Is being a semi-vegetarian bad for my health?

"How can I amend my diet so that I stop getting sick all the time?"

Here's what you need to eat. Please make a note of the pulses and vegetables which I've mentioned.

You need to make sure you eat pulses at least three times a week and fruits and vegetables everyday.

Have a fruit for breakfast(apart from something else of course) and a vegetable/pulses for lunch and dinner.

Make sure you include all vegetables,pulses,lentils and beans(kidney beans,chickpeas,black eyed peas,green peas and many more)

Don't eat mock meat and soybean as mock meat contains sodium and soybean is bad for health( http://rheumatic.org/soy.htm ).

Mock meat is also soy based so too much soy can be bad for health.

Actually even a little soy is bad for health.

What's wrong with soy?

Soy beans are naturally toxic to humans, but they're harmless when they go through a fermentation process, which is how we get tofu.

But soy is being used in more and more things these days.

Just look through your cabinet. You'll be surprised.

Anyway, most companies aren't putting their soy beans through this process because it takes too much time, and time = money.

Instead, they put it through a chemical process, but this rarely gets rid of the soy's toxicity completely.

Symptoms of a high soy diet are thyroid problems, breast cancer, and other complications.

People get these symptoms because the soy they eat isn't fermented.

Mock meat can never be part of a staple diet(food what you eat everyday).

You CAN have it ONCE IN A WAY.

Its a luxury and not a need.

You need to consume naturally occurring FRUITS,VEGETABLES(cauliflower,carrot, potato, beetroot, okra, eggplant, radish, turnip, cabbage, bitter gourd, spinach,capsicum(aka bell peppers)),PULSES(chickpeas,kidney beans,black eyed peas,green gram,black gram,lentils,lablab bean,moth bean,horse gram,cow pea,double beans),NUTS(cashew nuts,peanuts,walnuts,pistachios,raisins) and GRAINS.

Make something like rice and bread your staple diet.

You can have rice with vegetables for lunch and bread(I have Indian bread usually) with pulses for dinner(or you can do it whichever way you like though that's the way I do it).

You can have fruits for breakfast besides something else. You will get all vitamins and minerals from fruits,vegetables,pulses and nuts.

Also,don't fall for the myth that says vegans/vegetarians need to take multivitamin supplements.

Vegans/vegetarians don't need to take supplements as they get all their nutrients from fruits,vegetables and pulses.

Supplements are supposed to be taken by people with deficiencies so do not take them unless they have been prescribed to you by a doctor.

Here are some recipes:

http://www.vegiehead.com/index.html

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/category/subji-vege...

http://www.indianfoodforever.com/indian-breakfast/

http://www.easy-indian-food.com/indian-breakfast-r...

http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/vegetarian-indian...

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/category/snacks/

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collection...

Maybe you aren't getting the protein you need in the vegetarian diet.

Eat beans, dark greens, lentils, and fake meat

We don't know what you're eating, so we can't tell you what to change. We do know that any person can be healthy on a far more restrictive diet than "semi-vegetarian," for example all the raw vegans out there who manage, so we know a lack of meat is not to blame for anything. Perhaps you are just not eating healthy foods? If so, eat more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, more legumes, and cut back on junk food. If you're eating a really healthy near-vegetarian diet and still getting sick, maybe you got a virus or something.

If you are determined or convinced to eat animal meat, you can get your own mini fridge and eat organic free-range only when they aren't around.

Animals in a stressful environment have more cortisol, and animals that are depressed have other chemicals going about. Ever hear of people with depression having aches and pains? Maybe it wasn't the chicken but was it organic pizza, pesticide and antibiotic free and free from BHT, trans-fat (hydrogenation), and other chemicals that can be found polluting animals (and same with the other meal you ate)? Did you eat or drink anything with it that could have had something in it? Or like someone else mentioned about food poisoning (and yes even vegetables can have contamination from the ground and other sources depending on where they've been before they were brought to your location). It could have been a reaction to any number of those or maybe like me, I present with symptoms of iron deficiency anemia, so it could be something else going on with you...?

Maybe eating more vegetarian foods (if they are organic has cleared your system).

I have heard of people who switch to regular healthy foods and they feel bad after eating junk food.

One of the books I had been reading stated that if someone takes orange juice or something with their headache pills, their body can crave it and start those symptoms jsut to get that same feeling...

When I used to get headaches almost every Friday like clockwork, I would not feel like cooking and would order pizza from a certain place. When I stopped eating from that particular pizza place, the repeated Friday headaches stopped as often...

You should start buying meat and making it yourself,like a previous member suggested

I am not a vegetarian. But I eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I will not eat factory farmed animals.

Most meat eaters eat far too much meat. I agree with I love you. You said the chicken made you sick.... that is meat, not a vegetable. Maybe it was badly preparred.

Vegetables are good for you. If you are going to be vegetarian and eat chips and marshmallows all day, not so good.

Vegetables are very high in fiber. So if you are used to eating a lot of processed food or meat, it may be your body adjusting.

Try to get a balanced diet, which includes a lot of non meat items.

So you got sick from eating chicken, which is meat. I don't know how that is at all connected to vegetarianism. I don't have a really good answer for your question. You seem to be making assumptions that you are getting sick because of eating mostly vegetarian, but then you say you got sick from chicken. Really?

Yes

Yeah, why does living with vegetarians mean you have to share their diet? Surely you can just buy meat and cook it yourself.

Yes, lacking proper nutrients can make you sick. My dad is also Vegan and ALWAYS gets sick. You may be lacking Vitamins with meat contains. You could try popping supplements, or sneaking meat here and there. Doesn't sound like the situation is good for your health though..