Being a Healthy Vegetarian Teen

Have you ever considered being a vegetarian ? Well, dont let the superstitions scare you away. There is a way that you can be a healthy teenage vegetarian without becoming malnourished. To be a healthy vegetarian teen you need to make sure that you are eating right, which means getting all of your macro-nutrients in such as carbohydrates, fats, and especially proteins. Not only those but since you won't be eating meat you need to supply yourself with another form of B12. Calcium and iron are also very important in living a vegetarian lifestyle. Not only is it important to get enough of the food that can supply you with the macro-nutrients you need, but also watch yourself so that you are not eating too much of a good thing or even too little. Being a vegetarian does affect your health similar to other dietary habits. Being a vegetarian can affect you mentally due to the fact that you are not eating animals that are being killed, but also if you do not eat right then you could end up becoming sick . As long as you keep good habits such as eating right, and doing physical activity then you should embrace being a vegetarian.

Macronutrients

Vegetarians need a good balance of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Carbohydrates come in the forms of sugars, starches, and fibers. They are the first source of energy for the body and are stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles till they are ready to be used. The recommended caloric intake for carbohydrates is around 60%. Vegetarians get their carbohydrates from sources just like anyone else. Vegetarians get carbohydrates from pasta, bread, grains, fruits, vegetables, rice, and dairy products.

Proteins come in the forms of vegetable proteins, animal proteins, and lacto proteins. Proteins are important for muscle growth as well as tissue repair. The recommended caloric intake is arounds 15% or 50-75 grams. Since vegetarians don't eat meat they have to get their protein from other sources. These sources include soy products, dairy products, nuts, beans, and eggs. Depending on what kind of vegetarian you are these sources might vary.

Fats come in the forms of saturated fats, trans fats, and unsaturated fats. Saturated and trans fats are the ones you do not want  to have a high concentration of in your diet. The kind of fat you want to have is unsaturated fat. The reccommended caloric intake for fats is about 25% while that should consist of less than 10% of saturated and trans fats. Vegetarians get their different kinds of fats from nuts, avocados, and dairy products.

By being a vegetarian there is also the challenge of getting the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your body needs. You can fulfill these requirements by including different kinds of vegetables in your diet. By eating dark green vegetables or eating dairy products you can get calcium to help your body grow. Dark green vegetables also have antioxidants which reduces fat in the blood stream as well as preventing some serious illnesses. You can get a steady stream of iron by just eating vegetables such as beans, bok choy, seeds, and spinach. There is the same amount of iron in a 1700 calorie sirloin steak as their is in 100 calories of spinach. By eating citrus fruits you can get more than enough of Vitamin C. There are many challenges to being a vegetarian and one of them might be not getting enough of your essential vitamins and minerals. To solve this problem vegetarians take supplements to fill their daily requirements.

Sources:

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/family-nutrition/vegetarian-diets/12-frequently-asked-questions-about-vegetarian-diet
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm
http://webforhealth.com/why-are-antioxidants-good-for-you/
http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/vegetables-nutrition-chart.html

Caloric Intake

Caloric intake is how many calories you need to fuel your body for the day. How many calories you need is based off of many factors such as gender, weight, height, and activity level. One way we can estimate your caloric intake is by using the Harris-Benedict Formula. The only thing that this does not factor in is your lean body mass, so keep in mind that leaner bodies need more calories. The average teenage(15-18) male should have around 2500-3000 calories per day , and the average teenage (15-18) female should have around 2200 calories per day. There are six major factors that dertermine your caloric requirement. These are

-gender

-age

-weight

-lean body mass

-daily activity

-Basal Metabolic Rate(BMR): This is the total amount of energy that your body uses doing daily activity. This includes elements such as digestion, circulation, respiration,temperature, regulation, cell construction and more.

Here is how you can calculate your caloric intake:

Women:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men:

BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

Then multiply that number by.....

BMR x 1.2 if you have little or no exercise

BMR x 1.375 if you do light exercises 1-3 days a week

BMR x 1.55 if you do moderate exercise 3-5 days a week

BMR x 1.725 if you do hard exercises 6-7 days a week

BMR x 1.9 if you do very hard exercises or double training

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/bmr-formula.php

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

3 Day Meal Plan

3 Day Vegetarian Meal Plan

Day 1:

Breakfast: Yogurt with Granola and apples, a Glass of Milk, and Bananas Sices.

