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What you need to know if you don't eat meat

What you need to know if you don t eat meat

National Meatless Week has started. Will you join us? If you decide to take it easy with meat or stop altogether, it's good to know these things.

Full replacement for meat

Meat contains essential nutrients including iron, protein, vitamins B12 and B1. The following products are full replacements:

  • Pulses
  • Tofu and tempeh
  • Nuts, peanuts and kernels
  • Eggs

Read also: 'Food blogger Isabel Boerdam:'Always eating vegan is a bridge too far for me'

Vitamin B12

If you are a vegetarian, it may be wise to take vitamin B12. As a vegetarian, you can in principle get enough vitamin B12 from dairy, cheese and eggs, but you run a greater risk of developing a deficiency.

Cheese

Cheese is not a full-fledged substitute, because it contains no iron. Mushrooms are also not a full-fledged replacement:they contain too little protein.

Help the climate

A week without meat saves you about 130 liters of water. This amount was otherwise needed for animal feed production, livestock farming and preparing your portion of meat. Please note:this does not apply if you exchange meat for vegetarian burgers and schnitzels. So rather skip it. Moreover, they often contain a lot of salt.

Week menu

Don't know what to eat if you want to participate in the National Meatless Week? You will find plenty of inspiration in Santé's weekly menu in the February issue of Santé!