Vegetarian for years , then ...?

Hey , I am not vegetarian , but i have family with that are !

You can get sick , but thats because some vegetarians may not be getting the vitamins they need that are in fish & meat . the best things to eat are green's , beans , high proteined vegi's ect, . That way you won't get sick

try looking at some websites for easy & vegi foods that are satisfying and filling .

Good Luck !

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Some people obviously don't do it right. My mother has been a vegetarian since about 1941 and it hasn't made her sick. I've been a vegetarian for 35 years and it hasn't made me sick. When I became a vegetarian, there wasn't even half the nutritional information and research that there is today, but can you imagine how little would have been known 70 years ago? And that was during the war, and there was rationing of food at the time and even for a few years after the war finished, but my mother survived - on a vegetarian diet. There was no Morningstar, Boca, Quorn, Linda McCartney, Amy's, Tofutti, or anything like that. (There was also no McDonalds either, hahaha!) During one of her pregnancies, one of the doctors recommended that she eat fish - not because she needed to, but because he knew diddly squat about nutrition, and had obviously never heard the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I'm glad she decided to ignore his advice.

Yes, it's quite plausible that getting sick is the number 1 reason why people become ex-vegetarians, but it's so mind-bogglingly easily avoided through better planning and using a modicum of common sense. You don't have to live on highly-processed faux-flesh products and you don't have to take supplements. If people can do it for 35 to 70 years without a problem, then almost anyone can do it.

Some people jump into vegetarianism without doing proper research about nutrition. There are people who have been vegetarian or vegan for decades or even their whole lives and are in better health than most people in the world.

Btw, I read that book too. It sends a very confusing and mixed message.

I don't know about people who become ex veg, but I've been vego for 14 years (vegan for half that time) and I've got sick plenty of times... colds, flu, asthma; once I even got food poisoning! But I didn't eat fish or any other meat and I got better anyway.

Meat isn't magical. People who eat meat still get sick, suffer malnourishment and other ailments...even deficiencies like iron anemia, B12 anemia, and electrolyte imbalance. In other words, just eating meat isn't a cure-all because if it was, everyone who ate meat would be perfectly healthy.

Your friend was sick not because she stopped eating meat but because she was ignorant. Some people have crappy diets to begin with, then cut meat out...leaving them with an even crappier diet. Just like it's possible to be missing out on nutrients as an omnivore, it's possible to be missing out on nutrients as a vegetarian or vegan...only when you're malnourished as a vegetarian/vegan, people think the cure is to eat meat again...making you wonder what they suggest to malnourished people who eat meat already!

As a vegan, I have suffered no deficiencies due to my diet. Even with IBS preventing me from eating some foods, I still have great blood work when I go to the doctor. My sugar levels are fine. My protein levels are fine. My iron levels are actually a little high (I don't supplement with iron, either). My creatinine levels are fine or a little high when I weight train (creatinine is a by-product of creatine, which the body uses during anaerobic activity, like weight lifting or sprinting). My blood pressure as of a couple days ago is 101/51, my HDL (good cholesterol) is at 53 (anything above 40 is "excellent") and my bad cholesterol, LDL, is at 86 (anything below 130 is considered "excellent").

In other words, in far healthier than my peers, but that's because I eat a well-rounded diet. I made a blog post explaining to to get more nutrition if you're interested. This is all whole food, natural, inexpensive stuff...not expensive ingredients or supplements.

General Rule For Meal-Making: http://dailyveganeats.tumblr.com/post/2587394798/v...

Adding More CALCIUM: http://dailyveganeats.tumblr.com/post/2751067883/v...

Adding More IRON: http://dailyveganeats.tumblr.com/post/2661648133/v...

Adding More PROTEIN: http://dailyveganeats.tumblr.com/post/2590909041/v...

Please share this info with your friend, too.

if she got better through fish, then she must have been lacking a lot in fish oils, which have omegas in them that we need for healthy brain function as well as other things

but, veggies can suppliemnt that nowadays with flaxseed

yes you can become sick, if you dont eat the right things and dont suppliment what you are not eating

but,thts the same with any diet, meat eaters and veggies

plenty meat eaters are unhealthy and sick cos of their diets

I've been a vegetarian for a year, but I haven't gotten sick.

You just have to eat the right foods and take the right supplements.

Like beans or whatever :)

Yes it's true. My friend Jen had been a vegetarian since 7th grade (we're in 12th now) and her body was getting so unhealthy she was forced to eat meat again, even though she didn't want to.

Its really hard to get the nutrients you need without meat; you just have to keep up with it and make sure you're replacing what you take out, essentially. Even with that though its really hard to stay as healthy as you would with meat.

I think that I have become a vegetarian but it hasn't quite been a year. I have done a ton of research so I was surprised.

Yes, it's possible. There are three times as many ex-vegetarians here in the US as current vegetarians. it's not as easy to be a healthy vegetarian as some people would have you think. Humans evolved as omnivores and naturally get some nutrients from meat easier than from veggies. Like:

Protein is made up of amino acids. While meat contains all of the amino acids to make complete protein, veggies only contain some (or weak versions), so your body must combine the amino acids from the veggies you eat every day to make complete protein. Everyone is different. Some people's bodies do a better job at combining amino acids than other people's bodies. Some people don't like legumes and one important amino acids is found pretty much only in legumes.

Iron in veggies is nonheme iron and is not as well absorbed as the heme iron in meat. You need to eat a lot more of the iron rich heme veggies to get your iron requirements. Some people's bodies are just better at using nonheme iron than others.

AND some veggies contain oxalates that inhibit your body's ability to absorb iron and calcium. You really should track your calcium intake. You won't get sick from lack of calcium, but if you short your body on it, you'll pay for it later in life as your bones and teeth don't hold up in your "old" age.

Some people use manufactured supplements better than other people.

Bottom line: it's not as easy to be vegetarian as some people would want you to think. And veg*ns are hateful to someone who stops being veg. Look at the comments here on this page. They condemn someone they don't even know because she had health issues and went back to eating meat! Shame on them.

Here's a link to an interesting blog from a young woman who gave up being a vegan because of her health. Yes, veganism is more extreme than vegetarian, but stilll.....

http://voraciouseats.com/2010/11/19/a-vegan-no-mor...