In the following story, a professional nutritionist recommends what you should eat on a “low calorie” diet – and leaves out all meat, thus insuring if you do this long term, you will become vitamin B12 deficient: What to Eat on a Low-Calorie Diet, According to a Dietitian
She has left out the vitamin B12 deficiency issue but to her credit, she does say you should consult with a doctor and dietician. Has our species evolved to require “experts” to tell us what to eat, and to use apps and spreadsheets to track our food inputs? This is bizarre.
Regardless, I agree with that: if you intend to eat vegetarian or vegan, you must let your doctor know, you do need to consult with an expert on vegetarian eating, and you will need to have your blood nutrient levels periodically checked. Hopefully if she is giving individualized advice, she is doing better than this broad public statement in the above article.
Her sample menu has essentially zero sources of vitamin B12!
I followed the widespread (and wrong) advice to reduce or eliminate meat consumption – advice from “pros” in books and print and online, all of whom neglected to mention vitamin B12 deficiency.
Over the last two years, my health declined, and I experienced numerous serious health problems – all caused by having become an “accidental vegetarian”. Over time, my B12 stores were consumed (I also had hepatitis during this, which may ruin your liver’s ability to store B12 – but no one mentioned that). By the end of 2023, I was very sick – when I accidentally discovered vitamin B12. Taking vitamin B12 began reversing the health problems within 24 hours although it will likely take 2-4 months to fully recover. My doctor has me taking a daily vitamin B12 supplement now.
Unfortunately, as I have seen over decades, most nutrition advice publicly promoted ranges from completely wrong to incomplete, leading to health problems, not solutions. The field has a terrible credibility problem.
By the way, eating vegetarian saved me zero dollars – in fact, I spent over $5,000 out of pocket on medical tests that found nothing wrong. The B12 deficiency was discovered by me, accidentally – story too long to explain here. This was then confirmed by my doctor and blood tests (more out of pocket expenses). I now eat an omnivore diet and will not ever return to vegetarian eating.
