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| currently, i eat meat, dairy, eggs, etc.
i would like to become a vegetarian, or even a vegan for health reasons, but i cant help but have reservations. Particularly the following: calcium, protein, omega-3s, other nutrients--where do i get these from when i am a vegan. i know there are trace amouts of calcium in brocolli, and bak choi. But there is also calcium in some orange juice. I assume this is added. Is it as 'bioavailable' as the orange juice in milk? Are there any other sources? Also, i thought nuts would be a good source of protein, but in another thread it says that nuts have fat in them, and indeed they do. Besides nuts which have fat, beans which cause gas, and tofu which gets tiresome after a while, where can a vegan/vegitarian get his protein? And in terms of the omega-3s, I have started taking flaxseed pills, but do they occur naturally in any other plant sources that i would probably consume normally during the course of a usual American Diet? and no i dont mean fast food diet. |
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| Where do you think cows get their calcium from?
Where do you think cows get their protein from?
1 serving of spinach has 24% of your daily calcium requirement and 5g of protein.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20gN.html
I've been following the McDougall plan for about 3 years - lost 20 pounds and I'm healthier than ever. You might also what do read about Fuhrman (sp?) - Eat to Live.
Veggies are underrated.
Whole grains are great sources of protein.
Combine them and you have super nutrition - serving of broccoli and brown rice has 11g of protein.
Use the same calculator to look up foods(particularly veggies) high in the other nutrients you are looking for.
Enjoy the journey - produce departments in most grocery stores are larger and have more variety than the meat aisle.
Vic |
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| I am an expert on this stuff. The home page on the site below tells about a healthy diet and explains that Americans get about 5 times the protein they need and the excess is killing them. America is getting fatter and fatter. Here are the biggest mistakes. They reduce calories, fat and carbs. They should really worry about where they get their carbs from. There are great carbs like celery and terrible carbs like ice cream. Some fats help you lose weight.
College textbooks on nutrition say that starvation is common in the world but protein deficiency is rare in the world and does not exist in this part of the world. The info about excess protein killing people is from an MD is who is an expert on food and nutrition and cures people of serious problems using better diet. He suggests a vegan diet, since he cares about human health not animals.
Also the foods like milk with high protein and calcium cause a lack of calcium according to one theory. The high protein animal foods cause the body to become too acid leading to many problems. So the body pulls calcium out of the bones to neutralize the high acidity.
The site below tells how a sea plant (a blue-green algae), spirulina, has more calcium than milk, more beta-carotene than carrots, more vitamin E than wheat germ, more vitamin B-12 than liver and more iron than spinach. People used to get plenty of omega-3s from eating a plant called purslane. Certain fish have a lot of omega-3s, but they get them from eating algae. So spirulina has more omega-3s than fish. Smaller amounts are in walnuts and pumpkin seeds. The fats in nuts make you skinny according to the TV news last week telling about research done on it.
Many have reported becoming more peaceful from eating spirulina. You want to consume spirulina. Blue-green algae is technically neither a plant or animal. It existed billions of years ago before any plants or animals existed. It was the only life on the planet (in the ocean) for millions of years when there was no oxygen in the air. It put the oxygen in the air.
Superior Nutrition for Optimum Health
Edited by ginkgo 2007-04-27 2:25 AM
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| I'm 38 now and I've been a vegetarian since I was 17/18 and I'm about 80% vegan (if there is such a thing). I definately never touch any dairy unless I'm 100% sure it's organic, and even then, very little.
This is the website for the UK vegan society:
http://www.vegansociety.com
http://www.vegetarian.org.uk
Look at their report on levels of cow pus in milk and it will put you off diary for life 
Jonathon |
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| that should read 'dairy' ... |
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| spirulina is pretty expensive where i am. But i do enjoy odwala superfoods for that reason. Anyway, what are some good breakfasts that dont involve dairy? Currenlty, I was experimenting with yogurt, mixed fruit, and granola, but that has dairy in it. I suppose i could do oatmeal, but isnt there any other foods out there that would give me variety? |
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| another thing i just thought of. I like yogurt, and it has a lot of good bacteria in it. How can i substitute this or at least this effect with a vegan diet? by substitute this effect, i mean, say, engourage the growth of existing bacteria in the intestine. |
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| bredmond812 - 2007-04-28 8:41 PM
spirulina is pretty expensive where i am. But i do enjoy odwala superfoods for that reason. Anyway, what are some good breakfasts that dont involve dairy? Currenlty, I was experimenting with yogurt, mixed fruit, and granola, but that has dairy in it. I suppose i could do oatmeal, but isnt there any other foods out there that would give me variety?
I eat organic oats, with water and strawberries (they're cheap and in season all year here) |
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| bredmond812 - 2007-04-28 9:09 PM
another thing i just thought of. I like yogurt, and it has a lot of good bacteria in it. How can i substitute this or at least this effect with a vegan diet? by substitute this effect, i mean, say, engourage the growth of existing bacteria in the intestine.
