Supporting a vegetarian child when we are not?

My eldest DD has wanted to be a vegetarian for a long time. Its been apparent since she was younger then 2. Even as a baby she spat out the meat. I am sick of trying to make her eat meat and its long over due to support her decision not to eat it. She likes her dairy products but definately not any meat. The only thing I have been successful in encouraging her to eat has been sausages but even that is a struggle. So its definately the time to give up trying and support her decision. Why its taken me so long is due to her weight and no support from other's especially her paediatrician. Her blood results have never been within the normal limits and she has bowel problems.
Any how I was just wondering if any other's have been in this position and any hints to help us. At dinner time I feel like she wont be eating as well as we do taking out the meat. Not really sure what to replace it with. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there.

I was the vege child in a family of meat-lovers. It's not that hard.

First, what meats does she like? Are fowl OK, or fish? If so, your life is only half as hard!

If not, meat is not the only protein. You mentioned dairy, but there's eggs as well. Baked beans (any sort of bean, including kidney beans). Lentils. Also meat replacement - such as Quorn or the Linda McCartney range. I don't know how easy meat replacement proteins will be to get for you, but it's VERY easy to do some vege sausages in a seperate container to the meat ones. Or the same for burgers, fillets, kievs... there's loads out there if you can get it. Plus meat replacement is cheaper than meat: I often make lasagne with vegetarian mince as it tastes really nice, is cheaper and the whole family can eat it. The whole family doesn't have to be vegetarian to enjoy a vegetarian meal. A lentil stew instead of a chicken stew is just as nice. People don't have to know there's no meat! You can have a couple of nights a week where everyone has a vege meal to help you out, and other nights where there are meat alternatives. You shouldn't need to be in a position of cooking two completely different meals every night. Sometimes you may make a potato melt and do it in two pots - a small pot with some extra veggies in, a large pot with some meat layered in. Same meal, one extra pot, little to stress about.

HTH.

As a vegetarian I say good on her! It really isn't that hard. Once you start cooking some vege kind of meals you realise it is a lot cheaper than eating meat and she can definitely be healthy on a vege diet. First make it clear to her that for her to choose a vege lifestyle is a responsibility on her part to make sure she eats a well balanced diet. You can't just take meat out of a meat eaters diet and expect it to work.
Just as a basic she needs to eat a wide variety of vegetables of different colours. It is a common myth that vegetarians lack protein. Protein is in pretty much every vegetable. The general rule is that if you consume enough calories (and eat your daily portions of vegetables) then you are eating enough protein. The things she really needs to look out for are vitamin B12. If she doesn't have enough of this it will cause big problems. B12 can be found in fermented soy products, soy milk (as an additive though), eggs, dairy, some seaweed and some mushrooms. If she doesn't get enough from food she needs to take a vit. The other is iron. Iron is in lots of foods including tofu (soy) and green leafy vegetables. Having vit C at the same time will help absorb it. As for her bowel problems, a vegetarian diet can actually help a lot with that as a good vege diet has a lot of fibre in it. Also forgot omega 3 - linseed is good for that.

As for subsitutes, there are lots of meat substitutes (e.g. vege sausages, vege patties) and depending on why she wants to be vege will affect whether she likes these things or not. If she doesn't like the taste then she probably won't like them either. If it is for ethical reasons then she might. Either way, consider them to be a bit like junk food - just have them occasionally.
Common meals that we have include:
1. Stirfry, with lots of vegetables and steamed rice
2. Nachos/tacos, instead of mince in the mix use beans.
3. Vietnamese fun rolls (rice paper rolls that you wrap up salad and meat/marinaded tofu)
4. Satay and rice, with vegetables (if she is underweight nuts and seeds are great!)
5. Salads with nuts and avocado
6. Vegetable curries, especially using lentils and pulses - cheap easy and so nutritious
7. Roasts, lots of roast vegetables and vegetarian gravy - yum!
8. Soups, pumpkin, vegetable, lentil etc.
9. Sushi - with any vegetarian filling (I like Fry's vegetarian nuggets) and miso soup (source of B12)
10. Pizza - top with lots of vegetables, and try grilled eggplant, or artichoke, macadamia nuts are also good.

Check out some vegetarian recipe websites for more ideas. Stick with the aussie sites though as I have found the American ones often use products we can't get here.
Hope this helps!