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i know the pros, but what are the cons. if there are any?
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Are there any health risks of becoming a vegetarian?
Posted by admin on September 30th, 2010
Posted in vegetarian questions 
There are health risks – you just need to be more cautious regarding intake of B vitamins, iron and protein. They’re very easy to substitute, however, the average western diet doesn’t utilize those sources of protein/vitamins – e.g. legumes & brewers yeast & tofu. It tends to just be a cultural thing, easily overcome!
Lots of leafy green vegetables too! Get lots of natural colour into your food
If you’re really concerned about not getting enough of these nutrients etc., you can take supplements. Alternatively, you can talk to your GP about it and have blood tests every 6 weeks or so to make sure that you’re staying healthy
. Don’t let that worry you tho!! 
So, the only real health risks in becoming vegetarian is that of ignorance – i.e. not knowing what to eat to replace the nutrients you otherwise would have gained thru consumption of meat
. Otherwise, it is generally sooo much healthier!!!
yay
… i wouldn’t think so. the only bad thing about becoming a vegetarian/vegan is no protein from meat but then can’t you get that from like nuts?
don’t become a junkie vegetarian, like i did when i first started.
for instance when i went to fast foods with friends, i ordered fries instead of a turkey sandwich. in my opinion, the meat would be healthier than oil-laden greasy fried salt.
actually eat alot of vegetables, fruits, some grains (although i hate grains, they bloat me up, i think im gluten intolerant), and beans…try quinoa, its very high in protein.
You get proteins from meat. But I’m sure you can take vitamins to make up for the missed proteins. You’ll just have to remember to take those vitamins every day. And you’ll start to crave meat. My friend went Vegetarian and she said she craved meat all the time.
Only animal products naturally contain Vitamin B12. Though you don’t need a lot of B12, it’s vital to your health and well being, especially if you’re young and growing fast. An adult might have stores of B12 from their years of meat eating that will keep them healthy for years, but then again, they might not. Some problems from a B12 deficiency are permanent. So if you decide to give up animal products you must either eat heavily processed foods supplemented with B12 or take a pill. Either one works, but don’t just ignore it.
Then there’s iron. Heme iron from meat is much easier for your body to absorb than the non-heme iron from plants. So you need to eat a lot more veggies to get the iron your body needs to function every day.
And protein. Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. Meat is a complete protein; veggies contain incomplete proteins. You need to eat a wide variety of veggies, green, leafy, red, yellow, etc., to get enough amino acids to make up complete proteins your body needs.
Those are some major things you need to be careful of with a vegetarian diet. Good luck….
I don’t think there is a need to be a vegetarian or not. Just eat naturally. As for me, I rarely eat meat, but I won’t refuse meat if there was a slice or two in my lunch. I prefer fruits, vegetables, noodles, rice, all the common and not much processed food. So far, so good. Just eat properly, don’t keep urself hungry, not eat too much. Keep regular exercise and regular foods, u’ll be healthy and happy. And, plus, concentrate more on other things, don’t think of foods all the time…lol
If you educate yourself properly, it’s very easy to avoid the health risks. Yes, there are health risks for people who don’t have enough information and resources to make healthy choices – but this isn’t a vegetarian thing, it’s a human thing! No matter what type of diet you follow, you will need to pay attention to nutrition if you want to be healthy.
I’d say there are three main things you should be concerned about, nutrition-wise; Protein, iron, and vitamin B12. You can get dairy and plant milks fortified with B12. Plants such as Quinoa and Soy, beans, nuts and legumes are high in protein, without all the cholesterol and fat which you get in meat. Leafy green veggies for iron, et cetera.
The main con I’ve noticed since going vegan is availability of vegan foods. It seems like everything has some sort of animal product in it these days. For someone who’s just vegetarian and not vegan that shouldn’t be a problem though. If you really want to know about nutrition, there are great books like The Complete Idiot’s Guide series. I have The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Vegan Living, but I’ve heard there’s one for Complete Nutrition which looks like a good one.
Anyway, don’t listen to the folks telling you a veg life is going to be oh-so-difficult or you’re going to be deficient in all these important nutrients. Anyone who really knows about nutrition will know that people can – and do – live vegetarian lifestyles with no health complications and no vitamin deficiencies. You just have to be prepared to learn and make the effort to eat healthily.
No
Yes, but there are more health risks to eating the Standard American Diet. Vegetarians need to be mindful of how they eat and be sure to include variety. Some key nutrients to watch out for are vitamin B12 (found in fortified "milks", nutritional yeast, energy drinks, etc), calcium (dairy if you choose to consume it, dark leafy greens, tofu, fortified "milks", almonds), and vitamin D (sunlight, milks fortified with vitamin D2 – keep in mind D3 is fine if you are vegetarian but is not appropriate for vegans).
I feel like people worry a lot about deficiencies caused by vegetarian diets, but think of how many nutrients someone who eats fast food for every meal would be deficient in. This isn’t aimed at you at all, just in general how people reject a vegetarian diet as unhealthy.
I’m new at this so I’m no expert but from what I’ve read, yes there are health risks if you’re not diligent. I’m taking a twice daily multi vitamin vegi pill as well as a once daily Green herbal supplement because I’ve read about vitamin B12 deficiency in strict vegetarians. (This is mainly for people on a ‘strict’ vegetarian diet, not your common lacto-ovo vegetarian diet). Vitamin B12 deficiency may lead to irreversable nervous system problems. B12 is a vitamin available in animal products and in sewerage and seems a lot to do with poop. I’ve also read that it needs to be taken with folic acid because high amounts of one can mask deficiencies in the other.
Yes, there most certainly are. A major one is that vegetables do not contain complete protein, but meat does. All too many fanatics oversimplify matters and try to "gloss over" the deficiencies in a vegetarian diet. There are "interest groups" that lie ruthlessly to gain power and money from gullible people. PETA and ALF are two of the worst of them. As someone said, some vitamins are not found in plants, especially B12. There is really no good reason to become a vegetarian, because humans are omnivores. That helped us to grow bigger brains than our herbivorous primate relatives. Vegetarian humans are trying to reduce their brains and become chimpanzees. You do not know the pros, because there are none actually. It is all cons in this matter.
Only thing that comes to mind is that some people who don’t follow an optimal vegetarian diet can cause themselves to lack a nutrient or two. Iron particularly, especially for women. Is vegetarianism to blame? No. The nutritious foods are readily available but some people choose to just eat pasta and cookies all the time and, go figure, their health declines. SO…eat a balanced varied diet of fruits and veggies, legumes, and whole grains, and you will be just fine.
edit: Most vegetarian foods DO contain protein. You can combine things to make a complete protein, and some plants, avocados and buckwheat among others, already have complete protein. If you eat dairy and eggs, those things are loaded with protein. Some people need to do some research before they go telling others how to eat.
Many. The biggest might be there is NO vegetarian source of vitamin B12.