The anecdotal evidence that has been given in this thread, in my opinion, is unhelpful.
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A well-balanced normal diet, as recommended by a majority of the reputable medical and dietary community, actually is a near-vegetarian one. One of the steps to a "well-balanced" diet is to severely reduce the amount of meat that is commonly eaten as part of a Western-style diet. The "normal", as in average, omnivore diet is nowhere near a healthy one and often leads to malnutrition. Overconsumption so prevalent in western countries nowadays, ironically enough, is often accompanied by deficiency of vitamins and minerals. While it is true that a vegetarian diet in modern times demands planning, the same holds true for an omnivore diet. Both vegan as well as non-vegetarian diets are risky if poorly planned.
Maybe we should be more interested in looking for common ground. I'd think that most doctors or dietitians who don't flat-out recommend vegetarian diets, would not dispute the positive health impact of a well-planned diet that is mainly made up of a wide variety of unprocessed vegetables, legumes, grain products, beans, lentils, pulses, fruits , nuts and seeds with a small amount of dairy, some fish and otherwise as little additional meat as possible. I'd venture a guess that this is something we could all agree on. Replacing the remaining animal products takes some planning and research to make sure that nutritional components that are easy to get from animal products can be gotten from non-animal sources in sufficient amounts (i.e. mainly calcium, Vitamin B12 and D (possibly zinc, iodine, essential fatty acids
). For example, Omega-3 fatty acids can be gotten from ground flax seeds, iodine is often added to salt, vitamin D can be provided by adequate exposure to sunshine every day, soy milk and meat-substitutes are often fortified with B12&calcium etc.... It's not hard to do, but you do have to do the research and act on it. Such a vegan diet will provide all necessary nutrients.
Of course, regardless of the diet, other unhealthy factors to consider are a sedentary lifestyle, stress, sleep deprivation, emotional issues etc.
I would recommend this very comprehensive book that is chock-full of relevant theoretical nutritional information as well as helpful practical tips.
"Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis, R.D. & Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.
