A real question for those meat eaters!?!

A real question for those meat eaters!?

Would somebody please tell me what IMPORTANT minerals and vitamins and protein we really get from meat that we cant get from a vegan diet. (other than b-12).... I mean real serious answers with real back up and sources. Not off the top of your head or something that you think you know.

Also, are those really the only place you can find them. I am so tired of these meat eaters coming to the vegan boards and bashing Vegetarians and vegans saying you HAVE to eat meat to be healthy. I want real thought here, because I have been a vegan for almost 10 years and I know the answer...but do you?

And how many meat eater know as much about their diet as a vegetarian or vegan,
For the meat eater:
Where do you get your foliate, calcium, your iron and magnesium, Vitamins A, B's, C and D from? Other than a Pill?

3 days ago
I am not asking for my knowledge, i am a very healthy, educated vegan. I am asking to start a healthy conversation with meat eaters and Vegans. Hopefully :~)

2 days ago
Yes people where born with teeth to eat meat and digest it too. But..... just because we have the means doesn't mean we should. We have hands and the capabilities to murder but that doesn't mean we have the right too do that. We where also born with a consciouses and ability for forethought and compassion for other living things, that we should use... that's something to think about. Right?

ps. Remember... I am not trying to force my beliefs on you...I just want an open conversations about this... :~)

Iron is a big one - there are two types of iron, and while you can get iron from veg based sources, the iron from meat sources help to absorb it, so it's harder to get without meat. Not impossible, but harder, and the problem is not that you can't live a healthy vegetarian lifestyle, it's just that most don't.

The reason I came to this forum was to find out more useful info about my diet - as a meat eater I know I could eat better, but I also know that when I "forget" to include meat in my diet (or can't be bothered with the preparation), I start to feel lethargic, I put on weight and my digestion is not good. I'm not planning on having a baby anytime soon but occasionally I read the pregnancy and parenting forum, sometimes I look at the baby names for a good laugh, I might dip in to the religion forum for spiritual guidance although I am not a follower of any particular religion.

Food is my life, I love it, I work with it, I enjoy learning about it. I don't think the V&V forum is exclusively for V&V's - we all need to expand our minds and reading about each other lifestyles is one way to do it.

I don't eat a lot of meat, but I feel better when I do. Sorry, I'm not saying that to wind anyone up, it's just the way I physically feel.

For calcium I use milk and cheese, iron from liver, oily fish and leafy greens such as spinach, magnesium from bananas, Vit A from eggs, multigrains for B complex, sunshine and oranges for Vit C, Vit D from butter and other dairy. Foliate I have to admit not worrying so much about that - I thought it was something that was only really important for new feotuses, but I've looked it up and I eat lots of healthy breakfast cereals that it would appear in and I get lots of spinach in my diet.

Can someone tell me why I got two thumbs down? Did I not answer the question? Was I rude? Did I get my facts wrong? Please tell me - and I want real facts too, not just an opinion from somebody's head. That was what the original question was, I don't see why I can't expect the same...