Would you eat seafood?

My doctor said that I needed the salmon because of my Vitamin D level and not for the Omega -3s. Do you know of any other non-animal based foods where I could get the extra vitamin d? I do take a supplement but it is still too low. Why does it seem that everyone is so confused on what vegetarian actually means. Vegan is easy - no animal products whatsoever. If you are saying that vegetarians are the same then what is the point of having a different name from vegans. There are some "vegetarians" that eat fish, but not eggs or dairy, some that have eggs but not fish or dairy, and others that have dairy but not fish or eggs. All I know is that I gave up meat (that includes any land animal/bird) two years ago, and that is good enough for me right now. People keep trying to get me to go back to eating it, but I don't want to. As I said I only started eating fish again because of my doctor's advice, but I do still have eggs and dairy once in awhile.

Hello again! Vitamin D is best absorbed through the body as sunlight. 10 minutes of direct sunlight a day (with no sunscreen because UV rays is what starts the Vitamin D process within the body) will give you very near 100% of this vitamin. There are exceptions to this rule; if your body cannot synthesize the vitamin very well, you won't get 100% from sunlight, or if you live in some highly north areas of the world you won't get as much at certain times either. Food sources that are vegetarian of Vitamin D include milks of any kind (dairy, soy, almond, etc.), soy margarines, etc. No, a vegetarian is not the EXACT same thing as a vegan. A vegan is going the whole way, a "pure" vegetarian if you will. I'm going to put a list here so I don't confuse you: Vegan: No meat (fish and chicken as well), dairy, honey, eggs, animal ingredients, or animal products including silk, leather, etc. Lacto-ovo vegetarian: This is what most people think of when they think of the generic word "vegetarian." This vegetarian eats no meat (including beef, poultry and fish) but does eat both eggs and dairy. Lacto vegetarian: No meat, no eggs, but does eat dairy. Ovo vegetarian: No meat, no dairy, but does eat eggs. Pescetarian: No beef or pork, may eat fish and/or chicken. Flexitarian/Semi-vegetarian: For those who never can find it in themselves to go the whole way, this describes those who usually go with a vegetarian diet (any kind), but occasionally eat meat. Many regular vegetarians that aren't to veganism yet also watch out for animal ingredients in foods and avoid certain products made with animals. Before I went vegan, for example, I avoided milk but not all dairy, animal ingredients, and animal products such as leather. It's up to the person as to what all they avoid, but I hope the above list will help.:)

great answer

You can get iron from dark green leafy veggies, such as spinach, nuts and seeds, soy products. You probably getting more than an meat-eater. After all, vegans concentrate on grains, veggie, and fruits. Going Veg is way better and better for the poor conditions of animals. You don't have a constant stream of hormones and antibiotics. here is a site that can make you happy check it out: These are things at everyday grocery stores such as pop tarts, pie shells. While some of these choices aren't necessarily the healthiest, they are great!!! http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/default.asp

If you are interested I can share a few simple recipes!! Let me know!!

I'm glad you mentioned that Silk actually has more of the vitamin. I've noticed it's much easier getting the vitamins and minerals I need as a vegan. Believe it or not, I was told I needed more iron in my diet when I was a meat eater (which made my parents even angrier when I went vegan, because they thought I was going to make it worse). I was not "anemic yet" is what the doctor told me. Soon after I went vegan my mom made an appointment for me to get bloodwork done because she really thought I was making myself worse. The results came back that I was getting a little over the norm of iron, but not too much to worry about. When you go vegetarian and/or vegan and actually do it right, you find yourself researching nutrition and knowing more than the average person because all the hype of how it's bad not to eat meat. I went to school for dietetics (the study of nutrition), and was the only vegan in one of the first nutrition classes I took. I couldn't believe most of the people were meat eaters...in a nutrition class! Being vegan for years beforehand definitely set me up for it, though. I had one of the top grades in the class. Sorry for ranting, but what you said definitely made me think back to these points in my life. People come too accustomed to associating meat with protein and iron, and dairy with calcium. No wonder we have such high rates of osteoperosis, heart disease, and cancer. :(