Lauren's Corner

Is a Vegetarian Diet for You?

Making the switch to a vegetarian diet is nothing to be taken lightly. Adopting the mindset to go vegetarian is not as simple as eliminating the meat off your plate and eating the rest. Whether you have decided to choose the vegetarian lifestyle for moral reasons, or for weight control, there are some important steps to meeting your nutritional needs. A vegetarian or vegan diet may be your first step towards a very healthy change in lifestyle. A Vegan is someone who has chosen to take the vegetarian diet a step further by eliminating all the milk based foods including eggs, essentially avoiding all foods with a relationship to any animal, this would also include all fish and shellfish.

There are more pro's than con's with a vegetarian diet and lifestyle. Just let me say that it is more widely accepted today than ever before. Most restaurant menus have adopted a whole section to healthy vegetarian choice meals. You can even request a vegetarian meal when traveling. There are now whole aisles in the local grocery markets that cater to "vegan" and "vegetarian" modified foods and prepared meals.

There are some very important steps to meeting your nutritional and dietary needs when you choose to eliminate meat and dairy from your daily diet. A well planned vegetarian diet is a healthy way to meet your dietary needs. In this article, I am including the Vegetarian Food Pyramid for you to refer to when menu planning or grocery shopping. This food pyramid is also helpful when traveling and eating out in restaurants. You will find the Vegetarian Food Pyramid to be a helpful tool outlining certain food groups that need to be included in your daily meals and eaten in the right quantities. Much like the traditional food pyramid that we learned about in school, the Vegetarian Food Pyramid breaks down your intake into foods to be eaten at every meal, daily and weekly.

It would also be helpful to purchase a good vegetarian cookbook, not only will this be helpful when creating vegetarian meals for your family, friends and holidays, these books usually contain great advice on how to substitute certain ingredients that may contain animal fat and dairy products for vegan alternatives that can be used in cooking and baking recipes.

Positive Factors Associated with a Vegetarian Diet.

Did you know that Vegetarians have been reported to have a lower body mass index as well as lower incidents of death due to heart disease? Vegetarians also have lower blood cholesterol levels as well as lower blood pressure. A vegetarian healthy lifestyle can also eliminate Type II Diabetes and prostate problems in men. Most people that choose a vegetarian diet often adopt other additional healthy habits such as frequent physical exercise, extra exposure to sunlight which provides important Vitamin D absorption.

Vegetarian Health FAQ's
Frequently Asked Questions about Vegan & Vegetarian Diet.

What about Organic?
Although organic foods may be considered for natural healthy diet choices, they are usually considered vegan or vegetarian friendly.

What about Protein?

If your caloric intake per day is sufficent and you include a wide variety of plant foods in each meal, then meeting your protein needs should be simple. Be sure to refer to the Vegetarian Food Pyramid provided in this article. As a matter of fact, most Americans consume twice the amount of protein as needed in their daily diets.

What about meeting my Iron needs?

An important note to remember is that Iron is better absorbed when eating foods containing Vitamin C along with foods containing high sources of Iron. Some vegetarians have higher percentage of Iron deficiency than people including meat to their diet. This can easily be avoided by eating the proper amounts of high protein plant foods such as peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, oatmeal, soy milk, tofu, hummus, black beans, lentils and dark green leafy vegetables.

What about Vitamin B12 Intake?

The best sources of Vitamin B12 are found in animal protein. Although vegetables contain a plentitude of other vitamins and minerals they are not the best source of Vitamin B12. All Vegetarians should supplement their diets with a Multi-Vitamin, a B12 Vitamin or look for foods that say "fortified with Vitamin B12 and Calcium."

How Can I get Enough Calcium?

The most excellent sources of calcium other than consuming large amounts of dairy, come from fortified orange juice and non-dairy products as well as getting plenty of Broccoli, Kale, Collard greens and Spinach. There are certain misconceptions about humans need for cow's milk - Most dairy products are extremely high in cholesterol, saturated fat and unwanted calories. Taking a good calcium supplement is also recommended.

After reading this article, if you have decided that a Vegetarian diet or Vegan lifestyle might be for you, you might like to take a look at these Vegan Specialty Foods!

Have a Healthy Day!