AIBU to ask for help with vegetarian diet?

[Bloomingpin]

I’ve become a vegetarian for the last month. It wasn’t really a gradual thing and I did it overnight.

however I do have anaemia. And I’m aware that my diet is probably not very nutritionally balanced and I need to massively increase my protein levels.

are there any meals or good sources of protein you can recommend? I’m not so keen on soy or tofu.

should I be taking vitamin supplements? I’m keen not to go back to meat but want to sort this out sooner rather than later.

This guide to nutrition for new veggies by the Vegetarian Society is a great place to start:

https://issuu.com/vegsoc/docs/new_veggie_guide_v7_forweb

Enjoy your new way of life! It's been over 30 years for me now, and I'd never go back.

I'd find a private dietician to support you. Are you have any medical treatment for the anaemia? If not, speak to your GP.

I add frozen soya beans to most things for protein.

Nutritional yeast for vitamin b12, you can add this to anything.
beans, lentils, etc are staples.

I went to a dietician as a teenager for advice about becoming vegetarian - it was my parents condition for being allowed to do it.

Never been anaemic in the 30 years since, despite regular periods the entire time and regular blood donations. No supplements.

It’s actually unlikely you’ve become anaemic from an entirely normal haemoglobin in a month, your diet before may not have been adequate either. Whoever diagnosed you as anaemic is the best person to guide supplementation.

If you eat iron together with vitamin C, you'll absorb more. A good over the counter supplement is Floradix.

As for protein, look into protein complementary. Proteins are made from amino acids. Eggs, soya and quinoa are complete proteins - they contain all of the essential amino acids.
Other vegetable proteins need to be eaten together, eg;
Brown rice and lentils (mujadara)
Beans on wholemeal toast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining

I take vegan supplements ( vegan but was veggie previously) and eat lots of beans! Also, I personally think fake meat is really nice.

I'm veggie, have been forever. Not a massive fan of the fake meat. For protein I eat lots of nuts, edamame beans, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, beans, lentils, quinoa, halloumi, chickpeas (hummus, falafel). Some tofu is definitely better than others -the smoked toofoo one is a particular hit. Some fake meat is nicer too.
Dark chocolate with a couple of dried apricots and a glass of orange juice is good to top up the iron levels.

I personally rate Floradix supplement of you prefer not to take the prescribed iron tablets. I seem to remember the amount of iron per dose is lower but it was easy to take and didn’t make me constipated!

Diet wise, make your go to snacks dark chocolate and citrus - oranges, clementines, grapefruit.

Put dried fruit, some fresh fruit such as grated apple (for vit C) and a spoon of pumpkin seeds in your morning porridge, on (iron fortified) cereal, or with yoghurt. Dried apricots are good.

If you drink plant milks, choose a fortified one.

Keep frozen French beans and peas in the freezer as an easy iron rich side to any main meal. Nettles are also iron rich, and usually free.

sources of protein to consider including / trying / including

nuts and nut butters - the cheapest and most readily available is peanut butter but there are plenty around if you have access to larger supermarkets / health food stores.

Seeds and seed butters - tahini is sesame seed paste, halva is a sweet made from sesame seed paste. Some wholewheat breads have seeds added and the bread is therefore a source of protein.

Beans & Peas - houmous is a garlicky chick pea paste, it's good on toast and to dip crunchy vegetables in. Refried beans with mexican food, soya (edamme) beans are great with basically anything but I particularly like them with miso soup. But remember baked beans on toast is still a great way of including beans in your diet. Not all good vegetarian food has to be expensive or exotic.

Try to have some protein with each meal. I switched out quinoa (with chopped figs and walnuts) for breakfast instead of oatmeal, or scrambled tofu. Or peanut butter on toast. Or green peas. Edamame for a snack. Lentils, chick peas, beans, split peas soup. Lots of greens.

https://www.lazycatkitchen.com/greek-chickpeas-on-toast/
This ia a delicious unprocessed alternative to baked beans. I use tinned chopped tomatoes.

How do you know you're anaemic? Was this a pre-existing condition?
If you're eating plenty of green leafy veg, along with some of the suggestions above (dried fruit, legumes/beans etc), you should be getting enough iron.

If you're only vegetarian then obviously you could get all your protein from eggs milk and cheese.

Lentils, spinach (all veg really, particularly leafy greens), chickpeas, nutritional yeast, multivitamins. Also extra iron supplements...
Let us know what an average day of meals looks like for you x