When you decide to stop eating meat, stop eating fish, or stop eating both meat and fish, it’s important not to do so without careful consideration, but to thoroughly research any factors you need to be aware of regarding your body.
Not eating meat or fish means you’re not getting all the nutrients your body desperately needs.
Essential Nutrients
How does that work, exactly? Your body needs essential nutrients to ensure that all its bodily processes function properly. Protein, for example, is essential for building strong muscles and maintaining a healthy immune system. Meat is a major source of protein.
Protein is also found in dried legumes, eggs, dairy products, and grains—foods you can eat as alternatives if you don’t eat meat or fish. For those who don’t eat meat or fish, it’s important to combine foods to ensure you get enough protein. But the protein in legumes, for example, is different from that in grains, so it’s important to include a food from each category in every meal.
For example, your body absorbs iron from meat more easily than iron from plant-based foods. So this requires extra attention if you consciously choose not to eat meat or fish.
What do you need if you don't eat meat but do eat fish? Or if you don't eat meat or fish?
What nutrients are you missing if you don't eat meat? If you're going to stop eating meat, make sure you're getting enough protein, iron, and vitamins B1 and B12.
Not eating meat, but eating fish?
In that case, eat legumes or a serving of nuts, seeds, eggs, soy products, and fish instead of meat—preferably fatty fish. It’s also a good idea to include vegetables, bread, other grain products, and dairy.
In addition, vegetarians need 20% more protein than people who eat meat. If you don’t eat any animal products at all, you need 30% more protein than people who eat meat and fish. This has to do with the amino acids in protein and how easily it is digested.
No fish, but meat: what are you missing?
Not eating fish? Unfortunately, you can’t replace fish with another food on a one-to-one basis, because the health benefits of fish are unique. This is especially true if you’re following a diet that excludes both meat and fish. However, you can still get the fatty acids EPA and DHA found in fish by taking fish oil (capsules) to continue reaping the health benefits of omega-3.
Order fish oil or vegan algae oil easily online!
What nutrients do you need as a pregnant vegetarian or vegan?
Are you pregnant and following a vegan or vegetarian diet? If so, it’s especially important to keep track of your nutritional needs. Especially if you choose not to eat meat or fish during your pregnancy, supplements are essential. Do you eat fish less than twice a week—or not at all? If so, make sure to maintain adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids by taking supplements.
Omega-3 is especially important for your unborn baby and while you're breastfeeding.
Pregnant and not eating meat or fish: What extra nutrients do you need?
When you are pregnant, the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA from fish or fish oil are necessary for the development of the baby’s retina and brain. The mother’s intake of DHA contributes to the normal development of the fetus’s eyes and, in breastfed infants,
During the last 3 months of pregnancy and the first few months after birth, your baby’s brain grows significantly in proportion to its size. Your baby gets this omega-3 from the mother’s body.
Are you a vegetarian or vegan looking to get more omega-3? Then take algae oil capsules as a supplement.
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