It can be very difficult to switch to a meatless way of eating, so you should know what you're getting into before you get into it. Examine the pros as well as the cons, but know that becoming a vegetarian involves more than just not eating meat.
There are all types of vegetarians - those who eat fish, those who don't, those who give up all dairy products including eggs and cheese, and those who simply eat fruits and vegetable and nothing else. The choice is up to you when you are thinking about becoming a vegetarian, but before you throw away that cottage cheese, realize that you will need to do other things that will meet the nutritional needs that your body will be denied without that serving of cottage cheese.
You may want to start off slow and work your way towards totally becoming a vegetarian. Your body, believe it or not, will go through some changes when it is being denied something that they are used to having. Instead of completely cutting out meat abruptly, think about eating fish or chicken instead and then gradually phasing that out if that's where you want to be in the long run.
Another essential part to becoming a vegetarian is to know what nutrients are contained in the foods that you will be eating. Those who don't support the vegetarian lifestyle do so mainly because they feel like the body will be deprived of important vitamins and minerals it needs to be healthy. However, those who have successfully switched to a vegetarian lifestyle know that there are plenty of substitutions that can be made to help make up for the gap that is left by a meatless diet.
Do your research and know that broccoli as well as many dark greens like kale and spinach contain tons of calcium and eating them will give you more than enough to be healthy. Know as well that nuts and grains provide a great source of protein, so if you can get enough of them into your diet, you will also be meeting those nutritional needs.
Becoming a vegetarian can be one of the best things you can do for your body as well as for your life. Those who have already done so have found that they feel better, they have more energy, and they even are able to lose weight without feeling hungry all the time. Take the time to research becoming a vegetarian and then take your time towards this satisfying lifestyle.
Vegetarian Questions and Answers
1. "Where do you get your protein?"
The need of protein for the human body is about a nickel's weight worth, the excess is basically excreted in urine. Based on research, the need for amino acids is highly exaggerated as only 16% or our body is Protein.
2. What about Calcium?
Although milk is a source of calcium, you certainly don't need milk to get plenty of calcium. The milk of any animal is basically too rich humans. It is highly acidic and mucus forming.
Now, to answer the question-can vegans get enough sustenance for calcium needs? Here's some calcium-rich foods to try: spinach, collard greens, kale, , fortified orange juice, sesame seeds, broccoli, almonds, carrots.
3. What about Iron?
Briefly Folks, according to nutritionist, Albert Mosseri; sufficient proof that anemia is not caused by lack of iron in a vegetarian diet is that the disease actually regresses during fasting!
4. What about B12
Sure, the truth is If you used to eat meat, you may already have enough B12 stored in your body to be recycled and re-used for up to twenty or thirty years.
Moreover, those who insist that you may at risk of a vitamin b12 deficiency as a vegetarian are as likely to be deficient as you are. That's because B12 deficiency tends to be caused more often by poor absorption than by inadequate intake
What is the Difference between Vegans and Vegetarians?
To help you clarify what a vegan is here's how you can tell the difference from a vegan and a vegetarian:
Vegans are 100% Pure Vegetarians eat only foods that come from plants, like grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and they exclude all animal by products from their lifestyle (e.g. meat, eggs, dairy, wool, leather, items that contain animal fats, products tested on animals etc.).
Vegetarianism on the other hand is the practice of living on products of the plant kingdom, with or without the use of eggs and dairy products, but excluding entirely the consumption of any part of the body of an animal as food (including chicken, fish and seafood).
What can Vegetarians Eat?
Quite simply, a vegetarian can eat anything that is not of animal origin and is mostly found in the produce section of the grocery stores. I'm talking about Fruits, Vegetables (Leafy and Root Ones), Some Less Harmful whole grains and other permissible products such as Genuine Maple Syrup, Sea Vegetables, etc.
Pescatarians The word "pescatarian" is occasionally used to describe those who abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. Although the word is not commonly used, more and more people are adopting this kind of diet, usually for health reasons or as a stepping stone to a fully vegetarian diet.
