My daughter is 10 and been a vegetarian since last May. She has never been tempted to eat meat again and I am incredibly proud of her.

Recently she has some dark circles under her eyes, just under the tear duct area like dark markings. Can this be a sign of a nutritional deficiency? She takes good vitamins, Solgar mult that has iron in it. She does eat dairy, not so good on the eggs and recently she tries to eat a bit of fish. I know that isn't a full veggie but she kept fish in her diet because in her words 'to make sure I get my protein'. She rarely eats fish though to be honest.

She told me last night she is bored of her meals. I seem to cook her the same old lately as i have been unwell with CFS. I feel guilty but her usual meals are
Veggie spag bol with wholewheat pasta (i add veggies to the homemade sauce)\
Veggie pizza made on wholewheat wrap
Sweet potato fries with veg and quorn sausages
Sometimes she has veggie nuggets and oven chips with veg on an easy tea night.
Cauliflower cheese

I am worried if she is getting enough protein. What are some good protein sources I can put in her meals? She has asked to try nuts so I have bought some almond butter for her to have on rice cakes.

Any meal inspiration please? I was a veggie but introduced Salmon and fish into my diet due to having a bad cholesterol reading. I feel stuck in a rut with our meals and now concerned I am not giving my daughter enough protein or something.

Thanks

Ju

Hello. Try typing everything she is eating into www.cronometer.com

You can make a free account there and it will break everything down for you so you can see any holes. You may be surprised at holes you might have too :P Always good to know though because then you can fix them.

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Also if you do find you're missing stuff say what it is and maybe we can get some recipe ideas going from there.

If she eats a varied diet she should be getting more than enough protein. Does she like beans at all? Those are a good source of protein. My kids are 8, 5, and 3 and a favorite meal at my house is lentil soup. Throw in the crock pot dried lentils, wild rice, veggie broth, some tomatoes and whatever other veggies she likes. 6 hours later you have a great meal. I actually have to keep my kids away from the crock pot otherwise they will want to eat it all before dinner.

What about black bean burritos? Black bean burgers? My kids just like to eat plain old chick peas.

This booklet from Kaiser Permanente has meal ideas and protein recommendations:
http://share.kaiserpermanente.org/wp...et-booklet.pdf

I don't know about the dark circles. If that happened to me I'd pay a visit to my doctor and get some lab work done.

Take care

Dark circles can be from allergies, or dehydration, or lack of sleep. Is she eating enough? Keep an eye on her size...

If it is lack of sleep, it could be vitamin B12 that's missing. At least that's what I read on a B12 supplement pack lately. I am no expert in the matter though.

Thank you so much for your help. I shall take a look :-)

Thank you. She sleeps really well. Also takes a good multi vitamin with B12 in it.

Thank you.

She sleeps really well, takes vitamins and eats plenty of calories. She has thrived since being a vegetarian, she has grown and I think about 4ft 8 now and 73lbs at 10 years old. I am only petite but I think she will be taller than me. She was always the tiny one in school now she is taller than alot of her friends.

The only thing I have noticed is, this winter she has been very unlucky health wise, unlike her. She has had virus after virus. We just had a good 2 month run of no ill health and now she has been floored by a virus my son had. She doesn't seem to bounce back so easy when she is ill. That may not be related to her diet but it's been an unlucky winter for her.

Thank you. She was in hospital in November for 2 nights with a bowel infection. They ran alot of blood work then and said she was fine. I may pop her to the GP though to ask about the dark eyes and see what he thinks.