Do those New Year’s resolutions have you thinking about giving the vegetarian lifestyle a try? Nutrition is very different for vegetarians, and having been an ovo-lacto (I eat eggs & dairy but no meat/fish/poultry of any kind) vegetarian for 14 years, I wanted to post some information that was very helpful for me when I was beginning this journey. You might be surprised to find that even veggies contain protein. 
Sources of calcium:
**ages 9-18 need 1300 mg/day, ages 19-50 need 1000 mg/day)**
Soy/rice milk 200-300 mg/8 oz
Blackstrap molasses 400 mg/2 Tbsp.
Tofu (processed w/calcium sulfate) 200-330 mg/4 oz
Tofu (processed w/nigari) 80-230 mg/4 oz
Kale, cooked 179 mg/1 cup
Tahini (sesame paste) 128 mg/2 Tbsp.
Almonds 89 mg/ 1/4 cup
Non-meat sources of protein
(eating all of the following=daily protein for an adult male!)
**Take your weight in pounds, divided by 2.2=weight in kilograms. Multiply that number by .8=protein required daily**
oatmeal, old-fashioned rolled oats 6 grams/1 cup
soy milk 8 grams/12 oz
whole wheat bread 8 grams/2 slices
1 bagel 6 grams
peanut butter 9 grams/2 Tbsp.
vegetarian baked beans 12grams/1 cup
tofu 10 grams/5 oz
almonds 6 grams /1 oz
broccoli 3 grams/1 cup
brown rice 5 grams/1 cup
Non-meat sources of iron (adult females need 18 mg/day, males need 8 mg/day):
cooked soybeans 8.8 mg/1 cup
blackstrap molasses 7 mg/2 Tbsp. (great for iron AND calcium!)
lentils 6.6 mg/1 cup
kidney beans 5.2 mg/1 cup
chickpeas/garbanzo beans 4.7 mg/1 cup
lima beans 4.5 mg/1 cup
Swiss chard 4 mg/1 cup
watermelon 1 mg in 1/8 of a medium melon
Sources of Vit. B12 (you need 2-3 micrograms/day) (typically found in animal sources, ESSENTIAL vitamin..deficiency leads to pernicious anemia, which can be fatal)
Dairy products (swiss cheese 3.3 micrograms)
Morningstar Farms meatless crumbles 8.3 micrograms/serving)
Fortified food products (learn to be a label reader)
Vitamin supplements (I take one just to make sure)
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