Being a vegetarian for health reasons

[RocketSurgery]

It makes perfectly good sense. You can get all the nutrition in fruits, veggies, and nuts. There is a lot of protein in nuts, and vitimins and minerals in the fruit and veggies. The truth is, you can take out all dairy products too, by substituting rice/soy milk for the real thing. I think it even tastes better, too! I am speaking from experience here, I was a vegetarian(for more than half my life), and also am lactose intolerant. Everything is the same, you don't have to really worry about not getting enough nutrition, if you feel or your doctor feels you aren't getting enough, then try just taking vitamins, if you still want to go the route of becoming a vegetarian. Good things will come of it, and your body will feel much better, and less tired, but make sure you do some more research to know if this is what you really want to do :)

I second that. However (correct me if I am wrong) there is no source for vitamin b-12 outside of animal sources. Some people say that the b-12 in energy drinks is from a bacteria source though. Keep in mind that this pertains to the vegan diet. If you just want a vegetarian diet then you should have absolutely no problem at all as long as you eat a variety of fruits and veggies (you can get an idea of the variety by eating a lot of different colors), along with nuts and soy milk. Also as mcknia said its a myth that you can't get enough protein on a vegan diet. Most people I believe actually consume tooo much. Just be careful that you eat a big variety though because it didn't work out for me.

 

[ehrenfest]

Yeah thanks. Unfortunately, I ate a turkey sandwich yesterday though. I realized that I don't live in an environment where being a healthy vegetarian is feasible. My only food options are the university cafeteria and nearby fast food places and even all of these places together do not offer enough variety of vegetarian food to allow for a complete diet. I have averaged about 3 bagels a day the last 6 months which I think is way too much. For the rest of my time here, I am going to eat meat maybe 3 times a week just in order to avoid overeating bagels and to obtain the the nutrients that occur mainly in meat. Hopefully, I will go to grad school somewhere that is better suited for a healthy vegetarian diet. Then, I will stop eating meat immediately.

 

[RocketSurgery]

Yeah thanks. Unfortunately, I ate a turkey sandwich yesterday though. I realized that I don't live in an environment where being a healthy vegetarian is feasible. My only food options are the university cafeteria and nearby fast food places and even all of these places together do not offer enough variety of vegetarian food to allow for a complete diet. I have averaged about 3 bagels a day the last 6 months which I think is way too much. For the rest of my time here, I am going to eat meat maybe 3 times a week just in order to avoid overeating bagels and to obtain the the nutrients that occur mainly in meat. Hopefully, I will go to grad school somewhere that is better suited for a healthy vegetarian diet. Then, I will stop eating meat immediately.

Yea that was pretty much the same situation I was in. I was able to stake it out for a month then started having minor health issues which subsided when I added chicken and dairy to my diet as well as the occasional burger.

 

[RocketSurgery]

OOo i just realized I used stake and burger in the same sentence. No pun intended.