My son is active in athletics. We follow a vegetarian diet at home. How can I ensure my 7-year-old is getting enough protein, iron, and vitamin B12, and supplements necessary at this age? What can I replace eggs and meat with?

Vegetarian diets are healthy if taken in the correct combinations and proportions.

Although the first quality protein is obtained from animal food, we can procure good quality proteins from plant foods as well.

Plant foods are rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, which provide many essential nutrients including fibre.

Fibre is an antidote for many ailments -- mainly gut health. A balanced healthy diet must contain sufficient amount of fibre to be a metabolically active diet.

As the sources of B12 are mainly animal foods, most vegetarians do have its deficiency.

Lacto-vegetarians may not have this deficiency but strict vegans may require additional supplements.

Exposure to direct sunlight is the best way of gain Vitamin D. But if that is restricted, you may develop a deficiency.

To prevent the same, you can include sea food, mushrooms, eggs, etc, in your diet and additional Vitamin D supplements.

Our diet can provide all the macro and micro nutrients if it meets individual requirements.

Plant foods are also rich sources of phytonutrients, which are powerful antioxidants like zinc, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C, etc, that can help fight the damage caused to our bodies’ cells over time.

If these requirements are not fulfilled by diet alone, then supplements may be required to prevent deficiencies which can otherwise impact our health and immunity.