Vitamin Deficiencies
However, iodine, zinc, and vitamin B12 are hard to come by when you leave meat, seafood, and dairy products out of your meals. Without these nutrients, you can suffer from goiters, fatigue, diarrhea, loss of taste and smell, and even neurological damage.
If you avoid eating meat for a month, you should notice a decrease in your overall inflammatory markers. This happens due to the anti-inflammatory properties of plant-based foods that you consume instead of meat (5). They are rich in fiber and antioxidants and low in toxins and saturated fats.
Con: You may have possible nutrient deficiencies.
Some essential nutrients, such as vitamins B12 and D, calcium and iron, aren't available in many plant-based foods. Vegetarian diets may provide these nutrients as long as food intake is planned properly, but supplementation is sometimes necessary.
Eating a diet with no or limited meat may benefit your health and the environment. Cutting back on meat and eating a predominantly plant-based diet may help with weight management, protect against heart disease and certain cancers, and support a healthy gut.
Even though meats provide certain nutrients that plants don't, eating meat isn't necessary for your health or survival. With appropriate planning and supplements, plant-based diets can provide the nutrients your body needs.
The bottom line: Eggs are not meat, but they do have a similar level of protein.
You may feel tired and weak if you cut meat out of your diet. That's because you're missing an important source of protein and iron, both of which give you energy. The body absorbs more iron from meat than other foods, but it's not your only choice.
To sum it up, many vegetarians and vegans choose to let go of their non-meat diet for multiple reasons: health, impulse, life events, and mood shifts.
Research shows that people who eat red meat are at a higher risk of death from heart disease, stroke or diabetes. Processed meats also make the risk of death from these diseases go up. And what you don't eat also can harm your health.
Plant-based diets are healthier than diets where meat is consumed, whether measured by the occurrence of heart disease, cancer, or death. These benefits are likely because of both the avoidance of meat and the predominance of dietary vegetables and fruits.
Not Enough Protein
As you make the switch from eating meat to a vegetarian diet, you might forget to eat all the protein that your body requires. This is a recipe for disaster as well as potential weight gain.
Fish is the flesh of an animal used for food, and by that definition, it's meat. However, many religions don't consider it meat. There are also several important distinctions between fish and other types of meat, especially in terms of their nutritional profiles and potential health benefits.
The research, which reviewed previous studies and was published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, showed particpants who cut meat out of their diets lost around 10lbs on average without monitoring their calorie intake or increasing the amount they exercised.
The moral and spiritual ambiguity about eating meat is made more explicit in the ninth chapter of Genesis (Genesis 9:3-6) when God tells Noah in the covenant made with him after the Great Flood, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Vegetarians may eat dairy products, eggs, honey, and other byproducts that do not involve the slaughter of animals. However, there are several variations of the vegetarian diet. For example, some vegetarians choose to eat eggs but not dairy products.
At its core, a bread recipe contains four simple ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast — a type of microscopic fungus used to help bread rise. Therefore, the simplest form of bread is vegan. However, some types include additional ingredients like sweeteners or fats — both of which can be of animal origin.
Vitamin B12 is only found in animal products, like meat, dairy, and eggs. Plant foods do not have B12. All vegans need to regularly supplement with B12 — either by eating fortified foods, or taking a B12 vitamin.
The healthiest meat substitute will be natural vegetarian foods, high in protein and minimally processed. Great, healthy meat substitutes include beans, tempeh, lentils, jackfruit, mushrooms, nuts, and seeds. An average 150-pound adult might require 54 grams of protein daily, easily attainable with meat substitutes.
Vegetarians tend to be slimmer and less extroverted than meat eaters, study finds. Summary: The less animal products someone consumes, the lower his body mass index on average and the less he tends to be extroverted. A connection with depressive moods as other studies had found could not be confirmed.
There are numerous research-proven health benefits to following a vegetarian diet, but only if you're doing it properly and not substituting meat with processed or high-fat vegetarian products. Both lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegans need to make sure they are getting adequate nutrition.
Vegetarians scored lower on depression tests and had better mood profiles than their fish- and meat-eating peers.