Myjellybean.com

Dear Jellybean,

I'm a vegetarian (I've been one for about a year now) and I hate most meat substitutes. The other day, I had a veggie burger and I only ended up eating... well, the fries. I don't regret my choice to stop eating meat, but because I dislike stuff like tempeh (tofu is fine, but not all the time!), I've resorted to eating things like ciabatta and potatoes, because America's only everyday 'healthy' alternatives for vegetarians are salad and veggie burgers. Did I mention that I also find salad insufferably bland? People think I'm joking when I tell them I'm a vegetarian who doesn't like salad, but I'm not!

Because I've been subsisting on things like bread, soup, and potatoes, I've gained a lot of weight (5 to 10 pounds) since I became a veghead, even though taking meat out of one's diet is supposed to make them lose weight. I'm tall (5'6), but I have chunky legs, a bulgy stomach, and my butt kind of sags. I'm 13 and I weigh 120-125 pounds. I exercise (I do pilates, yoga, and fencing, and I also like to run, just not outside, because I don't like being exposed to the sun and I can't run with sunglasses) but I can't seem to take the weight off or regulate my diet to accommodate my lifestyle. I guess it doesn't help that I'm horribly finicky, either, but I need help! Please help me.

-Rayne

If you're mainly eating bread, soup and potatoes, your diet is seriously lacking in protein, fruits and vegetables. It's amazing that you have the energy to do all that exercise, with such low protein intake. And it's not surprising that you're feeling "bulgy", since protein is necessary for building muscle tone, which is what makes a body lean instead of lumpy. Fruits and vegetables are also vital to your health.

It's also scary that you might not be getting enough calcium in your diet to maintain proper bone growth. You're not finished growing yet, and calcium is essential to that process. Plus, adequate calcium keeps your teeth in good shape, and helps to prevent cavities. Calcium is also a bit of a beauty agent, so missing out on calcium can be bad news in more ways than one. You may find that your hair, nails and skin are looking on the dull side with this diet, for instance.

My suggestion to you is, talk to your family doctor about getting into better vegetarian eating habits. You can also educate yourself on what a healthy vegetarian diet looks like, by doing some reading. A couple of good websites for finding veggie lifestyle information are the BBC website Food page, KidsHealth, Canada's Food Guide, and the online magazine Vegetarian Teen.

I can give you a couple of quick ideas for getting more veggies into your diet. It can be as easy as loading up your pizza slice with vegetable toppings, dipping carrot sticks in yummy store-bought hummus (which is high in protein), ordering a baked potato with broccoli and cheese on top, making a delicious fruit-and-yogurt smoothie for breakfast, and so on. It's also about packing a lunch that includes good, wholesome foods, if you know that your school cafeteria or the mall doesn't have healthy choices for you.

There are also tons of awesome, protein-rich foods that vegetarians can eat, that aren't meat substitutes. (Honestly, even the thought of eating something called a "substitute" is a bit icky, isn't it?) I'm talking about foods such as milkshakes, low-fat cheeses, grilled cheese sandwiches, flavored or plain yogurts, peanut butter (try it on apple slices - mmm!), edamame (order at sushi places, or buy at the grocery store in the frozen foods aisle), bean salads, vegetarian chili made with beans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts and split pea soup.

Do some more research, and do consult your family doctor. A vegetarian diet can be healthy, and promote a healthy lifestyle. But a bad one can be dangerous to your health and your looks. So follow up on this, and be sure you learn to take good care of your nutrition and your body, so it can look - and feel and grow - the way you want it to.