That’s so funny that a girl is involved. One of my young male cousins was a junk food junkie until he went to his Freshman year of college when he met a young lady. I almost crapped my pants when he told me that he was becoming a vegetarian (now I didn’t have to be the only black sheep of the family). Our whole family secretly placed bets on when he would revert back to meat. It took 2 years. Now he’s a big meat eater. I’m disappointed, but I really don’t think his heart was in it.
I came to vegetarianism in a very different way. It was all about avoiding animal cruelty and suffering for me, then it evolved into me becoming a more healthy person, and then it evolved into creating a more healthy environment for our planet. So I am a vegetarian for many different reasons. But if he wants to give it a go, then I have some ideas, techniques and recipes.
First of all, your son should start doing research (and he should decide if he wants to be a vegetarian, which does not include eating fish, or a vegan, which does not include eating any kind of animal products at all including eggs or dairy, and maybe also sugar and honey). He should read all he can about why it’s good to be a vegetarian and how to go about it, so that he stays healthy and strong. He should check out Vegetarian Times especially their “starter kit.”
He should know all about the vegetarian food pyramid so that he can make good choices about what he eats.
Next, he should learn how to cook. Either by you teaching him, a friend teaching him, taking classes or by learning himself with videos and cookbooks. If you don’t know how to cook, being a vegetarian can be really difficult and will likely lead you into being what I call a “Cheetos vegetarian.” Cheetos are in fact, a vegetarian item, but it’s one of the most un-healthy things that you can eat. It’s best to try to avoid most junk food, and highly processed foods (which contain high levels of fat and sodium and sugar and preservatives) and to try to eat mostly fruits, vegetables and whole grains. He should aim to eat foods that are extremely nutrient dense. And he needs to know how to get all of the nutrients that he will need. If he is a regular vegetarian (not a vegan) this will be pretty easy. One of the things that vegetarians need to get is Vitamin B-12 which is mostly found in animal products (including eggs and dairy) and a few other places such as bacterial souces. There are many vegetarian sources of Vitamin B-12 in the form of supplements. Vegans will have a harder time, but The Vegetarian Resource Guide is a good source of information about Vitamin B-12 and where to get it.
Another essential nutritent that is harder to get, when you are a vegetarian, is Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids (usually found in fish). One of the best vegetarian sources for O3 EFA is ground flax seeds and/or flax oil. Un-ground flax seeds are good sources of fiber, but the seeds need to be ground to release the EFA, other wise they just go through your body, undigested. I take 2 Tablespoons of Bob’s Red Mill Ground Flax Meal. After you open this container, it needs to be kept refrigerated so that it won’t go rancid, but will keep for about 6 months in the fridge (but if you take it daily, it won’t be in there for more than a month or 2) Other sources of O3EFA are walnuts and other nuts, but Flaxseed is the best, and has highest concentration of the nutrient. You’d need to eat a boatload of other nuts or seeds to get enough.
Contrary to popular belief, most vegetarians get plenty of protein. As long as they are eating a balanced diet and eat the right kinds of food they will get plenty of protein. Tofu and quinoa are the only vegan sources of complete proteins. Eggs and dairy also offer complete proteins. With a typical vegetarian diet, a person will need to eat a variety of protein filled foods to get complete protein. Those foods do not have to be eaten at the same meal, they can be eaten in the same day, at different times. Good sources of vegetarian protein (which can be adapted into lots of recipes that omnivores will eat) are whole grains (wheat, wheat berries, bulgur wheat, quinoa, brown rice, popcorn, whole grain pasta and whole grain bread, oatmeal and barley etc.) Here’s a longer list of whole grains. Other vegetarian sources of protein are beans, nuts, seeds and soy products (and milk and eggs) plus fortified cereals. There are also vegetarian and vegan protein supplements (mostly powders) that can be added to smoothies and shakes, but your best bet is to get protein and all other nutrients from whole foods.
Your son should become his own advocate and become a major part of the meal planning process. If he is going to share the table with omnivores, you guys need to decide if he is going to make his own separate meals, if you guys will sometimes share in a vegetarian meal with him or if you will have a regular meat filled meal, with a separate, but similar vegetarian dish for him, or if he will have to survive on vegetarian side dishes. Try not to let him succumb to the “Cheetos Diet” just because it’s easier, than having to plan this all out in advance. Learn to shop and make lists and plans for the week. Try to create several meals out of one type of food. For instance if you’re going to use mushrooms, make a lasagna, make pizza, make quiche, make stirfry. Try to plan out what you will serve during the week, so that you and your son aren’t left frustrated and hungry at the last minute. Make sure you always have some frozen vegetarian items in your fridge, just in case you forget to shop, or don’t have time to plan. Amy’s frozen meals are really great, as are Morningstar Farms products and Quorn products. If he decides to go vegan, make sure he learns how to read labels, some vegetarian products are not vegan products and may contain dairy and eggs.