Flexitarian/Semi-vegetarian "Flexitarian" is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.
semi-vegetarian: eats meat, but only fish and chicken
lacto-ovo vegetarian: eats no meat, but will eat dairy products (milk, butter, cheese) and eggs.
Lacto-vegetarian is used to describe a vegetarian who does not eat eggs, but does eat dairy products. People who do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products are lacto-ovo vegetarians ("lacto" comes from the Latin for milk, and "ovo" for egg).
ovo-vegetarian: refers to people who do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs.
vegan (say: vee-gun): Vegans do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin. A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed vegan foods that have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius).
Macrobiotic The macrobiotic diet, revered by some for its healthy and healing qualities, includes unprocessed vegan foods, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and allows the occasional consumption of fish.
Why Are People Vegetarians or Vegans?
People usually have different reasons for becoming vegetarians or vegans. Some follow vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diets mostly for health reasons. For instance, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and grains tends to be lower in fat/cholesterol, which is good for your heart and body. It's also likely to be a high fiber diet. Then there are the people who choose a strict vegan diet for ethical reasons, health reasons and/or environmental reasons. No matter what the reason being a vegan or vegetarian does not in any way limit a person's lifestyle choice or deprive a person of anything that a non-vegetarian might have.
And if you would like to understand some of the moral, ethical, environmentally reasons behind Why Vegan, then let's start here ...
It takes 22 times the acres of land to meet the food energy needs of one person eating meat than it does for one person eating potatoes.
It takes more than 13 times the water to produce one day's food supply for an omnivore than it does for a vegan.
It takes 27 times the petroleum to produce a hamburger than it does a soy burger.
The land animals confined and killed every year excrete 130 times the feces and urine produced by humans.
Livestock production also utilizes more than eight percent of global water use, primarily for feed-crop irrigation.
The annual greenhouse gas output from burger consumption is the equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas output from between four and 13 million SUVs.
In the Amazon, approximately 60-70 percent of deforestation results from cattle ranches and soybean cultivation. (ref:vegnews)
Tips for Smart Vegan Living and Health
Vegan Tip 1: Know your nutritional needs - this is some of the best advice we can give. Know how to obtain healthier patterns and nutritional benefits through a wholesome and healthy balanced and varied vegan diet. Do this before you put anything else into practice. Education is the key to any successful venture afterall. So if you are not up to speed with what your body needs nutritionally you may fall short on some vital points. It's actually not that hard to understand nutrition when starting a vegan diet as you don't have to add up all the dairy, meat and eggs - so there are three less foods to have to worry about.
Vegan Tip 2: Your health is the single most important ingredient for life. Look after it by understanding what your own body needs for maximum health and longevity. Grab yourself a great vegan nutritional book, there are many on the market these days. Plus we highly recommend you print off 'The Vegan Food Pyramid' and stick it on your fridge to help clarify what you should be eating and how many servings you need per day for maximum benefit.
Vegan Tip 3: Center your diet on whole plant foods (vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts); Select a wide variety of foods (preferably organic). Minimize your intake of heavily processed foods, junk foods, sugars and fats where possible. And don't forget to drink heaps of pure clean water daily.
Vegan Tip 4: Listen to your body. Eat when you're actually hungry and recognize real hunger from emotional eating. Tune into what your body is saying; if you feel hungry go for a snack of fruits, wholegrain breads, crackers, nuts or even some vegan jerky (yes there are some amazing tasting vegan jerky's out there).
Vegan Tip 5: Make exercise a regular activity in your life. Try to exercise at least 5 times a week, preferably everyday for optimum health; exercise and stretching are essential ingredients for excellent health afterall. For more vibrant energy and health start breathing consciously with greater awareness.
Eating vegan is hardly about deprivation. Vegans have access to such a joy of organizations, restaurants, blogs, cookbooks, nutritionists, ideas and recipes (and yes vegans can even eat junk just like anyone else if they choose to). When you make the effort to understand how to be Vegan or Vegetarian the Successfully Smart way, you can and will change the way you look at life, for the better.
When you choose a vegan diet, you are choosing more than a different way to eat, you are choosing to be more environmentally friendly, ethically aware, and healthier in general.
