Getting enough minerals/nutrients ?

nanook5

Hi

First post here

I'm 14(male) and I'm vegetarian .

I am wondering am I getting enough of minerals/acids/nutrients for my metabolism .

I don't eat vegetables except carrots and potatoes the odd time .

I don't eat nuts or fruits ( except bananas and clementines)

Salad is disgusting

The only things I really eat are :
Pasta (white)
bread(white)
potato waffles
pizza
chips
Bananas
biscuits
clementines
white rice
yogurt
Beans on toast
Coco pops

There is a few other small things that i don't eat regularly .

If it makes any difference I don't play sport at all .

I guess I'm a lacto-vegetarian ( I don't eat meat or eggs)

Thanks

Slaphead07

I think your being vegetarian is almost a side issue here. That diet is awful!

At least use brown bread - unprocessed if possible. Would brown rice be so bad? Add chickpeas or other pulses to your rice/pasta dishes.

I suspect you're eating conveiniance foods all the time. bad bad bad!

You need to find more fresh fruit and veg you'll eat.

Try some veggie burgers/sausages or quorn for protein - try a few types they can taste quite different to each other. Although beans on brown toast isn't bad at all.

nanook5

Slaphead07 wrote: »

I think your being vegetarian is almost a side issue here. That diet is awful!

At least use brown bread - unprocessed if possible. Would brown rice be so bad? Add chickpeas or other pulses to your rice/pasta dishes.

I suspect you're eating conveiniance foods all the time. bad bad bad!

You need to find more fresh fruit and veg you'll eat.

Try some veggie burgers/sausages or quorn for protein - try a few types they can taste quite different to each other. Although beans on brown toast isn't bad at all.

I could try brown bread or at least best of both ( to get me started )

I could eat the brown rice but then I it wouldn't be as satisfactory because I would be eating something I don't like ( But if it has to be done , it has to be done)

I've never even heard of chickpeas until now Ill ask my mom to get them

Can you suggest some fruits ?

Apples are Okay
Mango's are nice too .
I wouldn't eat anything like a kiwi or a plum though :cool:

I wouldn't say I'm eating conveiniance foods like microwave stuff in 2 mins .

But frozen chips , frozen pizza , frozen waffles would be " conveiniance"
foods I guess .

I might try make a veggie burger tomorrow and taste it

Thanks

RoseBlossom

How are you with soups? It might be a good way to introduce more vegetables. I know a few lads who won't touch a boiled carrot but will hoover up some carrot and coriander soup!

If you don't like "bits" in your soup, you could blend it to get rid of them.

Another thing that might be an easy introduction would be sweet potato, and it is packed with Vitamins A and C in particular. You could try making oven chips from them - just peel, slice, toss with some oil and put on a baking tray in a hot oven (say 210 C) until done (how long depends on the size of the chips). You can add salt and vinegar afterwards, or if you are feeling more adventurous you could toss them with some spices before putting them into the oven.

perfectisthe

Hi Nanook.

First off, DON'T PANIC! My diet was pretty bad as an (omni) teenager too. Your palate will expand as you get older, and (shock horror!), you will probably come to enjoy wholegrains and veggies.

Congrats on being a veggie at such a young age, I wish I had made the choice back then. Keep moving forward and trying new healthy foods and I'm sure your diet will be dramatically improved in no time.

nanook5

How are you with soups? It might be a good way to introduce more vegetables. I know a few lads who won't touch a boiled carrot but will hoover up some carrot and coriander soup!Tomato soup was the only soup I have ever tried and I quite enjoyed it . Bits would have been one of the things that turned me off soup .


Another thing that might be an easy introduction would be sweet potato, and it is packed with Vitamins A and C in particular. You could try making oven chips from them - just peel, slice, toss with some oil and put on a baking tray in a hot oven (say 210 C) until done (how long depends on the size of the chips). You can add salt and vinegar afterwards, or if you are feeling more adventurous you could toss them with some spices before putting them into the oven.
Hmmm I'll try that , I prefer oven chips to deep fried , so i doubt they can be much different.

Thanks

Reece

Slaphead07

nanook5 wrote: »

I might try make a veggie burger tomorrow and taste it

Thanks

You can buy them in supermarkets and health food stores.

nanook5

Even better!

Slaphead07

nanook5 wrote: »

Even better!

Well it's easy protein you're looking for - soya type products. If you don't like the first ones don't give up. Try others. Some are a bit uck alright but some are fantastic. It's all a matter of taste.

nanook5

I will definitely try at least one !

fillefatale

My brother won't touch soup unless it has no bits so glad to see he's not an oddity!

