Should vegetarians take vitamins as a part of their diet? such as centrum?

Question

I am trying to be a vegetarian starting now.

Answer 1

centrum makes me feel sick, but I would suggest you take vitamins and even creatine

Answer 2

Make sure you get your B12 tested regularly and do what your doctor advises.

Answer 3

Thank you for joining us.  Vitamins are not necessary unless you are really not eating well.

The first and most important advice I can give you is buy a really good fortified breakfast cereal.  Also buy a 1/2 gallon of silk soy milk.  If you are not used to it you may want to get very vanilla.  Over time you can work your way down to plain.  It just may take some getting used to...Eat 2 bowls of cereal a day...I eat mine first thing in the morning and the last thing before I go to bed.  If you want to be really hard-core you can drink a V-8...I find the regular tomato type to be grotesque.  Fortunately they have a smoothie type that has fruit and vegetables and I can almost stand that.  Just don't buy v-8 Splash.  That used to be healthy but it's not even close anymore.

Nuts are a must too.  Mid morning a dixie cup size serving is the perfect thing to keep you going, plus give you a protein boost.  

I always eat peanut butter apples or peanut butter sandwiches for lunch with some fruit.  There are other things that I could eat, but I am busy and the protein from the peanut butter is a great thing.  I use natural peanut only peanut butter so that cuts out some of the stuff I don't want like salt and preservatives.

Then for another snack I like soy yogurt and some cut up vegetables.  Air popped popcorn is good too.  You can buy imitation butter stuff or use soy garden spread to melt over it.

For dinner I make chili and corn cake, sloppy joes, and tacos with light life ground (you can use any brand).  I just make the things normally but I use the faux meat to replace the meat.  Some people wonder why vegetarians sometimes like to use imitation meat.  They say it's stupid to give up meat and replace it with something similar.  Well it's not stupid.  It allows us to eat what we are already accustomed to without supporting the meat industry.

We also eat whole wheat spaghetti and meatless meatballs with our fave sauce.  If you cube 1 lb of soy cheese, place it in a saucepan with a splash of milk and constantly stir it on high until the mixture is mealted, you can add it to boiled and drained pasta to make mac and soy cheese.  We serve ours with stewed tomatoes.

Vegetable stir fry is a really great dinner.  Just be sure to eat it with brown rice because it has a lot more protein.  We bought a wok last week and made stir fry for the first time.  It was kind of a pain because we had to do all sorts of weird stuff to season the wok.  It was worth it in the end though.  The only thing I don't like is the fact that the wok is not dishwasher safe.

Another thing you may like is Tofutti better than cream cheese on a whole wheat bagel.  It's great!

We also like to make pasta salad with lots of vegetables.

I hope this information helped you.  If you have any specific questions about my recipes or anything else that you think I may be able to help with, you can e-mail through yahoo.  I am always here to help a new vegetarian.

When I first became a vegetarian I didn't have any help.  This is not something you want to enter into blindly, trust me.  But the answer to your original question is no.  You really don't need vitamins.  If you really feel that you want to take them though, be sure you buy ones for vegetarians.  Some pills are coated in gelatin and that's an animal product.  Some vitamins have fish oil and other animal products in them too.  Watch out!  Take care.

Answer 4

Centrum is toxic, hun. You really don't want to know the poison that's in that stuff. I'm vegan and I don't take any supplements. I must admit that the only fortified food I have is soy milk, but other than the B12 that's in it, I'm practically getting everything else by eating BIG, RAW salads, staying out in the sun, and eating a variety of plant foods! :)

Answer 5

you need vitamin b12

Answer 6

Vitamin supplements are only needed if you don't eat right..sadly..many people don't so vitamins may be a good idea for those who don't.

Answer 7

They kill animals. Dont take them.

Answer 8

Most multivitamins have animal products in them, such as the gelatin that binds tham together. Look for brands like Trader Joe's, which use a vegetable binding.

And as far as who should take vitamins, it depends on the person. If you eat a properly balanced and well planned diet, there's no need to spend the extra money on vitamins you are already getting, and that goes for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike. However, if you don't pay much attention to what you eat, you may need them. It's not the diet, but the lifestyle that will determine your anwer.