I have been a vegetarian for a few years now, and just had a full panel blood workup and everything was 100% normal.
You have to learn to eat well, which applies to everyone and not just to vegetarians, in a society where everything is premade and saves us time. Everyone's diet suffers today, regardless of whether you eat meat or not. Finding a good supplement, designed specifically for vegetarians, is a very good idea. Eating a proper diet is no more of a challenge for vegetarians than it is for people who eat meat.
The things that helped me, and prevented me from ever slipping up, was to eliminate ALL fast food from my diet prior to giving up meat, and to be in the habit of ALWAYS preparing my own lunch. Most people slip up because they don't get into these good habits before becoming a vegetarian and find themselves resorting to fast food on a regular basis. Even though a number of fast food places offer vegetarian alternatives, they are catered primarily to the meat industry. And that food is horrible for you to begin with. It is full of fats, additives, a horrendous amount of salt, and should be avoided anyway. Treating fast food as a treat, and not relying on it on a regular basis, will help you avoid falling off the wagon. If you think you might have a hard time giving up fast food, I suggest reading 'Fast Food Nation' - that is what did it for me.
Since becoming a vegetarian I have managed to lose over 70lbs, my face and skin has cleared up competely (and I had serious problems with it before) and I have not suffered even one migraine headache (I was getting them about once a month and was taking narcotics for them they were so severe). I have never felt better physically, and my soul is so much better for it.
There are tonnes and tonnes of awesome resources out there to help you, I would suggest to anyone that you take advantage of them.
You can do this, it is easier than you think, trust me because I absolutely ADORED meat and gave it up cold turkey (excuse the pun) and have never looked back. Remember, the majority of vegetarians were not people who hated meat, they were people like me who absolutely loved meat and never thought they could pull off eliminating it from their diets. Believe me, if I can pull it off - anyone can.
And not only will your own personal health benefit, but the entire planet benefits when our resources are not being used to sustain livestock. Livestock are the number one consumers of natural resources - those animals don't get to be hundreds of pounds at slaughter weight by just breathing air.
Some resources that you can look into are the following:
http://www.goveg.com/
http://www.happycow.net/l_organizations.html
http://www.vrg.org/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/vegetarian_recipes_and_resources.htm
http://www.gourmet-vegetarian.com/vegetarian_resources.asp
Order your FREE vegetarian starter kit here:
http://www.goveg.com/ORDER.ASP
What finally did it for me was that I forced myself to watch 'Earthlings'. I was so traumatized by that documentary that I have not even had one mouthful of meat since. Some of the images in that film still make me have nightmares today and I am not exagerating. Whenever my stomach grumbles a bit when I drive past a KFC or McDonalds, those images will flash through my mind and my feelings of hunger very quickly turn to disgust. I'm very thankful of those images.
Negative motivation doesn't work for everyone, and you really have to have a strong stomach for it, but it worked for me. 'Meet Your Meat' is another documentary that is going to leave you feeling very poorly so I suggest you brace yourself for it. Like 'Earthlings', it contains extremely graphic footage and I really can't see how anyone could ever eat meat again after watching it. 'Earthlings' deals with our overall treatment of animals in society, but 'Meet Your Meat' targets the meat industry alone. Be very prepared for what you are going to see in that video.
Sorry.
