Foods For a Balanced Diet

Like many of you know its pretty common for people to tell you, when they find out your vegetarian/vegan, that you are deficient in certain things and that you are going to get sick. Although this can be true by not paying attention to your nutrient intake, it differs from person to person and how well they plan their diet.(And P.S. I think it's funny when a non-vegetarian says this because I guarantee if they went to the doctor, just because they eat meat, doesn’t mean there not deficient in anything or have a perfectly balanced diet.) Below I made a list of the top 5 nutrients that vegetarian/vegans can be deficient in by not eating animals and/or animal products and what you can eat to make sure you're getting these nutrients.

The top 5 nutrients that vegetarian/vegans

can be deficient in are:

1.      Vitamin B-12- This one is hard to get in other foods so most people just take a supplement.

2.      Iron- There are tons of foods you can eat to get iron- some of them being: tofu, lima beans, potato, pinto beans, kidney beans, kale, pumpkin seeds, black beans, spinach, broccoli, almonds, quinoa, raisins, green beans, whole wheat,oats, corn, peanuts, blueberries, bananas and raspberries.

3.      Zinc- Ways you can get this is through baked potato, oats, pumpkin seeds, soybeans, rice, kidney beans, ginger root, wild rice, peas, leeks, lentils, cashews, sunflower seeds, and lima beans.

4.      Omega-3- The best way to get this nutrient is through flax seed, walnuts, and chia seeds

5.      Calcium- Drink soy, rice, almond or other milk substitute. (I LOVE almond milk) and of course, I limit my dairy intake so I don't usually eat these products, but you can get your calcium from real milk.

One last tip that helps me- I always carry almonds, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds in your car, purse, etc. This helps me get at least 2 of the nutrients above. It also helps me with my weight control because when I'm on the run and I get hungry I just eat a few nuts/seeds and prevent myself from getting super starved so won't to pig out when I do eat. Also when I have them on me it reminds me to eat them!

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog, these are my opinions, I am not a doctor, nor a specialist. This is all information I've learned from multiple books, documentaries, and researching online.