Vegetarians Vitamin Needs
There are four major groups of vegetarians, in relation to the kind of food they eat and the vitamins they generate from these food sources.
Vegans are those vegetarians who refuse to consume foods other than fruits, grains, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Vegans are particularly noteworthy because they do not intend to consume even eggs and dairy products. Thus, vegans' vitamins and nutrients needs are consisting of calcium, protein, iron and Vitamin B12.
Lacto-vegetarians are like vegans, except that they consume low-fat and processed milk, eggs and other dairy products. Thus, the vitamin needs of these vegetarians are narrowed to only Vitamin B12 since dairies are rich in protein, calcium and iron.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarians are like lacto-vegetarians. But these groups of vegetarians do not limit their dairy foods intake to low-fat. They consume even the fresh and high-fat dairy products. Vitamin needs of these vegetarians are like those of the lacto-vegetarians.
Semi-vegetarians are people who eat chicken and fish but not other types of meat like beef, lamb and pork. Thus, these vegetarians' vitamins needs are far lower compared to their other counterparts since they can assimilate more vitamins from wider food sources.
The principal aim of vegetarians is to drastically cut, if not eliminate, the absorption of fats from food to prevent cholesterol build up that leads to obesity, hypertension, heart ailments, strokes and a host of other diseases.
But by doing so, they compromise their bodies assimilation of other vitamins and nutrients needed for better functioning. Thus, experts note that most vegetarians experience mild to severe deficiencies to some nutrients, minerals and vitamins.
Most vegetarians need more vitamin B12. This is because this vitamin is particularly found only in animal meat. However, to meet the vegetarian's needs for this vitamin, they can resort to eating breakfast cereals, brewers' yeast and soy beverages.
Because vegetarians' vitamin supplies are somehow made limited, they are also subjected to vitamin D deficiency. The need for this vitamin can be satisfied by exposure to direct sunlight because vitamin D is synthesized by the body's skin.
Zinc is a mineral that most vegetarians need more. That is because this is much needed for improved growth among teenagers.
Protein is one nutrient that can only be found mostly in dairy products. But the strict vegetarians' needs for protein can be met by consuming soy products, which are the only plant-sourced food to contain as much protein as dairies.
Plan your diet
Experts and dieticians advise that before you subject yourself to any vegetarianism diet practices, you must first research about them. Get to know the potential vitamin needs that might miss by avoiding several foods.
If you are a vegetarian and your vitamin needs are still not met, consult your doctor to ask about vitamin supplements suited for you.
Remember, vegetarianism is good, but you need to source out those vitamins you need from other sources if you want to maximize the dietary discipline's results.
How do Vegetarians get Protein?
Being vegetarian does not mean your diet will be lacking in protein. Most plant foods contain protein and in fact it would be very difficult to design a vegetarian diet that is short on protein.
Moreover, the irony of the whole protein debate is that being overly concerned about sufficient sources of protein for vegetarians may not even be that necessary as it's been proven that excess dietary protein may lead to health problems.
Of course we all need a certain amount of protein everyday to remain healthy. However, based on misinformation to this effect, several people view the daily consumption of a high-protein diet as beneficial and this in itself may actually be wrong.
According to the French Hygienist, Albert Mosseri, diseases and conditions which can be caused or aggravated by too much protein intake include: Leukemia, Skin Diseases and even Cancer.
Based on the John Robbins work titled: Diet for a New America, the number of people in the US suffering from diseases caused by protein excess is a mind-boggling 40, 000, 000 compared to a measly 3 people suffering from the deficiency of this substance.
For some sufficient sources of protein for vegetarians, here are some recommended items.
1. Green Leaves: Believe or not, these babies have sufficient amounts of protein and of extremely high quality, containing all the essential amino acids. They are highly absorbable and will not ferment in the intestines nor poison the body.
2. Fruits: Some of the fruits containing higher quantities of a protein supply for a vegetarian are -Avocados, Dates, Bananas, Olives
3. Nuts
4. Whole Grains
5. Some root vegetables (such as Sweet Potatoes @ 2% by dry weight.)
6. Legumes (though not necessarily advocated...are a good protein supply for a vegetarian).
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