OP - my diet when I first became veggie (at 15) relied a lot on quorn convenience products, mostly because i wasn't adventurous with vegetables, and also because my mother could not stand the fact that i wouldn't eat meat, or her dinners anymore. After a few years of tentatively cooking meals for myself, and using vegetables like aubergines in lasagnas, I gradually began to eat more and more vegetables. I'll eat any veg now! My odd thing is that I don't eat fruit at all.

Try introducing veg, with soya products in simple food like spag bol, lasagnas, etc and you'll soon begin to cut down on them and eat more and more veg.

Good luck!

nanook5

fillefatale wrote: »

My brother won't touch soup unless it has no bits so glad to see he's not an oddity!

OP - my diet when I first became veggie (at 15) relied a lot on quorn convenience products, mostly because i wasn't adventurous with vegetables, and also because my mother could not stand the fact that i wouldn't eat meat, or her dinners anymore. After a few years of tentatively cooking meals for myself, and using vegetables like aubergines in lasagnas, I gradually began to eat more and more vegetables. I'll eat any veg now! My odd thing is that I don't eat fruit at all.

Try introducing veg, with soya products in simple food like spag bol, lasagnas, etc and you'll soon begin to cut down on them and eat more and more veg.

Good luck!

Your sound the exact same as me . I have to resort to cooking my own meals as I NEVER eat what the rest of my family eats . Iv'e asked my mom to get me a few of the foods that people have suggested , I guess I'll gradually learn how to like them :P

Zombienosh

I could never imagine being a veggie/vegan at 14 and would never recommend it unless people had supportive or understanding parents. It's a struggle from a nutrition point of view but also a personal one, you'll get a lot people say its a phase and this is because so many people do go through phases in teens, you can't really know who you are I guess.

I would have never been veggie in my teens I had far too many issues to think about without considering nutrition ethics and the rest of the world. I didn't know who I was and what I believed until mid 20's.

I'm rambling, but what I'm trying to say is good luck with this and at least you have resources i.e the internet and this forum, drop in here with any questions.

nanook5

I don't have much to worry about really .

I get up eat , go to school , come home ,eat , study , go to bed .

I don't WANT and therefore i won't go back eating meat , I do (used to ) like a bit of ole chicken but i don't think it is ethnically right .

I probably would get everything I need from meat but that's why i made this thread , because my mom is always bugging me about how i need to eat other stuff and I didn't want to be in my 20's with Iron deficiency or something liek that

Slaphead07

nanook5 wrote: »

I probably would get everything I need from meat....

Actually you probably wouldn't. You need a balanced diet. Buy a good veggie cookbook with loads of pretty pictures, roll up your sleeves and get to work! You have a great opportunity here to learn a bit about food and cooking. Grasp it!

nanook5

will do !

Tar.Aldarion

Fair play to you for thinking about this at your age, some people never do! Good luck with it, be sure to update

nanook5

Well ,

Quick update . Iv'e started eating wholemeal bread and wholemeal rice .

The mother is going shopping on Friday and is getting me a few things people suggested such as sweet potatoes and chick peas .

nervous_twitch

Nanook, as a vegetarian - veg being the operative syllable - you really need to start eating vegetables. The majority of your diet is comprised of starchy, sugary carbs, which are about as nutritious as cardboard. Pasta, pizza, bread, rice, biscuits, coco pops, waffles, chips are all the same thing - and not only are they nutritionally void, they're depleting your energy and giving you high blood sugars. It must be difficult to maintain a healthy weight on this diet. Even wholegrain breads and brown rice aren't going to do too much for you unless you start adding some greenery. Clementines and bananas, although containing some vitamins and minerals, are naturally quite high in sugar and they're the only 'fresh' food you eat (although of everything in your diet, they'd be the last thing to get rid of.)

I also became a vegetarian at 14, but under the strict condition of my less-than-impressed mother that I could only be vegetarian if I started eating lots of vegetables. I was a fussy eater, but I chose to deal with that instead of having to eat meat. By the time I was 15 there was nothing I wouldn't eat (bar meat ).

Soups are a really good idea, as you can blend everything and just enjoy the flavours without the textures. Good soup veg: potato, carrot, leeks, celery, onions, parsnip, sweet potato, garlic. You can use anything though really. Add lots of herbs and spices.

Pulses: chickpeas, lentils, beans - these are some of the best things you can eat as a vegetarian - little protein powerhouses which can be flavoured any way you want. Full of good stuff. Try a lentil curry or a chickpea burger.

Why don't you eat nuts? They're full of good fat and contain protein. Seeds too. Do you eat eggs? Berries are good. When you say yogurt, do you mean natural yogurt or fromage-frais type thing? Seeds, nuts and berries with a bit of yogurt and a side of spinach scrambled egg would be an ideal way to start the day.

