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What should a teenage girl vegetarian eat to be healthy?

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Question: What should a teenage girl vegetarian eat to be healthy?

I take the one-a-day teen vitamin every morning with my oatmeal and glass of milk. This is definitely the healthiest part of my day. What should I really eat to be healthy? I eat WAY too much chocolate/sweets so I need something healthy to replace it with. In a perfect world what should I be eating and how much to be healthy?

ANSWER:

Answer by ღβαβy ∂σℓℓღ
well hello u eat vegetables.

Answer by Somebody in this world
Vegetables and fruit
nuts
pasta
wholegrain bread
tofu
chickpeas
legumes

Obviously not all at once but those are some things you should eat.

Answer by Karina
You should be eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, sea vegetables, whole wheat/ brown rice foods. Also, milk (and all other dairy products) is not good for you. It’s extremely fattening and causes many health problems. You should replace it with soy, rice, almond, and/or hemp milk. There are many nutrients in them, including B12 in soy and rice milk. Make sure to drink a lot of water (plain water). And stay away from processed and junk foods as much as possible. Once in a while is fine, but not on a regular basis. Also, if you eat right and healthy, you won’t need to take a multi-vitamin.

Answer by Lauren
Chocolate and sweets are okay every now-and-then, but you could replace them with things you like. If you like a certain vegetable, eat that more than one you don’t like. Eat nuts. If you don’t like plain nuts, make a peanut butter and jelly sanwhich.
Also, soy burgers and veggie burgers are good on protein, which is very important for aa vegetarian to eat. I love Morning Star Farms products. They basically have a “fake meat” (soy) for everything. They have soy burgers, soy sausage, soy chicken nuggets, all that good stuff. And the good things is they taste very good, unlike a lot of soy products!

Good luck!

Answer by Athena
I’m kind of the same, just read the ingredients of things before you eat them so you know what you are eating, and drink lots of water and make sure you eat enough fruit and vegetables, there is nothing wrong with eating chocolate and sweets as long as you eat them in moderation limit yourself.

Answer by Peyton Beans
BEANS!!! they are an excellant source of protein!

Answer by tay
if you have a sweet tooth, eat dark chocolate and special k chocolate protein bars instead

Answer by Chelsea
To make sure you get all your nutrients, eat a wide variety of different foods. Vegetarians can obtain protein by eating a balance of incomplete proteins each day (legumes with grains or legumes with nuts and seeds) or by eating approximately 50g of complete protein from the following sources: amaranth, buckwheat, hemp seed, soy*, quinoa, certain blue-green algaes (such as spirulina) as well as eggs and dairy products for those that allow them.

The other nutrients that may be missing in a vegetarian diet are iron and zinc. Iron can be a little tricky, since it’s harder to absorb from non-animal sources and some vegetarian staples can actually block your body from accepting it. You’ll have to eat a little more than an omnivore, but I promise it’s not that hard.

I don’t pay any attention at all to where my iron comes from, I don’t eat anything fortified with iron, and yet every time I give blood the phlebotomist complements me on having one of the best iron levels s/he has seen all day. If you do have problems with it though, try upping the ante with whole grains and dark leafy greens, and remember that eating vitamin C with iron makes it easier for your body to absorb the mineral.

Zinc is the other mineral that you may have to pay particular attention to. Again, I don’t bother scouring my pantry for sources of zinc, but I get enough anyway. Zinc can generally be found in your protein foods–nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains, etc. If you ever think you won’t meet your daily requirement, grab a handful of pumpkin seeds or dip some pita chips in hummus.

A diet that is completely plant based (a.k.a. a vegan diet) may also be lacking in calcium. Since many vegans and vegetarians pay special attention to getting adequate amounts of protein, they sometimes eat more than the recommended daily allowance, which can damage the body’s ability to absorb calcium. Salt has the same effect, but to a greater extent. So if you find yourself eating a lot of protein or sodium, try to consume just a little more than the recommended 1000mg of calcium a day.

Although dairy is touted as being the star of the calcium scene (Got Milk?) there are numerous, dairy-free options for vegans out there. Soy* is particularly high in calcium, as is black strap molasses (although that’s a bit more difficult to integrate into the diet.) Dark, leafy greens such as bok choy, broccoli, collard greens, Chinese cabbage, kale, mustard greens, and okra are also key sources.

In the same way that sodium and protein demote calcium absorption, Vitamin D consumption promotes it. This is a vitamin that’s naturally found in very few foods, vegan or otherwise. Luckily, the human body can create its own Vitamin D through just a few minutes sun exposure every day. There are certain mushrooms that provide significant amounts of Vitamin D, but other than that the only real way to obtain it through the diet is to eat fortified foods.

The final nutrient missing from a meat-free diet is Vitamin B12. Although the body only needs two or three micrograms a day, it is an absolutely vital nutrient. In vegetarian diets, it can be obtained through eating animal products such as eggs and dairy. Vegan diets, however, do not provide such a reliable resource. There is a lot of controversy as to whether or not vegans can obtain B12 naturally, but until scientists and nutritionists get things figured out, it’s best to incorporate a few B12-fortified foods into your diet, or ask a doctor about taking a vegan-friendly B12 supplement.

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, try to eat the rainbow every day. The colour of a plant reflects its nutritional properties, so the more colours you eat (including neutral shades) the more nutrients you’ll get.

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*A note on soy: Unfermented soy foods do contain a compound known as phytoestrogen. It’s a plant estrogen, very different from human estrogen, and is completely harmless unless consumed in excess. Unfortunately “in excess” is a pretty easy amount to consume if you’re relying on soy as your main source of protein and/or calcium.

The best way to avoid any negative side effects are to simply enjoy soy in moderation. Choose rice, nut, coconut, or hemp milks over soy milk, and choose fermented soy products (such as tempeh) over unfermented soy products (such as tofu.) It’s fine to have unfermented soy products every once in a while, but it’s important not to overdo it.

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