Vegetarianism and health

[fabindia]

I have been vegetarian for the last 6 years or so, and even before that eat relatively little meat.

A lot of people seem to think that you can't stay healthy on a vegetarian diet. But my experience is that I remain wonderfully healthy. I am not fanatical about what I eat, but I don't eat any junk food and eat plenty of fresh fruit and veg. I do eat eggs, from our own hens of course, and I eat cheese (but virtually no milk; black tea and coffe and soya milk on cereals at breakfast). I try to eat marmite regularly for its vitamin B12 content; B12 can be a bit of a problem for vegans though not necessarily for vegetarians.

On the other hand, I have heard of some who have given up being vegetarian because of health reasons.

What's the view here?

[Steve the Gas]

Omnivore.

[Totally Scrambled]

If you're going to do it, do it right so that you get everything your body needs to be healthy. Research what will give you a good balence.
I'm with Steve though
Dom

[p.penn]

I eat very little meat these days, although I am not a vegetarian.

One person I knew who was totally veggie (but properly, healthily so) suffered severe anaemia at one point and was hospitalised. Another, who eats veggie substitutes....soya mince etc....seems healthy enough.

I feel healthier now I eat little meat, but I am much slimmer too.I eat very little processed food, mind you I eat loads of sugar and drink alcohol, so it can't be too healthy!

[fabindia]

I was worried that my diet might be deficient in something that I wouldn't notice until it produced an ill effect. But, so far, so good. My ability to run hasn't been effected; still managed 43 miles in one day as part of a 115 mile ultra run over 3 days.

[Bashney]

I'm veggie and eat lots of pulses nuts for protein and also whole grains. I feel fine and am training for a half marathon.

[saint-spoon]

as long as you feel good and have no obvious health issues then I would suggest that there isn’t anything to worry about. I have never subscribed to the vegetarian mind-set however I respect that this is a valuable life style choice for many. IMO marmite is fantastic, a food made from the waste products from brewing beer; how can it be wrong?

[fabindia]

IMO marmite is fantastic, a food made from the waste products from brewing beer; how can it be wrong?

With you on that And ... there is nothing wrong with the odd bottle of home brew as part of a healthy diet.

[4 french hens]

Stayed for a week with vegetarian friends in Poitou-Charente, France, (Sara land), and ate everything provided.

Some very tasty receipies, but they all seemed to have something missing......

Mike

[Steve the Gas]

Yep, meat.

[ChrisG]

I am an omnivore and OH eats (or would if given the chance) a lot of meat. If we go out, he enjoys a steak.

When I cook at home, I use a minimal amount of meat and supplement with lentils, beans, and veggies. We seem to be pretty healthy; I cant remember when we last visited the doctor for anything.

[Richard]

My daughter went veggie when she was about 18 and had lots of health problems afterwards.

Think it's some and some.

Richard

[saint-spoon]

The human body has evolved to eat at least some meat, in fact it was our chimp like ancestors penchant for eating meat that allowed us to evolve such big brains; brain tissue apparently require an awful lot of energy. This was obviously before we had cultivated crops with high energy (and in some cases protein) yields. I would imagine that there are quite a few vegetarians out there who are chancing their health by not eating a balanced diet, My sister for one decided to be a veggie but didn’t want to eat things like chick peas or lentils relying instead on pots of noodles, veggie pizzas etc. I also served with a chap many years ago who relied on tonnes of diet supplement pills to make up for the stuff he wasn’t getting through not eating meat. In truth the Navy probably wasn’t really the place for folk with concerns about eating meat at the time (Mid eighties), and the veggie option was generally to leave the meat bit of any meal off your platter; if it was Spag-bol for tea your option would be spag. We eat quite a few veggie meals but I do prefer to have at least some meat. For flavour if nothing else; for me lentil soup is just not the same without a chunk of chorizo.
As an afterthought, we are often reminded not to eat too much red meat or process meat, I do not recall ever being told not to eat too much cabbage or turnip.

[Lillia]

Stayed for a week with vegetarian friends in Poitou-Charente, France, (Sara land), and ate everything provided.

Some very tasty receipies, but they all seemed to have something missing......

Mike

Hee hee hee.....

[Benny&Co]

As the others have said, there do seem to be a lot of vegetarians with health problems.

I'm a meat eater as well, but I don't mind eating veggie food so long as it's good and tasty.

When I worked at a certain hospital the food was absolutely dire beyond belief, but in the event of not taking my own meals in, I'd goto this college in the square nearby.... they had a cafe with the most wonderful home made veggie and vegan food.... makes my tummy rumble just thinking about it, very yummy indeed