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That’s So Vegan

Many studies of preadolescent lacto-ovo vegetarian girls suggest that being vegetarian may contribute to a delay in the onset of menstruation. This has health benefits, including decreased risk of breast cancer. Especially in light of the recent increase in girls going through puberty early for unknown environmental causes, this is more good news about being veg!

Healthy Body Image

In our body-conscious society, body image is an issue for both tween boys and girls, but especially girls. Studies show that by the time girls reach age 13, 80 percent of them report being dissatisfied with their body weight, and many have already been on diets.

The range for healthy weight gain of girls during puberty is 15 to 55 pounds, with a mean weight gain of 38.5 pounds. For boys, it’s 15 to 65 pounds, with a mean weight gain of 52.2 pounds. Girls naturally have a 120 percent healthy increase in body fat during puberty, while boys drop body fat during the same time. This significant change in body type from boy to man and girl to woman can be particularly difficult for tween and teen girls to understand and embrace.

That’s So Vegan

At least a few mainstream media outlets support girls with positive messages about body image. Check out New Moon magazine (www.newmoon.com) for girls ages 8 to 12 and also American Girl magazine (www.americangirl.com/fun/agmg).

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, young girls’ body images are largely tied to their moms’ attitudes about the subject. According to womenshealth.gov, these are some top reasons that may prompt young girls to have weight concerns:

◆ Having mothers concerned about their own weight.

◆ Having mothers who are overly concerned about their daughters’ weight and looks.

◆ Natural weight gain and other body changes during puberty.

◆ Peer pressure to look a certain way.

◆ Struggles with self-esteem.

◆ Media images showing the ideal female body as thin.

Moms, be body confident! Focus on health, not weight. If you suspect your tween—girl or boy—has body image issues or is dieting, talk about it with them and their doctor. (For a more in-depth discussion about eating disorders, read Chapter 9.)

Media Pressures

Let’s face it: most of your child’s friends will likely eat fast food, candy, dairy, and meat. Not only will they be eating the foods you hope your child doesn’t, but whenever they watch TV together, they’ll be singing jingles about how much they love it. When your tween’s friends are cooing at how cute the cows are in ads for foods that those very animals are confined or killed for, will she stand up for what she believes? This can be very confusing for vegan kids, especially tweens, who are constantly comparing their worldview about everything with those of their peers.

The numbers are astounding. Estimates show that American children see 18,000 to 30,000 ads every year. According to CommonSenseMedia.org, candy and snack foods account for 34 percent of ads targeted at kids, 28 percent are cereal ads, and 10 percent are peddling fast-food restaurants. Kids view an average of at least one food commercial every 5 minutes during Saturday morning cartoons. Most of those ads involve foods made with animal products, and virtually none are based on healthful, unprocessed foods like fruits and vegetables.

Some junk food products that happen to be vegan, such as Oreos, use advertising methods targeted at kids, too, including hiring sports figures popular with kids to promote their products. We venture to bet the tennis-star Williams sisters or the Manning brothers don’t chow down on Oreos as part of their training diets even though they pitch the cookies in ads that clearly appeal to kids.

CommonSenseMedia.org offers these tips to keep your child’s media diet as healthy as possible:

◆ Set limits on how much time your child spends with media, and stick to them.

◆ Keep the television, computer, and video game consoles out of your kids’ bedrooms.

◆ Watch media