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Because my doctor said I shouldn`t be taking supplements because that defeats the whole purpose of my becoming vegetarian.
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Is it hypocritical to claim vegetarianism is healthy and provides proper nutrients, but to take supplements?
Posted by admin on December 19th, 2009
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first of all, whether or not you’re being hypocritical about your diet is none of your doctor’s business. his job is to care for your health, nothing more…..he was overstepping his boundaries in a very unprofessional way. it floors me that a doctor would EVER recommend their patient not taking supplements (assuming that what you’re taking is not harmful to your body).
anyway……i don’t think it’s hypocritical. i take a multi-vitamin daily to round out my diet, and i think that everyone should whether they eat meat or not. due to the fast-paced lifestyle that most of us have today it can be hard to get ALL of the nutrients our body needs no matter how much attention we pay to our diet. i have taken a multi-vitamin for years now, both when i was eating meat and now as a vegetarian.
just be aware that most supplements contain gelatin, so keep reading your ingredient lists to find ones that don’t.
No. It takes a lot of work and time to be a vegetarian, and sometimes they–like everybody–don’t eat as healthy as they should.
No. If you want to be a vegetarian and eat healthy you must be willing to make the effort and take the time to eat the proper foods. You may know what foods you should eat to stay healthy, but you may not like them. So you’ll eat junk and take supplements instead. You’re claiming that certain vegetarian diets can provide the proper nutrients for a human being. You just don’t want to follow those diets – they may be too expensive, you might like the taste of some foods, etc.
Vegetarianism, like any other kind of diet, is only healthy if you have a proper variety of food. Vegetarians, just like omnivores, may be too much in a hurry to get to work or get other things done to prepare a proper meal all the time, so supplements help ensure that nothing’s missing.
Yup.
Most of the supplements for protein and amino acids and what-not contain animal tissue in them, so really they are eating animals anyway.
I know a lot of carnivores that take supplements. It makes them feel protected.
Absolutely not. With -anyone’s- life, busy as we are, there’s always the risk of running into deficiencies. That’s true for meat eaters, just as much.
Taking a multivitamin is good common sense.
No
Vegetarianism is healthy. And not all vegetarians take supplement.
The purpose of taking supplement for some vegetarian is that they don’t have lots of time to cook for themselve while eating out in a hurry they might not have a good nutritious meal.
Non-vegetarians take supplements too.
Cheers
dont listen to (i mean no offense) this docter, he obviously dosent know that being vegitarian isnt always healthy, u could become quite unhealthy just by eating junk food anyway.
u need vitamins and stuff and if u dont eat a lot of fruits and vegies (remember vegitarian just means no meat) or else u may want to have supplements.
the whole purpose of being vegitarian is not to eat meat and i daresay there are supplements at chemists that dont include them.
Goodluck
interesting question. it’s no secret that i don’t agree with vegetarianism. you’re free to make your own choices, but i could just never rationalize becoming a vegetarian. the point you bring up is one of the major things that i just don’t understand. i mean, how healthy is this new lifestyle if you need to take supplements becuase of your lacking diet? this is what i’ve been able to come up with so far:
it is, in fact, possible to get all the nutrients and vitamins that the body needs through a vegetarian diet. however, this takes a certain amount of dedication to ensure a properly balanced diet.
it’s 2008, and the world always seems to be in a big hurry these days. often, people do not have the time to prepare a properly balanced meal, so they grab something that is fast and easy to make. this goes for veggies and omnivores alike. i can see how it would be easy for this lifestyle to interfere with the healthiness of a vegetarian diet.
a lot of the things that veggies have be extra careful of are things that are readily available in meat: protein, b12, iron, and a few others. as these nutrients are easier to obtain for meat-eaters, they can more often get by on a fast and easy diet without the need to take supplements. however, just becuase they don’t need supplements does not make their diet healthy. regardless of dietary choice, a properly balanced diet with careful portion control and the keys to living a happy, healthy life.
summary: dietary preference aside, a properly balanced diet is a must for health. it may be easier for a meat-eater to avoid dietary deficiencies, but this does not necessarily make their diet healthy. everyone should try to be aware of their dietary choices in order to be healthy. whether or not it contains meat is insignificant.
being a veg requires a lot of conviction. if you need to take supplements becuase you don’t have the dedication to ensure that your diet is balanced properly, maybe it’s time to think twice about why you decided to be a veg.
i hope that made sense.
I think it is a false argument.
If your body needs B12 or iron, and you’re not getting it from your diet, then you have to take the supplements. It seems strange that a doctor would tell a patient that he does not recommend correcting a clear dietary deficiency with supplements which will do just that.
But for people to eat a crappy diet of any kind, claiming that they don’t have time to eat real food, and then to turn around and take supplements… No, there is no evidence that supplements can correct a diet like that. Research is beginning to show that taking vitamins generally does not have the assumed positive effect on the health. You can waste large sums on vitamins, and then you eat worse, figuring you are "covered".
It would be hypocritical to claim your diet (any diet) supplies you with every single nutrient in exact amounts, and then take a vitamin supplement because you aren’t sure.
However, taking a multivitamin is a good practice for any diet because we do not always get exactly every single trace mineral/vitamin/etc. that we need. We don’t always choose broccoli over candy, so a multivitamin can be a good back-up plan. If you would like advice on proper nutrition go to a nutritionist, not a doctor, as general practitioners (family doctors) have very little training on diet and nutrition.
While I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, I would suggest that if you do choose to take a vitamin that you take one that has low doses (not exceeding 100% RDA), and you choose one that is vegetarian/vegan appropriate. I usually get the VegLife multi that is sold at The Vitamin Shoppe chain in the U.S., but there are many similar brands available at other health stores.
There isn’t anything "hypocritical" about taking a multivitamin. IT’S JUST A MULTIVITAMIN. LOTS of people take multivitamins.
If you need nutritional education, see a dietitian or a naturopath. MDs generally don’t know sh*t about nutrition.
I don’t know about hypocritical, but it’s certainly delusional.
I was a vegetarian for about year, give or take a few weeks, and during the last several months, I felt constantly run down. From what I’ve seen here and read on websites, that’s far from uncommon. Yep, nothing says "healthy diet" like being constantly tired.
Your doctor sounds like he is uneducated on vegetarian diets. A vegetarian does not need supplements to stay healthy. It sounds as if he is falling for the myth that vegetarians need supplements to get nutrients, which is completely false.
Since there is nothing in meat that cannot be found in a vegetarian source, there is no need for supplements. The only thing you cannot get is b12, but that is b/c it comes from bacteria, and since people wash vegetables, the bacteria is not likely to be ingested. Animals do not produce b12 either, but they do eat the bacteria(found in the soil), and therefore produce b12. b12 can be found in fortified cereals and soymilk, as well as eggs and cow milk.
Most doctors recommend a daily multivitamin for everyone regardless of diet. Its a safeguard in case you missed something through the day. A diet(omnivore or vegetarian) would have to be planned to a T, to get every recommended nutrient that you should be getting daily.
There’s gotta be veg supplements out there.
supplements are a good idea because truthfully, a lot of our food has been so processed that all the good stuff has been removed.