Secrets to a Healthy Meatless Diet

Happy Meatless Monday!

When I tell people I'm a vegetarian, I usually get asked the same question...How do you get enough protein, or iron, or calcium without eating meat? And people usually assume that if you're vegetarian, you're healthy, but that's not always the case. There are plenty of unhealthy foods that don't contain meat, like ice cream, pizza, cookies, popcorn, candy, etc. Even if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there is a right way and a wrong way to eat. 

There are 3 types of plant-based dieters:

Ovo-Lacto vegetarians: They don't eat animal flesh, but do you dairy products and eggs.

Lacto vegetarians: They don't eat animal flesh or eggs, but still use dairy products.

Vegans: They don't eat any animal flesh, eggs, dairy products or honey.

Visuals always help me and when I was a kid, the food pyramid made a lot of sense. So here's one for us:

This vegan pyramid is a pretty good gage of what you should be eating throughout the day. For a how to on getting produce with a low carbon footprint, click here. If you're vegetarian you would have eggs and dairy in place of the dairy substitutes on the chart above. Now let's get technical, the U.S. government's Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)  for protein per day for women ages 30 - 59 is 50 grams and for men ages 30 - 59 is 63 grams. So next time someone asks how you get your protein, iron or calcium, here's what you tell them...

Common sources of Protein:

• Almonds (2 oz. = 6.5 grams)
• Avocade (1 medium = 5.6 grams)
• Kidney beans (1/2 cup cooked = 7.2 grams)
• Cornmeal (1 cup = 11.2 grams)
• Lentils (1/2 cup cooked = 7.8 grams)
• Peanut Butter (2 tablespoons = 8 grams)
• Soybeans (1/2 cup cooked = 9.9 grams)
• Tofu (4 oz. = 10 grams)

The current RDA for iron is 15 milligrams for women 11 - 50 and 10 milligrams for men 18 and older.

Common Sources of iron:

• Figs (10 = 4.2 mg)
• Dries Apricots (10 = 2.6 mg)
• Belgian endive (1 head = 7 mg)
• Spinach, cooked (1 cup = 4 mg)
• Swiss chard (1 cup = 3.2 mg)
• Kale, cooked (1 cup - 2 mg)
• Lentils, cooked (1 cup = 3.4 mg)
• Quinoa, cooked (1 cup = 5.3 mg)

Common sources of calcium:

• Almonds, dry roasted (1 oz. = 80 mg)
• White beans (1 cup = 226 mg)
• Broccoli, cooked (1 cup = 132 mg)
• Brussel Sprouts (1 cup = 128 mg)
• Kale, cooked (1 cup = 204 mg)
• Collard greens, cooked (1 cup = 356 mg) More than a glass of milk

Now you're well on your way to being the healthiest, most well-informed vegetarian you can be! Stop by next week for the breakdown on dairy substitutes on Meatless Monday!

Source of food measurements: Vegetarian Times Vegetarian Beginner's Guide

Photo credit: galenfrysinger.com and veganfoodpyramid.com

Monica Schrock is a vegetarian, bicycle-riding environmentalist, tattoo enthusiast and social media junkie. You can catch her drinking an iced coffee and reading a comic book (probably Tank Girl) at any given moment. She hearts our planet and gives tips on how to lower our environmental impact on her own site, Low Impact Betty. Stay updated on her low impact adventures by connecting with her on Twitter and Facebook.