Should we eat a balanced diet?

Question

Absolutely, did you know that the BMNES says that we all need a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet that includes red meat and dairy.

- Red meat is a rich source of minerals such as iron and zinc.

- Red meat is an important source of many types of vitamins, particularly B vitamins, and vitamin D. In fact, red meat is now recognised as an excellent source of vitamin D and is considered the largest natural source of vitamin D.

- Dairy products are a good source for calcium, protein, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin A and D, and vitamin Zinc.

In addition, one of my medical journals stated "people that do not consume dairy are calcium deficient".

I just want to say that I am really upset by some of the replies I have received. Some of you have serious health problems from being on these diets void of nutrition. We have incisors because we are meant to eat meat.

I will be using the "report abuse" button on many of the people who have replied to this question with hateful responses. Hate has no place on Yahoo! Answers and it will not be tolerated.

Answer 1

yes we should eat a balanced diet & that is possible without eating animals.

Answer 2

It is important to get a balanced diet but that doesn't have to include meat or animal products.

Iron can come from dark green veg such as spinach,kale etc and certain nuts.

Calcium and Zinc from certain seeds,soy products and various other plant sources.

Protein from soy,nuts,seeds etc.

B Vitamins from various plants and fungus-yeast is very high in B12 so Marmite and Vegemite are good vegan sources of it.Vitamin A can be found in more vegan forms than I can list.

Oh and unless you live in a dark cave and never come out your body will produce vitamin D itself using sunlight.

Soya milk and many other soy products are often fortified with wide ranges of vitamins,iron,calcium and zinc as well as being naturally high in protein making it even less likely that a sensible vegan will miss out on important nutrients.

Why do you keep posting these poorly researched questions foxie?You can't really believe your going to convince any of us to stop being vegan or vegetarian?

Answer 3

Yes you should eat a balanced diet.

You can gain a balanced diet without eating animal products.

Each of the nutrients you mention can be gained from other sources.

Government advice is always politically loaded - dairy derived calcium is actually more difficult to absorb into the body than calcium from green veg. sources. The government and dairy farming are in a mutually beneficial agreement. Just as the American government is more than willing to allow the mass production of white sugar (take a look at Congress funding - sugar barons are richer than coccaine barons).

It is difficult to get hold of non politically biased nutritional information, as both sides will try to get their own slant onto any argument. There are pros and cons to both a totally vegan diet and a diet including all types of animal produce.

To digress, recent European studies have shown that if everybody stopped using animals and intensive farming, we could do more to help the environment than if we all stopped burning fossil fuels... so what's it to be - 4x4s or Big Macs?

From a completely neutral point of view, you should consider that if either side was to be completely correct in everything they said, there would be unequivocal proof of this, rather than tit-for-tat debate.

As it is, the main problem is getting any individual to eat a balanced and healthy diet. No vegan has ever been recorded as having died from heart disease - although there is a much higher incidence of aneamia among vegetarians and vegans than among meat eaters. Surely that tells us that most people have a crappy diet because the food industry (and by association, the government) makes a lot of money by flogging us crappy food.

I wonder what you stand to gain from promoting from your side of the fence?

Answer 4

What is your point posting here? Do you think your going to change minds? Take your soapbox elsewhere.

Regardless of that, your fake medical journals are wrong. Natural vitamin D comes from the sun.

All those other nutrients can be found in lots of non-meat foods so you obviously have no idea about nutrition.

Answer 5

Yeah sure, another reliable source! What else do you want the BMNES to say, being the "British Meat Nutrition Education Service"?

Answer 6

a well balanced diet contains protein, which does not always come from meat. you can get all the nutrients necessary from other food sources, like nuts and soy. green leafy vegetables have calcium. so does broccoli. there are always alternatives to find the nourishment a body needs.

Answer 7

Consuming Dairy and RedMeats isn't the problem...

It is the hormones and the lack of portion control that do us ill.

Get a good source of hormone free meats and dairy and consume them in moderation....

Double the amount of greens and colored veggies and limit the refined/processed foods like pastas, white breads etc...

Make the calories count, eat non-enriched naturally nutrient rich foods....

Also have two servings of fruit a day.

Answer 8

how ignorant. There are many calcium rich non dairy foods, collard greens, blackstrap molasses, soy products, sesame seeds and more have as much calcium as milk. You can easily get protein from nuts, beans, and soy products. Iron from spinach and blackstrap molasses. You are only educated on one side.

Answer 9

You can get iron and zinc from other sources. It is so outdated to think that we need meat in this day and age! Go on to PETA and do some research, and then come back and tell me we need meat!

Answer 10

Yes we should, but you can get protein from beans, lentils.
However I do agree that dairy products are an important source of calcium. But if you're lactose intolerant and cannot have dairy then supplements should be taken.

Answer 11

Is copy and pasting you're friend? Like I've said before, I'll eat what I want and you what you want but dont PUSH YOUR OPINONS ON HERE!