About Beth Expertise I`ve been a vegetarian for over a decade. During that
time, I have become an expert on the nutritional needs
of vegetarians. I can answer questions about pretty
much anything related to vegetarianism.
I am a 54 year old, 190 poung female who has been a meat eater all of my life. The past month I have been eating vegetarian style and I feel alot sharper and brighter at least my mind does but I have this feeling of trembling inside even though there are no outside effects.
I have been eating like this, fruit or oatmeal for breakfast, a salad for lunch and fish or a bean burrtio for supper with brocolli or salad, I have also beeh havng cucumber sandwiches and tomatoe sandwiches and fruit or veggies for a snack plus milk.
I have more energy and am feeling better and losing weight but I have this sort of trembling feeling inside my body although there is no noticealbe shaking, etc.
I am under alot of stress right now.
Do you feel I am eating adequately on the vegetarian diet or I should be adding more? I am a liitle concerned abou this trmbling.
Please wrtie as soon aa you can.
May God bless you!
Your friend,
Julie
Answer Julie,
Stress can cause a trembling type feeling, but so can a low blood sugar or low vitamin B12 levels. Exercise can help with stress reduction. If that doesn't work, you might check out some self-help books in your local bookstore or on amazon.com.
As far as the blood sugar part goes, you need to make sure that you are getting enough protein. For low B12 levels, you need to be sure that you are eating foods that are fortified with B12 because it is only found in animal products. I assume B12 is not the problem because you said you have been eating fish. Since fish is an animal product - isn't not considered vegetarian either - you are getting B12 from it. If you decide to cut fish out of your diet, the link below will help with substitutions. It will also give you general nutrition info. http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/nutshell.htm#what
I think you should cut out of some of the salads in favor of foods like pasta. You can also substitute pretty much any of the beef and chicken type of meals you liked with faux chicken and beef. You can find the stuff in the frozen foods section of your supermarket. Natural food stores are good places to visit too. There you can find vegetarian chicken and beef flavored stock, as well as anything else you might need to cook vegetarian meals. Good luck, and let me know if you have more questions.