Visit your local health food supplier and purchase a probiotic suppliment. Ensure that it contains the two main strains which are lactobacillus and bifidobacterium bifidus. |
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| i think that Vegan Outreach is a good group for information: http://www.veganoutreach.com |
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| in re Omega 3's and getting a 3/6 balance with DHA--
i recommend looking for Udo's choice blend.
you could eat flax seeds (cracked) and walnuts (omega 6), and there are separate liquid forms of DHA (from algae), but Udo's Choice Perfect DHA Blend has it all and is perfectly balanced. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Brandon - I would also suggest that you not try to jump from a typical diet to vegan in one leap. Clean up your current diet and learn to cook well first, then you can start gradually eliminating things if you find you still want to. That way you a) don't shock your body and b) don't put yourself at risk nutritionally. As you clean up your diet you will learn more and more and be able to make the transition gracefully and with knowledge. And you will be more likely to be able to stick to it  |
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| tourist - 2007-04-28 7:07 AM
Brandon - I would also suggest that you not try to jump from a typical diet to vegan in one leap. Clean up your current diet and learn to cook well first, then you can start gradually eliminating things if you find you still want to. That way you a ) don't shock your body and b ) don't put yourself at risk nutritionally. As you clean up your diet you will learn more and more and be able to make the transition gracefully and with knowledge. And you will be more likely to be able to stick to it
that sounds like good advice to me. I cant afford to have some kind of crisis, im too close to finishing school. I can start with refined sugars, and milk (but not yogurt and cheese). |
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| it's also great to learn how to cook first, then become vegan, because some vegan cooking can be tricky. it takes a lot of time, for example, to learn how to cook tofu so that it actually tastes and feels good to eat. so, it's great advice to take your time. 
and during that time, learn as much as you can, experiment, and have fun! |
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Veteran
Posts: 168
| Good luck Brandon  I know how stressful those last months of school can be. It's a time for comfort food, not jumping off into a diet of any kind, particularly as different as this. Enjoy your yogurt and cheeses and as you said try to limit the simple sugars. There are lots of great comfort foods that need not be French Silk pie--apologies to Optimystic ;-))
If there is a vegan group at your school, talk to them and try to get yourself invited to a meal or two. That can be a lot of fun or at least the experience could tell you something about how you feel about vegan .
Get that degree and then fly anywhere you want. I've got some great tofu recipes.
Do not worry, Optimistic, I would never substitute tofu for eggs in French silk pie, even I have my limits |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| belle vie - with all due respect to your culinary abilities, if your chocolate mousse turned out the way you say it did, you are not at all ready to experiment with substituting tofu That would be criminal, even with an expert chef - you might get kicked out of France |
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Veteran
Posts: 168
| They have not kicked me out of France yet, tourist, but I do get a few 'ooh la las'. Maybe it's those tight leotards I wear  |
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| You can get soy yogurts now and nuts are a great source of protein and GOOD FAT! Oatmeal is great as well as cream of wheat. There is much out there that provides all the nutrients you need. Leafy greens are rich in vitamins and the list goes one. You will be provided the real nutrients by ingesting real foods. Bon Apetite |
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| Lots of vegan theorists will tell you "Where do you think cows get their calcium?" etc. But fact is, a certain number of people simply do not thrive on a vegan diet.
I'm one of them. Parenthetically, I personally know two extreme athletes who are vegans: Scott Jurek, the ultrarunner who won Western States 100 seven times and Badwater 135 twice (holds course records at both races). And Catra Corbett, who runs 100+ miles per week and does many, many 100-mile races in the course of a year.
BOTH of them are very flexible in their recommendations. Catra told me that some men she knows who've tried a vegan diet didn't do well. And Scott told me essentially, when I interviewed him for Trail Runner magazine, that he believes dietary needs are individual, and that the body's unique requirements must be honored.
That said, I've been vegetarian for 40 years (yes, since 1967). What I do is eat tons of veggies and fruit, moderate amounts of beans and nuts and vegan proteins, and a small amount of diary. I avoid starchy carbs, which make fat fast. For dairy, I mostly have buttermilk, which does not bloat me. (I'm very dairy-intolerant.)
On days when I exercise hard, I have some dairy. Very little is enough - e.g., 2-3 tablespoons of whole cottage cheese after a 2 1/2-hour run, or about 2/3 quart buttermilk consumed with dates. Great recovery food, but not needed on weekdays when I sit at the computer mostly. During the week, I do a few easy recovery runs, and I find that just 1-2 tbsp of cottage cheese keeps me humming.
The very best book I've ever found on vegan diet is Joel Fuhrman, MD's Eat to Live. Outstanding. See http://www.drfuhrman.com. On his diet, I lost a ton of weight very quickly, felt healthy all the time, and have been able to sustain it for years. Again, though, Fuhrman is not a fanatic; he advises honoring individual needs, and "cheating" up to 10 percent of the time. Which I do, with joy.
Hope this helps.
runbei
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| victw - 2007-04-27 12:28 AM Where do you think cows get their calcium from? Where do you think cows get their protein from? 1 serving of spinach has 24% of your daily calcium requirement and 5g of protein. http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20gN.html I've been following the McDougall plan for about 3 years - lost 20 pounds and I'm healthier than ever. You might also what do read about Fuhrman (sp? ) - Eat to Live. Veggies are underrated. Whole grains are great sources of protein. Combine them and you have super nutrition - serving of broccoli and brown rice has 11g of protein. Use the same calculator to look up foods (particularly veggies ) high in the other nutrients you are looking for. Enjoy the journey - produce departments in most grocery stores are larger and have more variety than the meat aisle. Vic
What is the McDougal plan? Is it unealthy to follow it at the age of 15? |
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| Actually, is it healthy to cease eating meat and dairy in general at the age of 15? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 574
| Its better not to eat it all together at any age. better for you on many different levels, better for the animal and its family, better for the environment. |
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Member
Posts: 46
| Most vegans will not tell you that in a few years time they get B12 deficiency. Especially, if you have spent years eating meat and dairy. Milk might be one source for B12, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. The problem is we drink clean water, else we would not have to worry about B12. |
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New User
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| Hemp is another great source for Protein and your Omega 3s 6s.
I totally recommend reading Brendan Braziers Thrive Diet books. Amazing nutrition information for athletes. |
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wanna be vegan...
