Questions about being a vegetarian?!

You can get protein from dairy eggs tofu and legumes very easily - I heard carl lewis was a vegetarian so I wouldn't worry too much about protein. Your mum has prob seen those horrible meat analogs that some people eat for protein and they can be expensive. Also she might think she has to buy exotic ingredients. The fact I'd although it may not be overly exciting you can have a balanced and healthful diet eith the stuff your family normaly buys if they are generally cooking decent food. Download a vegetarian food pyramid to show your mum the type of food you need and I'm sure she'll be surprised. Get some cook books from the library and learn a few recipes that way you are more likely to have her support - good luck!

18 years vegetarian

get protein through vegetables, tofu, protein drinks, etc. It's not hard to FIND the protein, it's hard to remember to take enough protein. It's expensive because first off, for your family, it would be buying two separate meals on a daily basis, or cooking two completely different things. It's hard to eat out and be a vegetarian, it's just a lot more expensive to buy healthy as opposed to living off of twinkies, like most vegetarians tend to do their first couple of months..

Veg*ns will tell you it's easy to get protein as a vegetarian, but it's not really.

Protein is made up of amnio acids. Meat, eggs, milk have all the amino acids needed for complete protein. Most veggies only contain some (or weak versions) of those amino acids. You'll need to eat a lot and a wide variety of veggies every day so your body can combine them for complete protein. Not impossible, but certainly not as easy as some would assure you. And one amino acid, lysine, is only in legumes (beans). You need to eat at least one serving a day of some sort of legume, three is better. Shouldn't be a problem for a dedicated vegetarian since there are probably dozens of different kinds of legumes.

Also consider iron. The heme iron in meat is better absorbed by your body than the non heme iron in veggies. So you need to eat a lot of iron rich veggies every day, too. Otherwise you'll wind up anemic.

And many of the calcium rich veggies also contain oxalate. Oxalate inhibits your bodys ability to absorb both calcium and iron. Many veg*ns turn to soy when they give up meat. Soy in moderation is probably fine, but don't replace meat with fake soy meat. It's full of chemicals and can cause thyroid problems. It's also tied to early puberty and promoted to women to help with their menopause problems.

Cost depends on what you eat. If you can/will live on beans and rice, not a problem cost wise. If you expect your mom to buy soy milk for you, soy cereals, fake bacon, etc., and regular foods for the rest of the family, it will get expensive. Fresh fruits and veggies out of season aren't cheap either. But those beans and rice....yum.

The main problem young vegetarians seem to have is just getting enough calories. Vegetables are low in calories compared to meat, eggs, dairy products. Many veggies contain a lot of cellulose. Humans can't digest it, so it makes you feel full and you stop eating. However, since it can't be digested, it passes on out of your system as fibre and you're hungry again. I'd suggest that you start a food diary now and see how many calories you're eating. Then when you go veggie, you'll have a reference for how many calories you need to feel good. Most people shoot for about 2000, but an active, growing, teenager may need 2500. Good luck....

costs too much ,
hahahahahahaha
beans, rice, potatos are too much?

Lentils, chickpeas, split peas, pinto beans, orange dal, black beans, lima beans fava beans, rice, noodles and nuts are too much?

SHe is fooling herself and you.

ALL the foods above have more protein than meat.
Most foods have protein.
Nuts and legumes ( the beans and lentils mentioned above plus countless other types- grey beans, pigeon peas, cannelili beans, baked beans, black eye peas, navy beans) have MORE PROTEIN AND FIBRE THAN vegetables and certainly more than meat- which has not fibre and is full of saturated fat.

your best bet is to talk to a nutritionist. it is very easy to get enough protein (in fact it's incredibly difficult not to), but you need to make sure you are getting complete proteins. pairings like beans and rice give you complete proteins. you do not have to eat them at the same meal. being vegetarian your only concern should be gaining weight from eating too much dairy. sometimes, when first going vegetarian, people eat loads of dairy to make up for no meat. totally unnecessary. and the increase in dairy is where being vegetarian can get expensive. so provided you don't overdo dairy, it will not be any more expensive than an omnivore diet. often what happens is when you make a dietary change like this you start really looking at everything you eat and notice what is in foods and you may change your diet more. at no point should a vegetarian diet get more expensive than an omni, but it will get more costly in time spent as you learn more about foods. to offset that, offer to help make dinner some nights.

go to the store and find out what the price of 1 lb of meat is.
second find out what the price of 1 lb of beans and 1 lb of rice and see if they even come close.
beans + grains = complete protein
grains + nuts and or seeds = complete protein
nuts and or seeds + beans complete protein but it takes time to figure out how to mix and match

the two easy ones are peanut butter and whole wheat bread
eggs
beans of choice + rice

First off : If you stick to simple whole foods you will save money and spend less than you would on a meat eating diet. Digestible protein is readily available through beans (such as lentils, Soybeans and Fava Beans), grains (such as Quinoa, Oats and Amaranth) and nuts (Such as Almonds, Peanuts and Brazil Nuts). Eat a plentiful balanced variety of these and you can support optimal nutrition no matter what you do.

Here is one great page that pretty much outlines a method: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/athletes.htm

And here is a link to being a simple, successful Veg athlete: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-diet-athletes/

Good luck to you.

Research and experience.

Go to either a Fredmyer grocery store or to a Kroger grocery store and buy a drink called Slim Rite. It taists better than slim fast. Slim Fast taistes gross! You need Slim Rite! But it's only at the stores I named. It has10 grams of protine, 50% calcium 35% of vitamins A, B, B6 , K , D and 100% vitamin C and lots of other vitamins. You drink two per day. One to replace breakfast and one to replace lunch. Then for dinner you eat a regular meal. Like a vegetarian sub sandwhch and a side order of potato salad or macorni salad. That's what I just did today! As long as you drink Slim Rite then you should get enough vitamins. Also, there are other protine drinks if you can't find Slim Rite. Slim Rite only cost about $8 for a 12 pack. So that's enough for 6 days. Plus set aside some money for dinners at night. Good Luck!

it's not expensive and you can get plenty of protein without eating meat, dairy, cheese eggs etc, you don't need that stuff to be healthy. the money you save on meat you spend on legumes (beans), quinoa, tofu, nuts, grains, brown rice and lots of fruits and veggies. make smoothies, smoothies are awesome.