Local Chinese restaurant kills cat?!
Answers: Now that I've got you attention, after watching videos from PETA's website, I would like to elimante meat from my diet. What are some foods that I can eat that will replace all the vitamins and minerals that I won't be getting from meat? Are there any health conditions that I should worry about? Should I take vitamin supplemants?
Nutritionally, meat mainly offers you protein, iron, fat and B12.
Now, it's extremely difficult to not get enough protein unless you are starving to death, so don't worry about it too much. Protein exists in all foods, even fruit and veggies. If it's a concern for you, though, note that beans, nuts and whole grains also have a lot.
As for iron, good non-meat sources are fortified cereals, beans (especially kidney, pinto and garbanzo), spinach and other dark green vegetables, dried fruits (such as raisins), strawberries, and molasses. You don't have to worry about this too much if you are a man.
You do need some fat in your diet, but you are going to want the "good" ie unsaturated kind. Nuts are excellent sources of good fats, as are olive and canola oil.
B12 won't be a concern for you.. if you are eating eggs and cheese you will be getting enough that way. If you ever become a vegan, though, you would have to supplement this with a vitamin. You can also get some naturally with Vegemite, nutritional yeast and a few other plant-based foods.
The only health conditions that would be of concern to you is if you already have low iron levels or a protein absorption problem. The former is mostly a problem with women and the later is pretty rare.
Other foods to avoid: Those with slaughter by-products in them such as lard and gelatin.
Also, in order to eat healthily as a vegetarian I suggest you try to work towards eating more whole, natural, home-cooked foods rather than processed junk. Processed fake meats might help you make the transition to a vegetarian diet when by helping you if you crave meat, but don't make them a cornerstone of your diet.
My main piece of advice is this. If you are like most Americans you are likely already eating enough or too much grains, eggs and cheese. When you give up meat, replace that in your diet with more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beans.
Also-- Your main question is incredibly inappropriate, There's no reason to be inflammatory against Chinese people or to "trick" people into reading your questions.
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nu...
Listen to the experts!
The animals would praise you for your change, if they could!
*claps*
I am surprised that you changed your lifestyle after simply watching few videos from PETA.
By the way, not to be inflammatory, but it has been proven that they kill FAR more animals than they save. I would question EVERYTHING you read from them.
My point is, please provide yourself with more information than just a few videos before you make a life altering decision. Especially, since your knowledge of what it takes to live a HEALTHY vegan lifestyle is so nacent.
Take it in stages and decide for the right reason. At least if you do it that way your decision will be MUCH more effective and long lasting without any "backsliding" along the way.
*** Just to add something else useful. Here in the south we get pregnant mothers who are low in iron and vegetarian (or even not). Believe it or not, the item with the highest level of iron ever is good old fashioned GRITS.
Yup, grits. There is no better source of iron than those wonderful chips of corn. Not flour, not hominy, just grits.
I hope that was of some use to the vegan community.
Haha, nice way to get people's attention! That's wonderful you're interested in going veg.
A healthy vegetarian diet includes a variety of fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, seeds, and grains. Faux meats (such as veggie burgers) make the transition a lot easier and most of them have a lot of protein and other nutrients. See http://vegcooking.com/guide-favs.asp for a list of popular fake meat products.
Veg sources of protein, iron, and calcium:
http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=08sourc...
Veg food groups:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/f...
Vegans need vitamin B12 supplements, but other than that, it's not necessary for vegetarians/vegans to take supplements.
Also, check out http://vegcooking.com/makingthetransitio... for lots of info, food ideas, and transition tips. Good luck!
You should do your research. It takes more to be vegetarian than just saying "i'm vegetarian." Know what you're doing. You should find what it is you'd be missing from meat (which btw, if you had done your research, you'd know it's NOTHING) then find alternative sources. Learn to be open minded and try new things. Educate yourself. Search engines are wonderful things.
Use tofu instead of meat. I would suggest you get some vegetarian cookbooks from your local library. You also may want to talk to a nutritinous. I'm not sure how you spell that.