I want to become a vegan/vegetarian!?

Question

If i become a vegan/vegetarian, what kind of vitamans should I have to have enough protein and stuff like that. Are there any weird side-effects to becoming a non meat eater??
thanks!!

Answer 1

I would suggest reading "Diet for a New America" by John Robbins. It covers most of you questions in details.

In general you will find you feel better.

Protien
First off you need less than you think and many vegetables have some protein.

The easiest way though to increase your protein is to use meat substitutes in your cooking. In the freezer section of your grocery you should find Morningstar, Boca, and Garden Burger products that can be either eaten on their own or put into recipes. Some of my favorites:

Veggie Burgers by any of them many flavors and choices be sure to try several to find your favorite.
Morningstar "Sausage" links or patties.
Morningstar Burger Crumbles for putting in spag sauce or chili.
Garden Burger Riblets

My kids also like the Morningstar Chick patties and nuggets.

The next best way to increase protein is to get Legumes (beans and nuts).

Lastly there are many forms of Tofu available to that can be used as a meat substitute in recipes or eaten on its own.

Answer 2

I would recomment starting off by going vegetarian, meaning that you can still eat eggs and dairy products, and then work yourself up to vegan which I find to be very difficult because you can't eat anything that comes from animals meaning no dairy or eggs. Almost everything out there has some time of dairy or eggs!

Your main concern is lack of vitamin b12 but you can take capsules or even shots. You can get protein from eating simply beans, yogurt, and eggs. A good alternative to regular eggs are Egg Beaters. Veggies contain a lot of protein as well but eating beans and tofu will work just as well. Try Boca and Morning star products, Tofu dogs and you will be fine.

There are no weird side effects from becoming one. I have been a vegetarian on and off since I was a teen, but recently converted completely as of a year ago and I feel great! I've lost weight and I feel better than ever and I feel like I can think better, my skin has changed and I look healthier. Most importantly, my conscience is clear knowing that I am not eating killed animals! :)

Good luck

Answer 3

Well as a prior poster said you would have to be one or the other. A vegetarian eats no meat. A Vegan eats no meat and no animal products of any kind.

Believe it or not there is something even more extreme than Vegan a raw foodist that is some one who does not even eat cooked food!

Being a vegetarian is pretty east just eat anything other than meat.

Being a Vegan is a bit more tricky because now you can not have any dairy either. This can be not so good because you can lack protein. If you must become a vegan eat tons of beans, tofu, tempe and anything that has protein in it. Soy protein is always good.

In my opinion being a raw foodist is not safe. I just feel like it is just way too hard to get enough protein and also all of that roughage can be hard on your system.

Answer 4

Wierd side effects ??? Absolutely not, unless you include putting up dith dickheads in this fourm who just seem to want to offer childish comments rather than anything constructiive, ask Harry D, he might know more about this than me.

Vitamins or suppliments ? None for a vegetarian, for vegan rumour has it you might need to suppliment B12 . This is often quoted by people but the research is old and much new research contradicts that.

Ignore the protein myth, vegetables and soya have much more protein than beef, lamb and chicken. There have been a couple fo good answers these last few days on this subject, check out this question:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqqgT.04ygu0fSxDcow0wNzsy6IX?qid=20070709022533AAQpv36

I've been veggie for 27 years, i don't drink milk but i do eat unfertilised eggs from my own free hens. I run an arable farm and 2 businesses so am used to both manual and brain work. Never ill, no suppliments, no long term health problems, and i'm not paying for all that death, totture, pain and abuse that meateaters sponser.

Just change veggie today, its easy, while you figure out if you want to go vegan

Answer 5

I gave up milk and cheese before I gave up meat. As long as you do it at a pace that suits your personality its all good. You just have to make sure you are looking at food differently as you change your diet. Many people fail because they have kind of a hedonistic relationship with food. They rationalize bad choices by saying the pleasure of eating outweighs how you feel after the fact. The great thing about being vegan is that if you do it right, not only does the food taste good but you feel good after you eat it too. When I was transitioning, I had temptations. Going out to eat was tough, I mean Pizza, breakfast desserts, they all tasted great. But you have to tell yourself that these foods are playing you the fool. They taste good but they make you less healthy. I had to make them the enemy in order not to be tempted anymore. Not everybody needs to be as extreme, but when you find yourself "cheating" once or twice a week and getting dairy aches afterwards something must be done. lol. In all honesty I loved cheese too, but you don't realize how much cheese messes you up until you go without for a few weeks. It makes you so tired, weights you down and does not make digestion go smoothly. Good luck and I hope you decide to go through with this positive life choice.

Answer 6

The biggest thing to remember is that you need your diet to be balanced. An unbalanced diet will be bad whether it includes meat products or is vegetarian or vegan, but it's not that hard to have a balanced veg*n diet. Make sure you eat as many fresh foods as possible. Meat analogues are good, especially if you were a born carnivore like me, but try to explore tofu, tempeh and other vegan protein sources as well. If you take a multivitamin, make sure it's vegetarian--you can probably find one at a natural foods store--and make sure it includes vitamin b12 and iron, which are two nutrients that many vegans lack, even though you can get them without using animal products.

Answer 7

A vegetarian diet is healthy and great for your body. Like any other way of eating you need to be sure you are getting the right amounts of nutrients.

