Hi Allison,

[Guest guest]

, " born_of_beltane "

<mysteriousdarkness wrote:

>

> I'm not new as such, I joined AGES ago, but couldn't be a

vegetarian

> at the time due to health issues.. anyway, i'm back and willing to

> kick the meat...

>

> Firtly a quck intro- unlike some of the other newbies here, i don't

> live somewhere in rural America- i live in Melbourne city,

Australia,

> and am a full-time student and part-time checkout chick- so

> basically, have NO money. I know you guys have heaps of nice

recipes

> on here, and I can't wait to start looking- but first, I need to

know

> what some basic replacements are in cooking...

>

> Obviously replacing meat is a big thing... I know about tofu- but

> thats it. There must be more than just Tofu!! (and those 'textured

> vegetable proteins' seem to be full of crap- is this so?).

>

> Also replacing eggs! Even if i'm not vego, i'm still morally

against

> eggs unless they come from my very own chickens who lay them of

their

> own accord- but i don't have chickens anymore, so there goes that

> idea....

>

> also i don't eat cheese or much milk (i only use it in recipes that

> call for it), so am worried about my intake of certain vitamins-

B12

> I believe is one of them.... is there anywhere you can get B12 (and

> various other vitamins) except in fortified soymilk, since longlife

> soymilk SUCKS?

>

> thanking you in advance,

> Allison.

>

This is what I could round up, for you:

 

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/eggsubstitute.htm

 

If you give up dairy, your best source of protein is in beans.

Naturally, there are protein powders.

 

 

Reliable Vegan Sources of Vitamin B12

A number of reliable vegan food sources for vitamin B12 are known.

One brand of nutritional yeast, Red Star T-6635+, has been tested and

shown to contain active vitamin B12. This brand of yeast is often

labeled as Vegetarian Support Formula with or without T-6635+ in

parentheses following this new name. It is a reliable source of

vitamin B12. Nutritional yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a food

yeast, grown on a molasses solution, which comes as yellow flakes or

powder. It has a cheesy taste. Nutritional yeast is different from

brewer's yeast or torula yeast. those sensitive to other yeasts can

often use it.

 

The RDA for adults for vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms daily (1). About

2 rounded teaspoons of large flake Vegetarian Support Formula (Red

Star T-6635+) nutritional yeast provides the recommended amount of

vitamin B12 for adults (2). A number of the recipes in this book

contain nutritional yeast.

 

Another source of vitamin B12 is fortified cereal. For example,

Nature's Path Optimum Power cereal does contain vitamin B12 at this

time and about a half cup of this cereal will provide 2.4 micrograms

of vitamin B12 (3). We recommend checking the label of your favorite

cereal since manufacturers have been known to stop including vitamin

B12.

 

Other sources of vitamin B12 are vitamin B12 fortified soy milk,

vitamin B12 fortified meat analogues (food made from wheat gluten or

soybeans to resemble meat, poultry, or fish), and vitamin B12

supplements. There are vitamin supplements that do not contain animal

products.

 

Vegans who choose to use a vitamin B12 supplement, either as a single

supplement or in a multivitamin should use supplements regularly.

Even though a supplement may contain many times the recommended level

of vitamin B12, when vitamin B12 intake is high, not as much appears

to be absorbed. This means in order to meet your needs, you should

take a daily vitamin B12 supplement of 5-10 micrograms or a weekly

vitamin B12 supplement of 2000 micrograms (4).

 

We store between 2 and 5 micrograms of vitamin B12 and only excrete a

very small fraction of this each day. Nevertheless, over time,

vitamin B12 deficiency can develop if stores are not replenished with

vitamin B12 from the diet or from supplements. Although bacteria in

the large intestine of humans do produce vitamin B12, this vitamin

B12 does not appear to be absorbed (5) and is not adequate to prevent

a vitamin B12 deficiency (6). Although some vegans may get vitamin

B12 from inadequate hand washing, this is not a reliable vitamin B12

source.

 

Tempeh, miso, sea vegetables, and other plant foods are sometimes

reported to contain vitamin B12. These products, however, are not

reliable sources of the vitamin. The standard method for measuring

vitamin B12 in foods measures both active and inactive forms of

vitamin B12. The inactive form (also called analogues) actually

interferes with normal vitamin B12 absorption and metabolism (7).

When only active vitamin B12 is measured, plant foods including

fermented soyfoods and sea vegetables do not contain significant

amounts of active vitamin B12 (8).

 

Very small amounts of vitamin B12 have been found in plants grown in

soil treated with manure (9). It is not clear whether this vitamin

B12 is the active form or the inactive analogue. In any case, the

amounts are so small that more than 23 cups of organically grown

spinach would have to be eaten every day in order to meet the adult

RDA for vitamin B12 (9,10).

 

 

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Good luck, Jack