Eating A Healthful Vegetarian Diet
Eating can be enjoyable but what about eating a healthful vegetarian
diet.
Many people start vegetarian and vegan diets without devoting an adequate amount
of time to nutritional research and meal planning. As a result, a considerable amount of people who start
vegetarian diets do not last for more than 1-2 months.
Many dieters who fail to carefully research and plan complain that they lack energy -
and often experience a significant loss in muscle mass. Others observe a number of other more peripheral problems
that come with a poorly-planned vegetarian
diet.
The first group--the group that most failed dieters fall into--is actually
experiencing a form of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). PEM emerges when a person fails to consume enough
protein, leading to muscle loss - and subsequently feelings of weakness that are often accompanied by head and
muscle aches. This problem can be circumvented by dietary alterations.
A vegetarian who is experiencing PEM should either a) find out what foods
contain what amino chains, so they can combine them to form proteins; or b) start consuming
larger amounts and more diversified sources of protein, such as nuts, soy milk, and yogurt.
The first group is often iron-deficient as well. Because vegetarians can only consume
nonheme iron, which is more sensitive to iron inhibitors, they often do not consume enough to maintain healthy
blood-iron levels. This can cause pervasive weakness and even anemia.
Most nutritionists suggest that vegetarian and vegan dieters consume roughly twice
the recommended amount of iron while greatly reducing their consumption of iron inhibitors.
People in the second group--the smaller one--who suffer from a range of other
peripheral, diet-related problems are often not consuming enough of the nutrients that they would normally take in
unknowingly on a diet that includes meat and dairy products. These nutrients include, for example, zinc, calcium,
vitamin b, and riboflavin.
Some recent studies have suggested that vegetarians also process certain types of
foods with less efficiency because they consume different amounts and varieties of absorption inhibitors and
enhancers.
Recent studies also suggest, however, that a vegetarian or vegan diet, when done
right, is not only as healthful as a non-vegetarian diet, but it is also much more heart-healthy - and usually
contains higher amounts of antioxidants.
What does this all mean for you as a prospective vegetarian? It means that eating a
healthful vegetarian diet is not only a good alternative to your current diet, but it can also lower your chances
of getting heart
disease and cancer.
However, in order to eat a HEALTHFUL vegetarian diet, you must actually put in the
time to research and plan; if you don’t, you most certainly will end up in one of the two groups discussed
above.
Click Here! for more vegetarian articles and
diets.
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