Question: How to avoid the problems of anemia, low hemoglobin and protein deficiency as a vegetarian?
Answer: The main cause of anemia, or low hemoglobin, is a lack of iron. Green vegetables, especially dark green vegetables are very high in iron. So it’s back to that idea when I was mentioning that to eat a lot of greens is necessary. Also when you sprout grains, they increase in the iron content. Then you’re not eating food that robs you of the minerals that take them away. When you eat right, the diet doesn’t deplete the body of the necessary vitamins and minerals so you’ll need as much to do the same job or a better job.
Protein is absolutely not a problem. This whole idea about protein we need is very wrong. See, we are programmed to believe we need a lot of protein and we have to eat a lot of meat because we need a lot of protein. One time somebody asked an authority on this subject, “Oh, where will we get our protein?” He said, “Where does the cow get its protein?”
The time when the human body requires the most protein is when it’s an infant. Everything is developing very fast and it requires the most protein of any time in the life. The perfect food for an infant is mother’s milk. They analyzed the protein content of mother’s milk. It’s 5%. The average protein intake of an adult is 20%. A lot of problems result from too much protein.
So we don’t know a lot of things. We are led to believe a lot of things when a lot of this misinformation comes from the meat industry, which requires the consumption of a lot of meat to make a lot of profit.
Grains, nuts, seeds and beans are very high in protein. Dairy products have a lot of protein as well. So if you include those in your diet, then you’ll have more than enough protein.