Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.10 $; site uiucdcsp Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucdcsp!leimkuhl From: leimkuhl@uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU Newsgroups: net.veg Subject: Re: OOPS. Finishing last message Message-ID: <17700010@uiucdcsp> Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 14:40:00 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcsp.17700010 Posted: Tue Feb 4 14:40:00 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Feb-86 21:37:03 EST References: <3728@glacier.ARPA> Lines: 41 Nf-ID: #R:glacier.ARPA:3728:uiucdcsp:17700010:000:2016 Nf-From: uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU!leimkuhl Feb 4 13:40:00 1986 Robin- I agree with you %100. There are much more fundamental points to talk about. Most veggies spend there whole lives defending their practice, and it's nice to get a chance to talk about food without getting in an argument. As for protein balance, the first rule of thumb is to ignore most of the old concepts of minimum protein. You really don't need all that much. If you drink milk with meals, eat yogurt, cheese, and eggs and peanut butter, as well as balanced bean and grain creations occasionally you can be quite lackadaisical about balancing proteins. This is the word from several vegetarian doctors here at the UI (every time I tell a doctor I'm a vegetarian, I find that he is too!). Very important for you, because you are a woman, is that you get enough iron. You almost have to take a supplement unless you are working very hard to get enough by eating spinach, etc. Men don't lose their stores of iron each month, so it is less of a problem. Finally, there is the B-vitamin problem. The only way the veggie gets B-12 in a normal diet (excluding plankton eaters) is through eggs. If you've asked around at all, you'll know that eggs are on the "bad" list with doctors these days: I heard that 4 maximum/week is sensible. The thing about B-12 is that your body stores about 1-2000mcg (mostly in the digestive tract) as you stop replacing these stores, you can eventually lose it. This process takes 2-5 years, so it may be too late by the time you find it--and that can be quite serious. If you take antibiotics, you can wipe out your supply much faster since they tend to destroy B-12 along with other organisms. My advice: take a B-complex supplement every now and then (say once or twice a week) just to keep the supply up, more when you're on antibiotics. Since your body absorbs and stores it, you probably don't need to take it every day. My supplement is 12mcg--about 6 times the RDA--anyway. Now what am I not getting that I don't know about? -Ben Leimkuhler