Lunch: Veggie Wrap with Cheese, Glass of Apple Juice

Snack: Trail Mix

Dinner: Tofu Parmesan, Whole Wheat Pasta, Salad (Tomatoes, Lettuce, Cucumber, Italian Dressing), Glass of Milk

Day 2:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, Bagel with Cream Cheese and Strawberry Jelly, Glass of Milk, Oranges

Lunch: Veggie Burger with Whole Wheat Bun, Water

Snack: Carrots with Ranch

Dinner: Vegetable Stir Fry, Brown Rice, Glass of Milk,

Day 3:

Breakfast: Fruit Salad, Glass of Milk, Whole Wheat Toast with Apricot Jelly

Lunch: Bean Salad, Glass of Orange Juice

Snack: Celery Sticks with Peanut Butter and Raisins

Dinner: Teriyaki Tofu, Brown Rice, Brocolini, Glass of Milk

For our vegetarian blog our group decided to go vegetarian for a day to experience the challenges that they have to face.

For my first meal, breakfast, I had scrambled eggs with green onions, cooked onions, potato slices, and a glass of milk with organic nectarines, and fuji apples. I found that for breakfast it was not that hard to get a balanced meal that tasted good. I enjoyed the things I had and did not miss the meat products.

For lunch, I had a grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup, a glass of milk, and cherries. I enjoyed this meal but I would have liked to have some ham in my sandwich. I got my protein from dairy products in this meal.

For dinner, I ate two tofu burgers, a scoop of brown rice, a side of asparagus and corn, and a glass of milk. I would have liked to have something a little more substantial but overall it was a good meal.

Being a vegetarian for a day was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I rather enjoyed most of the things that I ate and had a fun time doing it. The challenge for vegetarians is that they need a balanced food plan and they need to stick to it. By doing this I have learned a lot about vegetarians and can better connect and understand them than I could before.

Why Become A Vegetarian?

There are many reasons that people become vegetarians. Some people become vegetarians for moral reasons such as, saving animals. Others go vegetarian to be healthier. Becoming vegetarian can…
•Lower your chances of getting heart disease:
Vegetarians have been shown to have a 24% lower risk of dying of heart disease than non-vegetarians. (Down to Earth). This is because non-vegetarians may eat red meat, which causes heart disease.
•Reduce Global Warming:
Live stock is one of the main distributors of greenhouse gases, by not eating meat you can help reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses.
•Humans are naturally vegetarians:
Humans have flat teeth that were made for grinding plants and grains, and not for ripping apart meat. Our hands are made perfectly to gather things not tear them apart. There is also an enzyme found in human saliva that is used to break apart the carbohydrates in plants , this enzyme is not found in carnivore's saliva. Also humans evolved from apes, which are vegetarian mammals.
•Live longer:
A study reviewed by the Electronic Plant Information Center at Oxford showed that vegetarians outlive non-vegetarians by approximately six years. It is not a good idea to go vegetarian as a diet because eating lettuce all day is not becoming a vegetarian it's starving your self. Teenagers who are vegetarian need to make sure they are eating enough proteins, fats and carbohydrates because they are in one of the most important stages of growth.


Reference:
1) "Top 10 Reasons for Going Veggie | Down to Earth." Down to Earth | ALL VEGETARIAN
Organic and Natural. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2011. <http://www.downtoearth.org/go-veggie/top-10-reasons>.
2) Matthews, Christopher. "Livestock a major threat to environment ." FAO: FAO Home.
N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2011. <http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/
index.html>.
3) Key, Timothy J. "Mortality in British vegetarians: review and preliminary results from EPIC-Oxford ." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2011. <http://www.ajcn.org/content/78/3/533S.full>.

Conclusion

If you plan on going vegie make sure you get enough macronutrients. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are very important for a growing teenager. Although being a vegetarian may be difficult at times, get creative! Instead of getting a double cheeseburger from McDonalds, walk to the next store and buy a organic garden burger. If you're going out to dinner and everyone is eating steak, get a hardy salad with soup instead. Just tell your self to stay strong and you will be able to pull it off.

If you do become a vegetarian, good luck!