I need vegetarian advice:

[mrdude]

$40 a month can get expensive. have use considered using sublingual methylcobalamin? the absorption is almost as good and is much less expensive. plus, there are no needles

[emilybh]

Are you eating other dark green leafy vegetables like kale and cabbage? Spinach is not the best dark green veggie to eat. It is high in Oxalic acid which is not good. What about WHOLE GRAINS? Are you eating brown rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat with your veggies? Also sea veggies have exponentially more nutritional value than regular vegetables.Blackstrap molasses is loaded with iron. You could try adding in some of those things to your diet. Also nuts and seeds are good. Are you eating any iron depeting foods such as soft drinks, asprin, ice cream, antacids,tea, coffee and bran cereals? Cut back on them if you are.

[CosmicWizard]

Spirulina is a good vegetarian source of B12. In fact, many vegetarians consider Spirulina to be a vegetarian super food.

A brief quote from the linked article above:

Spirulina and Vitamin B12 Controversy

A major argument frequently used to support the consumption of animal foods in the diet and negate the tremendous value of Spirulina incorrectly states that plants do not contain vitamin B12. A single serving of Spirulina contains 45% of your daily value of vitamin B12. That's good news and reassuring for vegetarians, many of who are incorrectly led to believe that eating animal food is critical to getting this essential blood building vitamin

blessings...Franco

[yhwhshalomjr]

Originally Posted by staceface

I've been a vegetarian for about a year now, and I like to donate blood regularly. Since I've changed my diet, my iron has been too low, but I've followed everything that everyone has told me to do. Every day I take vegetarian supplement pills, I eat a huge spinach salad with tofu and cheese, I eat fruit, and I make sure that I have about 1400 calories. What am I doing wrong? I even started taking an extra vitamin every morning... it seems that nothing is helping.

This is my 2 cents worth. why don't you throw in some dried beans, lentils,etc
and take a sublingual B-12/complex, in drops or tabs, your vitamins are probably still somewhere in the gut, (long story), throw in some blueberries and prunes and I believe you'll do just fine, the hardest thing may be acquiring a taste for some of these foods. Balance is the key, I used to be a vega about 35 years ago and It was the in thing then, but now I eat a balanced diet and omit red meats and pork (not for religious reasons) and consume the above things I suggested and, Wow I don't feel my age, and certainly don't look my age and am more healthy than i was at 35. Hope my 2cents helps some... or maybe my 10cents!! LOL