[...] Researchers found children who had a vegetarian diet had similar mean body mass index (BMI), height, iron, vitamin D, and cholesterol levels compared to those who consumed meat. The findings showed evidence that children with a vegetarian diet had almost two-fold higher odds of having underweight, which is defined as below the third percentile for BMI. There was no evidence of an association with overweight or obesity.
Underweight is an indicator of undernutrition, and may be a sign that the quality of the child's diet is not meeting the child's nutritional needs to support normal growth. For children who eat a vegetarian diet, the researchers emphasized access to healthcare providers who can provide growth monitoring, education and guidance to support their growth and nutrition.
[...] A limitation of the study is that researchers did not assess the quality of the vegetarian diets. The researchers note that vegetarian diets come in many forms and the quality of the individual diet may be quite important to growth and nutritional outcomes. The authors say further research is needed to examine the quality of vegetarian diets in childhood, as well as growth and nutrition outcomes among children following a vegan diet, which excludes meat and animal derived products such as dairy, egg, and honey.
Journal Reference:
Laura J. Elliott et al. Vegetarian Diet, Growth, and Nutrition in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Cohort Study [open] Pediatrics 2022
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-052598
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday May 05 2022, @01:55PM (2 children)
Yeah, we were a lot more healthy when one income was enough to feed a family and someone had time to actually cook some food instead of relying on microwave dinners only.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday May 05 2022, @04:02PM (1 child)
You can afford to eat better. Both time and money. You just need to educate yourself. Which does take time, but once you've done so, you will be happier. No one should need to sustain themselves on microwave dinners.
Slow Cookers, Ninja Foodis, Rice Cookers, Vitamix Blender, or other time savers, help a ton. Easy, healthy recipes are out there.
Here's a nice one, if you want a decent pasta sauce or tomato soup. (Honestly, we just use the same recipe for both.)
Vitamix Recipe *You can look one up, if you like measuring things.*:
Bunch of Tomatos (canned or fresh, whatever you think may taste yummy, also a good way to use not so good old tomatos that are still technically edible)
1 stick of butter or about 1/2 cup of some sort of oily something. More or less, to your taste. Sure, that much butter may not be too good for you, but it sure tastes good.
Good bit of Oregano, Basil, or other spices.
Salt to taste.
Sugar (just a bit to cut the acid, not much, can also use honey)
Just make sure it's all clean and you cut the stem out of the tomato. (May not need to cut that little bit where the stem came out of the tomato, but I always do.)
Put it all in the blender and turn it on. The Vitamix I have doesn't have a "Soup setting", but you can use it to make soup. Mine is designed to stop at 6:30 seconds. Just let it run until it's done and stops. It will be hot and perfect to serve.
While the Tomato soup is making, you can be prepping other food, but now you have a healthy component to your meal.
Usually when I make that, there's enough left over to do a second meal of soup or pasta. Whatever we didn't do the night before. Almost always do sandwiches with the soup.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 05 2022, @04:05PM
Uh, I forget, I usually also put a little onion and garlic in there.
Also, I've just chucked whole Zucchini or Yellow Squash in there to add to it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"