What sort of vegetables or fruits do I have to eat in order to stay healthy?

Question

I have recently become a vegetarian, and I was wondering what kinds of vegetables or fruits I would need to eat in order to stay healthy. I know that I will have to eat some beans to get protein. Do I need to eat other foods (not meat) in order to get other vitamins that are found in meat?

Answer 1

Welcome to vegetarianism and congrats!

All fruits and vegetables are good and healthy and have various benefits and nutrients. Some really good fruits and vegetables that have many essential nutrients are:

Green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, mustard greens, etc), potato with the skin, cauliflower, pea, broccoli, cabbage, asparagus, beet, brussel sprout, onion, turnip, squash, sweet potato, and sea vegetables (kombu, nori, dulse, kelp) for veggies. Avocado, dried fruits, strawberry, apple, banana, cantaloupe, grapefruit, orange, berries, watermelon, kiwi, squash, and tomato for fruits.

Yes you do need to eat other foods here:

Nutrition -

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/02/v...

Foods - http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2008/03/v...

To above posters B12 is not only found in meat, the above links would tell you plant based foods to get B12 from. And plant foods are the major dietary sources of selenium in most countries throughout the world, slaughter animals only get it through fortied feed or selium rich soil.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname...

Answer 2

Make sure you include Brazil Nuts.  They contain a mineral that is otherwise only found in meat.  This mineral prevents a lot of cancer.

EDIT  Here is a website with more information for you.  Please note that they say vegetables DO have selenium, but if you look at the numbers you will see that vegetables are very low actually.  Just an ounce or two of Brazil nuts each week should make sure you don't miss this important mineral.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/seleniu...

Answer 3

Hi, I have been vegetarian for a long time.  You should eat all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables to get all the nutrients.  Yes, you are right about eating bean, you should also eat tofu.  Oh, don't forget about your dairy products, egg, milk and cheese.  Meats provide lot of protein, however, with a balanced vegetarian diet (eat everything I described above), you should get all the essential amino acids.

This is not related to your questions, but being healthy depends on other factors as well, please see my article on healthy living:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4470065_be-healt...

Answer 4

There are a couple nutrients that you can only get from animal products, like vitamin B12, vitamin D, and complete proteins.  You should eat a variety of fruits and veggies to get balanced nutrition, and you should know about complete/incomplete proteins (think beans and rice).  

This website has a good rundown of veg nutrition:  http://www.vegsoc.org/info/  

Good luck!

Answer 5

Yes! Beans....but to make a complete protein you need to eat it with brown rice. Hemp powder or mild is another source. oh, nuts and seeds! Nuts do have a enzyme inhibitor so I would take enzymes with nuts or sprout them. If fact ALL cooked foods should be taken with enzymes or your depleting your body of them. Enzymes are not only for digestion...that is probably the least of what they do.

the best way to stay healthy is to eat a mostly raw and sprouted food diet. Juicing and pureeing mostly veggies is great!!!

Being a veg and cooking everything is not that healthy. Cooking kills the enzymes and a lot of the nutrients. Also, eating to many grains is not good for your pancreas it could cause diabetes.

Good luck!

Answer 6

a good variety is probably best. spinach,kale, and other dark greens are good for iron. potatoes are good and starchy.

for your other question.."Do I need to eat other foods (not meat) in order to get other vitamins that are found in meat?"

yes, you should eat   beans,nuts, and legumes for protein.

congrats on turning veg!!!

Answer 7

Google the vegetarian food pyramid to get an idea of the number of servings of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains that you will need each day for optimum nutrition.

The key is variety.  There are not specific fruits and vegetables that you MUST eat, but you'll do best if you eat lots of different kinds and make sure to incorporate lots of different colors.  Dark green veggies are particularly important, but again, choose what you like.  If you don't like broccoli you don't HAVE to eat it (just send it my way!) because you can have spinach, kale or romaine instead.

Answer 8

black beans, apricots, bananas are a good source of potassium, peaches and apples are good.  try baking zuccini in the oven topped with garlic salt and cheese.  good source of clcium, and vegetables!

eggplant is yummy, especialy with carrots!

Answer 9

squash carrots onion avocodo pappaiya  potatoe