Vegan Nutrition with Dina Aronson, M.S. R.D.

Dina Aronson, MS, RD is a vegan dietitian whose specialties include chronic disease prevention, vegetarian/vegan nutrition, and lifestyle management. She is the founder and director of VeganRD.com, a nutrition consulting company. Active in many vegetarian nutrition organizations, Dina was the recipient of the American Dietetic Association's Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year Award in 2002.

Food allergies in children: My daughter cannot have soy, dairy, barley, beef, pork, shellfish, chicken, and other fowl due to food allergies. Do you have suggestions for good nutritional lunch and dinner meals?

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Yes! Staying well-nourished with food sensitivities is absolutely doable, and itąs important to strive for optimal nutrition when the diet must be limited.

Depending upon what your daughter ate before, her diet might or might not need to undergo a lot of change. Fortunately, your daughter is not sensitive to non-soy legumes, which, along with vegetables, are the healthiest foods for humans. Nuts, seeds, and beans are health-supporting and should be part of the diet each day.

Try lunches such as almond butter (or other nut butter) sandwiches, hummus veggie wraps, salads, beans and rice, non-soy veggie burgers (such as Sunshine burgers), pasta and vegetables, lentil soup—really, the choices are endless! Add a piece of fruit for a sweet dessert.

For dinner, try Asian stir fries (since tofu is made from soy, you can use wheat gluten [seitan] for a meaty texture, if desired), curries, noodle and pasta dishes, bean casseroles, main-dish salads, whole grain and bean dishes, roasted veggie pizza on whole grain crust, etc. If nuts did not make an appearance earlier in the day, toss a handful into a side salad, in a curry or stir fry, or use as a sauce base (such as a peanut sauce).

Of course, all lunch and dinner ideas may be swapped.

Disclaimer: The advice given here is for eductional purposes only. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified health care provider.

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