the 6 and 4 year old have around 3/4 what we would have, the 2 year old around half to a third of our portions, but as I said I put veg and bread on the table so if they want more there is always good available. I never deny food or use it as punishment or reward.

Think I will try and up the protein and portion sizes and see if that helps.

DS, 18, has been veggie from birth and has normal mealtimes. Sometimes he’s hungry, sometimes he isn’t. I’ve never heard of vegetarians being hungrier and I’ve been veggie for 45 years!

Constant snacking for children is a recent thing. It’s not necessary if they are eating properly.

And they shouldn’t need to take supplements.

Yes stop worrying! My DD was the same when going through growth spurts, now she stops when full, even if she is halfway through a brownie! One thing I do is add lots of nuts and seeds, either as snacks or in a stir fry or sautéed with rice. For eg. We’ll have basmati with sautéed almonds, or Brussels sprouts and ginger with sautéed cashews, and she always gets a small packet of nuts in her packed lunch. I find nuts fill up more than pulses and they’re full of healthy fats. If you’re not keen on giving whole nuts to your youngest there are nut butters, ground almonds/hazelnuts/flax seed etc that can be stirred through porridge or added to cakes, or you can make a “cream” from cashews soaked overnight and ground.

Also I tend to have a heavy hand with EV olive oil when cooking and it gets stirred through soups etc. We use full fat milk and butter but coconut oil is to be avoided as far too saturated and the health benefits are dubious (marketing over reality).

Try to avoid too much dairy with pulses or eggs as it’s the dairy that can inhibit iron absorption (not calcium, most green leafy veg for eg. are rich in both iron and calcium). I tend to do a plant based meal for lunch, say, and an animal protein based meal (omelettes, veg in béchamel, grilled cheese etc) in the evening. Not religiously but as a general rule, although now DD is in her teens I’m a bit more relaxed about it.

Really don’t worry, DD has never had meat or fish and it has not hindered her from doing a competitive sport at regional level and, most importantly, she is never ill and off school. Have faith, compared to the omnivorous population most veggies and vegans are really quite clued up on nutrition.

Forgot to add, DD doesn’t snack, she stopped having a regular mid morning and mid afternoon snack when she got to about 5, although she will sometimes have a biscuit with a cup of tea if I’m having one. Apparently it’s not good to have constantly heightened insulin levels.

Are you buying wholegrains - spelt, millet quinoa brown rice whole rolled oats these things are slow release so should help satisfy for longer. Also add chia seeds nuts and oats to smoothies this will set them up with slow release energy so they dont feel starving by the time it comes to eat again. plain fruit smoothies are high gi carbs that dissipate quickly

Without seeing a proper food diary it’s hard to say whether they’re lacking in protein. It’s not simple to calculate it yourself but is possible. Proteins are made up of Amino Acids. There are two types of amino acids : Essential & Non essential. Meat has all the essential amino acids in the required quantities; these are known as ‘whole protein’ the only non - meat whole protein is soya. So the protein you see in nuts, beans etc are missing essential amino acids that would otherwise be present in a meat based protein source. You can google for yourself the names of essential amino acids and look up the quantities in the food you’re giving them to see if it’s enough.

Mariatequila, combining pulses with cereals gives you the entire range of amino acids. So lentil Dahl with rice, pasta with beans, falafel with pitta etc etc. Better if cereals are whole grain.

Quinoa also contains all 9 essential amino acids.

Most foods contain some protein, so eating a wide range will help bump up your intake, plus this fetish for very high levels of protein intake is unnecessary - excess protein gets peed out. It’s important to get sufficient protein but the levels, even for growing children, are often not as high as one thinks.

Plant-based foods are more micronutrient-dense and less calorie-dense, so it is normal to eat more of them than animal products. Good for jaw development (i.e. making enough room for teeth) to do more chewing, anyway.

I don't think it's because you're veggie.

We eat meat and my 4 year old son still eats constantly - literally, I feel like he eats all day! He doesn't just ask for treats either, he will happily eat banana/apple/cheese and crackers etc. I sometimes feel like he has one meal a day that starts when he gets up and ends when he goes to bed!

He's tall and skinny so not overweight.
I think kids who are active and growing just need a lot of food!

Not much to add other than that I'm raising vegetarian children and have never met any other veggie kids, so hello! I've been veggie since I was 6 and don't remember being hungry all the time. I am thin but I think that's more genetic than anything. Although I know about diet for veggies I still worry I'm not doing the right thing for my kids as we're so conditioned to eat meat so it's nice to hear some posters up thread saying they have good, healthy older veggie kids 😁