There are still persistent myths about vegetarian food. We list three of them.
With a vegetarian diet you get too little iron
Women should get about 18 milligrams of iron a day. This is doable, even if you are a vegetarian. It is true that your body absorbs iron from meat, poultry and fish more easily than iron from vegetarian sources such as almonds, apricots, beans, lentils, seeds, broccoli and spinach. The trick is to eat those iron-rich sources in combination with vitamin C – then your body will absorb it more easily. Spinach with lemon juice on top, or tomatoes with the beans and lentils. Or an apricot snack combined with orange wedges.
Vegetarian food makes you slim
It just depends. Substituting meat for healthy foods may cause you to lose a few pounds—or not gain them. For example, a large-scale study from Imperial College London found that people who ate 250 grams of red meat, poultry or processed meat each day gained more weight in five years than people who ate less meat – even if they ate roughly the same amount of calories per day. . Eating no meat for a few days a week can help you maintain your weight, according to research. But you can also gain weight if you become a vegetarian. There are no guarantees when it comes to weight.
It's good for our planet
That's right! If there's one thing that leaves a big footprint behind, it's eating meat. Of course, growing vegetables and legumes also costs necessary energy and raw materials, but much less than for steak.
