My girlfriend was a "forced vegetarian" by her parents, the "Food Nazis". They're the only people I know that only allow Tofurkey to be served at Thanksgiving. If you don't know what that is, you're lucky. She eats meat now, but just read this and learn that Vegetarianism, while healthy if done responsibly, isn't a cure-all for a healthy diet.
"According to John Vanderveen, PH.D., director of the FDA’s office of Plant and Dairy Foods and Beverages, "the more you restrict your diet, the more difficult it is to get the nutrients you need"
Vegetarians who exclude all dairy andanimal flesh products face the greatest nutritional risks, because some essential nutrients exist only in animal products
http://www.glyphmedia.com/host/darklight/Vege.htm.
Vegans face the risk of inadequate vitamin and mineral levels. Vitamin B12 deficiencies are found in vegans, and this deficiency can lead to irreversible nerve deterioration (5). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded in 1988 that elderly people should be especially careful when adapting vegetarian diets, because their bodies may absorb vitamin B12 poorly
http://www.fda.gov./bbs/topics....html. Vegans and ovo-vegetarians (those who eat eggs but no meat or dairy products) may have low vitamin D and calcium intake. Lack of vitamin D can cause rickets in children, and lack of calcium can lead to osteoporosis later in life. These vegetarians are also at risk for iron-deficiency anemia, not only from exclusion of animal products, but also because of the high dietary fiber content of foods such as soy protein, bran, and fiber. The dietary fiber in these foods actually inhibits iron absorption. Protein deficiency must also be guarded against, which can lead to loss of hair and muscle mass, along with abnormal accumulation of fluid. Care must be taken to ensure proper caloric intake for all vegetarians
http://www.fda.gov./bbs/topics....html.
Barr, Prior, Janelle, and Lentle (1998) have examined the association of vegetarian diets with spinal bone mineral density. The study used a cross-sectional comparison method of bone mineral density of 23 vegetarians and 22 non-vegetarians, all premenopausal. The subjects were between the ages of 20 and 40, and had normal body weights and menstrual cycles. Twenty of the women participated in repeat measurements 13 months later. Methods used to make comparisons include descriptive statistics, independent samples and paired tests, 1-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression. Results showed vegetarians having a lower mean bone mineral density, 1.148 versus 1.216 for non-vegetarians. Vitamin B-12 and body fat were factors used in predicting baseline bone mineral density. Participants in the follow-up study differed only by being slightly older. In one year, mean bone mineral density increased by 1.1% in the diet group, non-vegetarian’s bone mineral density increased, while vegetarians stayed the same. No other monitered variables affected bone mineral density. Conclusions from the study state that vegetarian women should be aware of the association of low bone mineral density with a vegetarian diet.
Children with vegetarian diets face additional risks and health concerns. Gretchen Hill, Ph.D., associate professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Missouri, Columbia, believes that many health problems arise among child vegetarians. "My bet is those kids will have health problems when they reach 40, 50, or 60 years of age", she says, mostly because of imbalances with micronutrients [nutrients required only in small amounts], particularly iron, zinc, and copper. Hill believes that while vegetarian children will be missing iron from animal products, the most valuable vitamins may be copper and zinc. Copper is essential to the human body in that it builds the bodies immune system, and strengthens and builds red blood cells. A lot of Americans are marginal in this micronutrient, and as a result, are more susceptible to diseases. Children can’t meet their zinc needs without eating meat. Children are also at risk of developing protein defeciency, which can lead to stunted growth
http://www.fda.gov./bbs/topics....html. "
Just be educated about what you're doing before you start modifying your body.
- Chris