Vitamins and Protein - why do omnis assume that we have trouble getting these from a vegetarian diet.?

They are stupid.

I'm not a vegetarian, but have looked into it.

From what I read on Mercola.com there is no vegetarian source of vitamin B12. He says vegetarians should take a supplement of it. It can be added to vegetarian foods such as the cereal you had.

From what I know you can enough protein and other vitamins and minerals on a vegetarian diet if you eat right.

Probably because it's the truth and is backed up by hard science, via a vis the anecdotes if vegans, a group well known for their dishonesty, fanaticism and rejection of science?

You're kinda preaching to the choir here for the most part.

But there is a simple answer to your question. They think meat is the only way to get protein (and dairy the only way to get calcium) because the corporations selling those things are deceiving them into believing that. Sad but true.

That's what causes a lot of, if not most, misconceptions in our society. It's why women aren't allowed to have body hair (because razor companies wanted to market to women and voila--let's make them hate their natural bodies and sell them the solution!).

Because they know little or nothing about basic nutrition or which types of foods supply which nutrients-in other words, ignorance.

It's just lack of education - we're all lacking in education about something or another.

To many people, protein and meat are exclusively tied together. Meat is seen as the center dish, and therefore the part of the meal with the most "umph." Protein is one of those "umph" nutrients that create the physiques of body-builders, and help young children to grow.

Veggies and fruits are often seen as "side dishes" and therefore not high in nutrients.

It's good to just be patient because while someone may be uneducated about vegetarian protein (since most people aren't vegetarian), you're also probably uneducated in something. Just politely explain to people where you get protein from and don't judge them for not knowing.

Not ALL omnis make that assumption, just as not ALL veg*ns make baseless generalizations.

A lot of people justify their 'need' to eat meat this way I believe.

Rather than face up to real ethical questions, it is far easier to say I need to eat meat for protein, or it's natural.

My bf is a meat eater and about the fussiest eater you can imagine, but nobody ever questions how he gets his vitamins when he eats no fruit or veg (ever), yet they often ask just what I eat, and where I get my protein from. I get asked about iron a lot too.

Some of them come to the VV forum to lord and gloat. They never look good.

What an interesting exercise to quantify your nutrients for the day. I must say I just eat what I think is good for me and tastes nice - so far I've got away with it but I do sometimes wonder exactly how much of each nutrient I'm getting.

It is just upbringing and conditioning. Meat and eggs for protein, dairy for calcium, spinach for iron, oranges for vitamin C - they were the basics we were taught, fitted neatly into a pyramid shape and anything else you ate was just fluff on the side. A lot of people are very happy to have such a neat and easy to understand framework, and just can't fathom that there's so much more to it than that.

Wish I could get my 14 year old daughter into the kitchen more often!

I don't really understand the protein thing myself, I was vegetarian for about a year and the only thing I had trouble with was getting enough Iron, and I think that was mostly due to my odd allergies(which is why I'm no longer vegetarian.)