Obviously you're only 14, so you're not going to eat clean a lot of the time, but you should still try reach for your five a day. You'll actually feel a lot better for it. And drink plenty of water. Best of luck.

nervous_twitch

Oh and fair play for making the switch!

nanook5

nervous_twitch wrote: »

Nanook, as a vegetarian - veg being the operative syllable - you really need to start eating vegetables. The majority of your diet is comprised of starchy, sugary carbs, which are about as nutritious as cardboard. Pasta, pizza, bread, rice, biscuits, coco pops, waffles, chips are all the same thing - and not only are they nutritionally void, they're depleting your energy and giving you high blood sugars. It must be difficult to maintain a healthy weight on this diet. Even wholegrain breads and brown rice aren't going to do too much for you unless you start adding some greenery. Clementines and bananas, although containing some vitamins and minerals, are naturally quite high in sugar and they're the only 'fresh' food you eat (although of everything in your diet, they'd be the last thing to get rid of.)

I also became a vegetarian at 14, but under the strict condition of my less-than-impressed mother that I could only be vegetarian if I started eating lots of vegetables. I was a fussy eater, but I chose to deal with that instead of having to eat meat. By the time I was 15 there was nothing I wouldn't eat (bar meat ).

Soups are a really good idea, as you can blend everything and just enjoy the flavours without the textures. Good soup veg: potato, carrot, leeks, celery, onions, parsnip, sweet potato, garlic. You can use anything though really. Add lots of herbs and spices.

Pulses: chickpeas, lentils, beans - these are some of the best things you can eat as a vegetarian - little protein powerhouses which can be flavoured any way you want. Full of good stuff. Try a lentil curry or a chickpea burger.

Why don't you eat nuts? They're full of good fat and contain protein. Seeds too. Do you eat eggs? Berries are good. When you say yogurt, do you mean natural yogurt or fromage-frais type thing? Seeds, nuts and berries with a bit of yogurt and a side of spinach scrambled egg would be an ideal way to start the day.

Obviously you're only 14, so you're not going to eat clean a lot of the time, but you should still try reach for your five a day. You'll actually feel a lot better for it. And drink plenty of water. Best of luck.

Ill try my best with the vegetables and the soup .

I don't eat nuts simply because I don't like the taste

As I said Ill be eating chickpeas in a few days , so I can try all the different types of variations .

No eggs either , I just don't like the idea of eating it , because of what IT IS

And yogurt would be petite-flous

Spinach and cabbage are the two things I don't think I would ever eat . They are VILE :cool:

Zombienosh

I live on beans/pulses/legumes, nuts and seeds. It's all about the protein. :pac:

simon0brien

nanook5 wrote: »

Hi

First post here

I'm 14(male) and I'm vegetarian .

I am wondering am I getting enough of minerals/acids/nutrients for my metabolism .

I don't eat vegetables except carrots and potatoes the odd time .

I don't eat nuts or fruits ( except bananas and clementines)

Salad is disgusting

The only things I really eat are :
Pasta (white)
bread(white)
potato waffles
pizza
chips
Bananas
biscuits
clementines
white rice
yogurt
Beans on toast
Coco pops

There is a few other small things that i don't eat regularly .

If it makes any difference I don't play sport at all .

I guess I'm a lacto-vegetarian ( I don't eat meat or eggs)

Thanks

Well done on taking a stand against animal cruelty.. It will stand to you..
Make sure you switch your whites to browns.. I know It can seem hard but engage with all kinds of sauces to make It tasty :P When I turned vegan It sparked off a new interest in cooking and healthiness so try to gain these things and make your 'sacrifice' a very positive thing :P

nanook5

Well now I've started to eat Quorn and veggie burgers , that have loads of vegetables in them .

Wholemeal bread as I said and chickpeas aswell

Great to hear your coming on so well. Keep pushing yourself.
If you like mango. I think you can learn to love most foods.
Introducing variety to your diet, is the best thing you'll ever do. Health wise.

Tar.Aldarion

Certainly true. I used to like nothing, no veg. Now I love them all! I think you like veg more as you get older anyway.

spiralbound

nanook5 wrote: »

Well now I've started to eat Quorn and veggie burgers , that have loads of vegetables in them .

Wholemeal bread as I said and chickpeas aswell

Good work. You could try to put your day's food into something like fitday, a website that calculates the nutrients, to see how you're measuring up to your recommended daily amounts of everything. It might give you a bit of incentive to try a few more veggies or different foods!

nanook5

Hmm thanks for that spiralbound i'll do that some time during the week

Peanut

OP have you tried using veg in pasta dishes or stir-frys?

A quick diet-hack is to use something like supermarket pasta sauce as a base and add some cooked veg. to enhance it. e.g. you could boil or microwave some chopped carrots, courgettes etc. and then lightly fry them with some onions, then just mix the sauce in when the veg is done.

It's much, much better & tastier than just using the sauces on their own, or relying on some small bits of veg. they added.

Same idea with stir-fries, although you can add tofu or something if you're feeling adventurous...