Going fully vegan and setting aside all the animal-based food sources is going trendy these days. Several celebs are promoting the health benefits of adopting a plant-based diet pattern to consume enough nutrition, save animals, protect the environment, and other reasons. But you are concerned about the healthy meal pattern of your kid with age 14 years. You need him/her to consume all the required nutrition from vegan food sources and grow faster like everyone else.
Most of you find the roadblock as to how to get started planning for a vegan meal plan for your 14-year old kid.
Need not worry, because we got you covered here.
To get started with a vegan lifestyle for your 14-year old, you first have to make sure proper nutrients are covered in the meals. No matter, if you compile a list of smoothies, wraps, burritos, salads, and various low-calorie healthy snacks , the preferred choice of nutrients must be considered.
Protein is an essential nutrient for all. Especially, for teens’ muscle growth and overall body development, protein must be there in every single diet. Soy, several nuts, quinoa (cooked, quinoa puffs , or any other form), legumes, grains, and seeds are numerous protein-rich food choices available for kids.
Vitamin B12 is another imperative nutrient that is necessary for kids to consume. It is meant to maintain a healthy nervous system, synthesize the DNA, and grow red blood cells in the body. The common Vitamin B12 vegan food sources are soy, nutritional yeast, fortified milk (cashew, almond, walnut, soy, etc.), tempeh, fortified cereals, and more.
Iron helps form red blood cells in the body and is important for overall growth and development for teens. Foods like peas, lentils, soy, beans, nuts, seeds, leafy green veggies, mushrooms, and other sources are full of iron content.
For a healthy bone structure, nothing is compared to the relevance of calcium in your diet. It is imperative for teens to consume calcium-rich food and drinks daily to meet the essential requirements. While adopting a vegan eating lifestyle, your kid can rely on favorable sources like broccoli, green leafy vegetables, soybeans, brussels sprouts, tofu, and more.
Omega-3 is the relevant essential fatty acid to consume regularly and helps lessen the risk of deficiency. For your teenage child, you can include Omega-3 rich vegan food sources like hemp seeds, flax oil, chia seeds, canola oil, soy oil, etc.
The vegan eating pattern for teenagers is not that different from non-vegetarian teens. The only difference lies in the choice of foods to lay hands upon. You can follow the below-mentioned plant-based meal planning points.
* Fruits & Veggies: Ensure little 8 servings per day for males and 7 servings for females in small proportion.
* Grains: 7 servings per day for males and 6 servings per day for females
* Milk Alternatives: Bring 3 to 4 servings per day for males and females.
Several studies have been published that have declared the fact that a vegan diet is for everyone when planned carefully. Even the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has said, “Well-planned vegan meal plan will benefit everyone to stay healthy, consume essential nutrients, prevention of several diseases”. The organization also claims that a vegan diet is good for children and adolescents as well when followed properly.
There are several reasons indicating the goodness of a vegan diet plan for teenagers. At this tender age, parents are much concerned about the periodic development and growth patterns of their kids both physically and mentally. A well-planned vegan meal plan will benefit the teens to have countless food options that are running trendy these days. Kids can rely on several plant-based food sources to mix and match different delectable meals and still get the required nutrition to grow.
By focusing less on animal-based products and relying more on vegan food products, nutritious and taste benefit is a thing to experience. Vegan eating patterns is simple by focussing on veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and other things to make easy to prepare meals and find the following few outcomes:
* Improved health pattern
* Maintain blood pressure
* High on energy
* Reduced level of obesity
* Burn more calories
* Reduced risk of heart disease
* Positive thinking
* Mindfulness
At initial, it is difficult for teens to adopt a vegan lifestyle. There might be a little issue in transitioning from a chicken or meat-eating-based pattern to a plant-based diet. It takes some time to feel adjusted to the vegan diet but teens will get used to it and find it much better than the animal-based meal pattern.
Planning a vegan meal plan for your teen kid is no longer hassle-free. Follow the mentioned nutrition options to focus on giving a healthy lifestyle. Add numerous plant-based food options to the daily diet plan. Further to help you meet snacking time of kids, Ojas Vegan is here to offer guilt-free plantain tostones Canada and other healthy snacks.
