What are some things to keep in mind for a vegetarian diet?!

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=a…

Take more soy bean products and consume more seaweeds.

Protein is not as easy to get as some people will tell you. Protein is made up of amino acids. Meat and other animal products contain all the amino acids need for complete protein. Most veggies contain only some of those amino acids or weak versions of them. You need to eat a lot and a wide variety of veggies every day so your body can combine them to make complete protein. Beans are essential. The amino acid lysine is pretty much only available in legumes (beans). You need at least one serving a day of some sort of legume, three is better especially if you're bodybuilding. Fake, manufactured, drinks are not a substitute for a good diet.

The heme iron in meat is much easier for your body to absorb and use than the non heme iron in veggies. You need to eat a lot of iron rich veggies to get the iron your body needs.

And many of the veggies you should be eating as a vegetarian also contain oxalates. Oxalates inhibit your body's ability to absorb iron and calcium. Soy is high in oxalates.

The jury is really out on soy. There is research showing lots of soy can affect puberty in girls. They promote soy to women to help with their menopause symptoms, so there must be some hormonal effects there for some people. I do think the tie between thyroid problems and soy are well established. But I think soy in moderation is not a problem for most healthy people. The problem comes when people make it the center of their diet: soy cereal, soy milk, soy bacon, soy burgers, soy, soy, soy.....

http://www.livestrong.com/article/302843…