Quote:
Originally Posted by luciferase75
I would like to know, of the vegetarians here, how many take a daily or weekly supplement? What is your calcium source? Iron? Everyone has something different they prefer. I am not trying to seed a debate, I am honestly curious.
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I have a multivitamin, but honestly, I forget to take it over half the time. When I do, I only take one (the "serving size" is three.) It's just sort of an "insurance" type thing, for days when I don't have time to cook, or maybe don't eat as well as I should (like football games, where I'm eating pizza and drinking beer.)
I eat a lot healthier now that I'm vegetarian than I ever did when I ate meat. There are other factors at work besides going veggie (I pay more attention to what I eat, and don't eat processed foods nearly as much, for starters), but by eliminating meat, I had to branch out from the "meat and potatoes" meals that I was used to. I wouldn't touch broccoli a few years ago, and now it's a staple.
So, yeah, by eating a larger variety of food, I don't have to worry that I'm lacking on something. I get calcium from my orange juice and soymilk, plus veggies like spinach and broccoli; iron from cereal, beans, pumpkin seeds... also, vitamin C helps absorb iron, and I know I get plenty of that from OJ and strawberries (yum
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It's not a boring or unhealthy way to eat, unless of course, you do it wrong. Cookies and potato chips can be vegetarian, but they certainly aren't healthy.
Oh, and something else I was thinking of (this is getting long, but I haven't been on in a couple days, so I'm just now reading the posts after mine): I have cravings for meat, but I've always found something non-meatish to satisfy the cravings. Gardenburger Riblets are awesome, for example (although I don't eat them often.) My boyfriend came up with an awesome tofu recipe that tastes like buffalo wings.
The cravings don't happen very often, though... mostly I want things, as Baracka pointed out, like soy lattes, or my veggie/pasta stir-fry. Mmmmmm.