Also you've only been vegetarian a year. Being a vegetarian from birth to death without supplements would be much more difficult to do without major deficiencies.
Also vegetarians today have the option of buying food from all over the world, but that wasn't the case for the vast majority of human history.
I'm all for lab produced everything, but it's not good enough yet for me to feel comfortable trying to outsmart nature.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6540890
https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/malnutr...
Guess where do you get folic acid, b12, etc from?
As a side note, OTC supplements are not as effective. You need prescription supplements if anyone is considering going vegetarian.
Another factor is, the number of insects that accidentally get into the food supply provide some protein. I remember reading about how a more primitive lifestyle leads to more insects being in the food supply, which provides some of the necessary protein for humans to thrive. But I can't find the link at the moment.
1: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/80-india...
fwiw - "vegetarian" doesn't count for animal well-being. Egg laying chickens and milk cows are treated really badly and their agony is rather prolonged for the duration of their "productive life".
Everyone needs Omega 3/6/9. You can get it from nuts and algae. IF you want to be inefficient and introduce a middleman, you can get it from fish.
B12 is needed by everyone. The meat you eat has it supplemented. Again, you can cut out the middleman and get it directly as a supplement rather than having a cow killed.
Beef is ~1800lbs.
Not particularly efficient is it