Make sure he learns to read labels. There’s lots of animal products lurking everywhere. This guide from the Vegetarian Resource Group might be very useful to your son.
Learn to try (and try again and again and again) new vegetables with different preparations such as baking, stir frying, braising, roasting, sauteeing, steaming, boiling, broiling and grilling. Here are some of the big guns of veggie nutrition: mushrooms, most leafy greens such as lettuces (except iceberg, which is negligable) kale, Swiss chard, spinach, mustard and turnip greens, micro greens and sprouts (except alfalfa which is known to harbor bacteria even after washing) root veggies such as beets, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, radishes. Cruciferous veggies such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. Squash and sweet potatoes.
For the freezer keep frozen cheese pizzas (make sure they’re totally veg though) and then you can pull them out and add all of your favorite toppings. Keep lots of bags of frozen veggies such as spinach, peas, carrots, mixed wild mushrooms, edamame, veggie medleys (with sauce or not). Frozen individual servings of brown rice and vegetarian entrees (Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are good sources) and different kinds and textures of fake meat products. Morningstar Farms and Quorn make good stuff (from burgers, to fake chicken nuggets, to fake burger crumbles (for burrito and taco filling, chili and fake sloppy joes) to fake barbcue and fake meatloaf. You can also freeze bread and tortillas and blank pizza shells and blocks of cheese (that you have cut down into smaller sizes and put into freezer ziplock bags). And when you start making home made soup, you can also freeze that flat in freezer bags. I always have frozen strawberries and whole grain waffles in my freezer. I also keep Trader Joe’s pie crusts in there for making dessert pies, and quiche and vegetable pot pies.
Make sure you keep your pantry stocked with canned beans (make sure they’re not flavored with meat, just plain old beans) of every kind such as navy, kidney, garbanzo, pinto, lentils, butter beans and black eyed peas. Make sure you have lots of varieties of dried pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, ziti, lasagna, penne, Asian rice noodles and Asian buckwheat soba noodles etc.) Ronzoni Smart Taste makes pasta in a variety of shapes with added fiber, calcium and protein that tastes just like regular old pasta. Whole grain pastas are good too, but you may need to develop a taste for them. Have lots of tomato based (without any meat products added) such as pasta sauce, enchilada sauce, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, tomatoes with green chilies added (like Rotel) diced tomatoes and pureed tomatoes. All of these tomatoes can be used for soups and stews and sauces. Have boxes of different kinds of dried grains (quinoa, rice, wheat berries, tabouli mix, oatmeal etc.) Have canned chilies, jars of olives, marinated mushrooms, salsa, pickled vegetables, and artichoke hearts (both marinated in jars and packed in water in cans). Have plenty of low sodium vegetable broth on hand (I like Trader Joe’s own brand) to create home made soups. Make sure that you have a robust collection of dried herbs and spices. And several different kinds of nut butters. You should also keep a big bottle of good olive oil and several different kinds of vinegar (Balsamic, red wine, rice vinegar, malt vinegar, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar) and soy sauce and other condiments which will be transferred to the fridge when opened like mayo, soy mayo like Vegenaise, ketchup, different kinds of mustard (whole grain, dijon, regular yellow, sweet hot and horseradish mustard) plus hot sauces, salsas, barbecue sauce and chutneys. Plus pickles, pickle relish, jalapenos and sliced banana peppers. Always think about flavor, flavor and more flavor!
And now to the recipes. The first thing I always tell people who are trying to add more veggies to their diet is embrace the soup! There’s tons of different vegetarian soups for which I will let you do your own searching for tonight, because it’s way past my bedtime. But I’ll give you some search subjects: hot and sour, cream of mushroom, tomato, white bean, black bean, lentil, butternut squash, tom kha, cream of broccoli, potato leek, mushroom/barley, ful madamas, minestrone, mulligatawny, split pea.
Then try searches for vegetarian lasagna, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, pasta primavera, baked ziti, enchiladas, chili, pizza, stir fry, burritos, tacos, roasted vegetables, vegetarian soups, stew, pot pies, vegetable purees, casseroles, pasta salads, potato salads, bean salads, green salads, anything with mushrooms, vegetarian sandwich spreads and wraps, grain salads, cabbage salads and slaws, fruit salads, potato dishes, vegetarian quiche recipes, vegetable stir fries, bean dishes, grain dishes, seitan recipes, tempeh recipes, tofu recipes, veggie burger recipes, grilled veggies, barbecued veggies, vegetarian Asian foods, vegetarian Middle Eastern foods, vegetarian Italian foods and breads. These are foods that I eat every day. So being a vegetarian is not as limited as it may seem at first glance.
Tomorrow I shall try to add links to some of my very favorite recipes. But for now, I must sleep. It’s 2:15 am!
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