When I talk to people about vegetarianism or veganism I often find that people are afraid to give it a try because they believe that if they don't eat animal products they are going to suffer in some way.
The most common thing I hear is "I won't get enough protein"
This is nonsense. Protein is abundant, it's everywhere and in everything you eat and there are many foods that contain far more protein than animal based products; among them are, nuts (especially cashews and peanuts and my favorite, peanut butter) and various grains; especially quinoa.
The next most frequent issue is Iron. "If I don't eat meat I won't get enough Iron." Mostly you hear this from women.
(Note: The USDA recommendation for Iron is 8 mg daily for men age 19 and older and 18 mg daily for women age 19 to 50)
Recently I was on my facebook page (The Vegan Experiment) and saw a post from my friends at Veganism Is The Future that addressed this issue and did it very well. I wanted to share this because the information is very good. I'm going to post it directly from the facebook post.
Looking at the above list it's easy to see how drinking some of the juices I've been using could really be ensuring that I get all the iron I need every day.
The most common thing I hear is "I won't get enough protein"
This is nonsense. Protein is abundant, it's everywhere and in everything you eat and there are many foods that contain far more protein than animal based products; among them are, nuts (especially cashews and peanuts and my favorite, peanut butter) and various grains; especially quinoa.
The next most frequent issue is Iron. "If I don't eat meat I won't get enough Iron." Mostly you hear this from women.
(Note: The USDA recommendation for Iron is 8 mg daily for men age 19 and older and 18 mg daily for women age 19 to 50)
Recently I was on my facebook page (The Vegan Experiment) and saw a post from my friends at Veganism Is The Future that addressed this issue and did it very well. I wanted to share this because the information is very good. I'm going to post it directly from the facebook post.
The iron excuse may not be as common as the protein one, but
I'm pretty sure most of you have heard non-vegetarians saying ''But if I ditch
animal products, I will become anemic...'' as an
attempt to justify animal products consumption.
Truth is, iron that comes from animal products is not good for humans, and it just gets stored by the body as ''iron reserves'', but the human body cannot use that kind of iron properly, and it has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and other health problems (especially heme iron that's found in red meat). Also, most iron deficient people are meat eaters and lacto-ovos, but, for some reason, most people promoting and / or consuming meat, egg and dairy seem to ignore this fact.
100 g broiler chicken = 1.16 mg (9%) iron
100 g beef = 2.6 mg (20%) iron
100 g cumin seeds = 66.36 mg (510%) iron
100 g sunflower seeds = 6.77 mg (52%) iron
100 g walnuts = 2.91 mg (22%) iron
100 g almonds = 4 mg (31%) iron
100 g spinach = 2.7 mg (21%) iron
100 g parsley = 6.2 mg (48%) iron
100 g stinging nettles = 1.6 mg (21% ) iron (But it's much better absorbed than the iron in other greens.)
If you are anemic, you should eat foods that are very rich in iron, such as cumin seeds, sunflower seeds and any other kind of seeds, nuts, and even greens, like stinging nettles. Legumes, grains and algae are also high in iron, but they should be eaten in moderation. Many fruits are high in iron, as well - all berries, especially mulberries, contain a lot of iron, and passion fruit, dates, breadfruit and avocados are also rich in iron. There are more fruits that are rich in iron. You can check the nutritional value of many fruits on the site below!
http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html
...And you can also check the nutritional values for most foods on CRON-O-Meter! (http://cronometer.com/)
Personally, I can easily get over 25 mg iron a day on a raw veggie / fruitarian diet. 1 medium watermelon (5 kg) = about 12 mg iron. Well, all fruits contain iron, and you can get more than enough iron by just eating fruits by the kilos.
Truth is, iron that comes from animal products is not good for humans, and it just gets stored by the body as ''iron reserves'', but the human body cannot use that kind of iron properly, and it has been linked to diabetes, heart disease and other health problems (especially heme iron that's found in red meat). Also, most iron deficient people are meat eaters and lacto-ovos, but, for some reason, most people promoting and / or consuming meat, egg and dairy seem to ignore this fact.
100 g broiler chicken = 1.16 mg (9%) iron
100 g beef = 2.6 mg (20%) iron
100 g cumin seeds = 66.36 mg (510%) iron
100 g sunflower seeds = 6.77 mg (52%) iron
100 g walnuts = 2.91 mg (22%) iron
100 g almonds = 4 mg (31%) iron
100 g spinach = 2.7 mg (21%) iron
100 g parsley = 6.2 mg (48%) iron
100 g stinging nettles = 1.6 mg (21% ) iron (But it's much better absorbed than the iron in other greens.)
If you are anemic, you should eat foods that are very rich in iron, such as cumin seeds, sunflower seeds and any other kind of seeds, nuts, and even greens, like stinging nettles. Legumes, grains and algae are also high in iron, but they should be eaten in moderation. Many fruits are high in iron, as well - all berries, especially mulberries, contain a lot of iron, and passion fruit, dates, breadfruit and avocados are also rich in iron. There are more fruits that are rich in iron. You can check the nutritional value of many fruits on the site below!
http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruit-nutrition-chart.html
...And you can also check the nutritional values for most foods on CRON-O-Meter! (http://cronometer.com/)
Personally, I can easily get over 25 mg iron a day on a raw veggie / fruitarian diet. 1 medium watermelon (5 kg) = about 12 mg iron. Well, all fruits contain iron, and you can get more than enough iron by just eating fruits by the kilos.
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