The one thing to remember is that you need to replace the nutrients she is no longer getting from meat with other food. Major concerns for most people are protein, iron and b12(although they shouldn't be since they are easy to get).

There is nothing in meat that cannot be obtained from another source.

Protein
The average person only needs about 50 grams of protein per day. Protein is in everything, just look at the side of boxes. In todays world it is very hard to be protein deficient if you are eating a wide variety.

High protein foods include:
soy milk, tofu, nuts(Almonds, Cashews, Filberts, Hemp Seeds, Peanuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds, Walnuts (black)), seeds, legumes(Garbanzo beans, Kidney beans, Lentils, Lima beans, Navy beans, Soybeans, Split peas), grains(Barley, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Millet, Oatmeal, Rye, Wheat germ, Wheat, hard red, Wild rice), vegetables(Artichokes, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green peas, Green pepper, Kale, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard green, Onions, Potatoes, Spinach, Tomatoes, Turnip greens, Watercress, Yams, Zucchini), fruits(Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe, Grape, Grapefruit, Honeydew melon, Orange, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Strawberry)

Iron
Like vitamin B-12, iron is a crucial component of red blood cells. Dried beans and peas, lentils, enriched cereals, whole-grain products, dark, leafy green vegetables, and dried fruit are good sources of iron. To help your body absorb non-animal sources of iron, eat foods rich in vitamin C — such as strawberries, citrus fruits, tomatoes, cabbage and broccoli — at the same time you consume iron-containing foods.

B12
Vitamin B-12. Your body needs vitamin B-12 to produce red blood cells and prevent anemia. This vitamin is found almost exclusively in animal products, including milk, eggs and cheese. Vegans can get vitamin B-12 from some enriched cereals, fortified soy products or by taking a supplement that contains this vitamin.

If done properly you should feel great. Most people who have had bad experiences while being vegetarian have not done it properly. Remember to eat a wide variety of different foods to get all vitamins and minerals.

Answer 8

i was a former vegan/vegetarian no so long ago and it was a great experience....I now have vegetarian days and moments regularly throughout the week.... i find it's a good balance for me and my weight tends to be constant and i don't worry so much about nutrition as most of my diet is organically based... and truly that's the way to go... good luck and have fun...

Answer 9

No - I've never felt more healthy since becoming vegan. If you look at cultures that consume little to no dairy products, they tend to be the ones with the least amount of disease and the longest life spans. For example, Hunzas. Book suggestion: Healthy at 100 by John Robbins.

If you eat a varied diet, you don't need supplements or vitamins. I thought it was common knowledge that fruits and vegetables were the most nutrient dense foods.

My suggestion is that you go to the local bookstore and read up on the huge amounts of information in the veggie section. A good start would be "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. and "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. as well as anything by Neal Barnard M.D.

Amino acids, aka protein, are deemed the "building blocks of life." Everything has some protein in it. The United State's obsession of protein is based on an outdated experiment done on rats in the early 1900s. If you look at nutrient dense foods - which foods are going to give you the most nutrients per calorie (this is how people lose weight and stay thin, too) -meaning more nutrient bang for the caloric buck - fruits and veggies outdo anything. Consider this: 100 calories of cow has around 5 grams of protein while 100 calories of broccoli has around 11.

Vegans - the most strict form of vegetarian - actually get twice the amount of protein the body truly needs. The makeup of plants - fat content and everything - is perfectly in sync with what our bodies need.

The average American diet contains meat and dairy products. As a result, it is often too high in protein. This can lead to a number of serious health problems:

Kidney Disease: When people eat too much protein, they take in more nitrogen than they need. This places a strain on the kidneys, which must expel the extra nitrogen through urine. People with kidney disease are encouraged to eat low-protein diets. Such a diet reduces the excess levels of nitrogen and can also help prevent kidney disease.
Cancer: Although fat is the dietary substance most often singled out for increasing cancer risk, protein also plays a role. Populations who eat meat regularly are at increased risk for colon cancer, and researchers believe that the fat, protein, natural carcinogens, and absence of fiber in meat all play roles. The 1997 report of the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer, noted that meaty, high-protein diets were linked with some types of cancer.
Osteoporosis and Kidney Stones: Diets that are rich in animal protein cause people to excrete more calcium than normal through their kidneys and increase the risk of osteoporosis. Countries with lower-protein diets have lower rates of osteoporosis and hip fractures.
Increased calcium excretion increases risk for kidney stones. Researchers in England found that when people added about 5 ounces of fish (about 34 grams of protein) to a normal diet, the risk of forming urinary tract stones increased by as much as 250 percent.

For a long time it was thought that athletes needed much more protein than other people. The truth is that athletes, even those who strength-train, need only slightly more protein, which is easily obtained in the larger servings athletes require for their higher caloric intake. Vegetarian diets are great for athletes.

To consume a diet that contains enough, but not too much, protein, simply replace animal products with grains, vegetables, legumes (peas, beans, and lentils), and fruits. As long as one is eating a variety of plant foods in sufficient quantity to maintain one’s weight, the body gets plenty of protein.

Answer 10

In India, there are billions of people born, brought up and living a very healthy life as vegetarians, and I don't see any reason for you to be otherwise. Go for it (be a vegetarian).