to struggle with 11 year old DD wanting to be vegetarian?

[DelilahEATS]

Not because I’m against the cause - I was vegetarian for most of my late teens and 20s BUT her diet is so so limited already as she will only eat plain food, no vegetables and hardly any sauces.

Shes always been incredibly fussy food wise ( and generally! ) and this has just got worse with age.

Suddenly last week she cried at dinner and said she can no longer eat meat as is too upset about the animals who die in the process.

She asked me to support her and do it with her - I think she has some control issues because she finds it hard to accept people think differently from her.

I hardly eat meat ( only chicken ) so this isn’t too hard for me but my biggest worry is her already very very limited diet.

She does eat fruit but dinners are now plain rice / potatoes with beans, cheese, chips, basically white foods every day.

Has anyone else been through this?

TURN veggie, although I quite like ‘vibe veggie’

i was exactly like this. Was a veggie that didn’t eat salad and very few vegetables! I basically lived on jacket potatoes with cheese and beans and pasta. Was vegetarian from about 10 to 30 and now I eat meat and more vegetables but not salads! I was almost never sick on this diet, didn’t miss one day of school or work (still haven’t now except when I broke my leg skiing) so I wouldn’t stress too much, a good multivitamin and encouragement to eat healthy where possible

My 11yo DD has been vegetarian for a couple of years and it is frustrating. She did go through a phase where she wanted a very limited diet, but I insisted on trying new foods and she has got much better. My saving grace is that she loves fruit and enjoys some salad items. Her veg intake is limited but she quite likes green veg for protein thankfully. Maybe get her a kids vegetarian cookbook and ask her to pick something she will try? She can help you cook too which can help. Plan some new dinners using things she likes e.g. Quorn do Quorn pieces as plain cubes. We use these in fajitas or Curry's - if she knows she definitely likes part of the dish the rest of her meal may seem more palatable. Also, apparently we need to eat foods 5 times to 'accept' them - if she says something new was ok but she wouldn't like it again, persevere

Green veg isn't protein. Pulses, lentils and beans are planted based proteins.

Peas, spinach and broccoli are pretty high in protein!

@Haycorns4Piglet

Not quite. These vegetables do contain a little protein - but because of their high water content, a cup only has 2 or 3 grams of protein so you would need to eat lots to meet a woman's daily protein requirement of around 46 grams per day and so aren't considered as high protein foods.