Beware of fads and crash or quack diets. The teenager may be imitating a peer or MTV personality and just want to lose weight fast. This is the most dangerous route. A teen can eat a very poor vegetarian diet that lacks essential nutrients and easily gain unwanted pounds. After all, soda, Danish, chips, chocolate, French fries and ice cream are not the most health-promoting choices.
Teens have notoriously poor eating behaviors, whether steak or sprout based.
Lack of calcium and iron is the most prevalent in females, vegetarian or not. The ideal route is to have your child design a personal diet with a registered dietitian specializing in vegetarian nutrition, to be sure that necessary vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are supplied. If the vegetarian diet is varied and has enough calories it will almost always have enough protein. Do not cook two menus each evening. There are numerous meat analogs on the market with remarkably good flavor, low in fat and rich in necessary nutrients.