Food and Nutrition Guidelines - Barnsley Council Online

8. Special diets
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism can be divided
into four main groups:
• Partial vegetarian - red meat and offal
are excluded but may still eat chicken
and/or fish.
• Lacto-ovo vegetarian - red meat, offal,
poultry, and fish are excluded. Children
will eat milk and eggs.
• Lacto-vegetarian - red meat, offal,
poultry, fish and eggs are excluded.
Children will eat milk containing foods
but not eggs.
• Vegans - all animal products are avoided.
Vegetarian diets
Babies and young children can obtain a
nutritionally adequate vegetarian diet if a
wide variety of foods are eaten. Remember to
include foods from the four main food groups
each day. However, the greater the degree
of dietary restriction, the greater the risk of
nutritional deficiency
To ensure a healthy diet:
• Encourage regular meals and snacks.
• Choose alternatives sources of protein to
meat and fish such as eggs, soya products
(e.g. soya mince, tofu), beans (including
baked beans, chick peas, lentils), chopped
nuts and nut spreads. All these foods
contain iron, which is the main nutrient at
risk in a vegetarian diet.
• Fruit, fruit juice and vegetables should be
included, as they are rich in vitamin C. This
helps us to absorb the iron from non meat
foods.
• Include energy dense foods e.g. spreading
fats and cooking oils, seed and nut butters,
cheese, avocados, dried fruit and hummus.
• Ensure an adequate calcium intake by
offering milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage
frais.
• If cheese is served at the main course at
lunchtime, include an iron rich protein food
at the other main meal, for example beans,
lentils or eggs.
Vegan diets
Vegans do not eat any foods of animal origin.
This includes meat, fish and dairy foods,
and also honey. Vegan diets may be low in a
number of nutrients such as energy, protein,
vitamins B2 and B12, calcium, zinc and iron.
These diets need careful planning and vitamin
supplements may be necessary to complement
the menu. The Vegan Society recommends
that vegans take supplements of vitamin B12,
vitamin D and calcium.
When cooking food for vegetarians/vegans
who exclude food items for religious or ethical
reasons, it is important that food given is not
compromised in any way. For example, picking
meat out of a dish already cooked is not
appropriate. The vegetarian/vegan dish should
be prepared first and the meat added later for
other children.
• Other sources of iron containing foods
to include are fortified breakfast cereals,
bread (especially wholemeal), green leafy
vegetables and dried fruit.
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