For reasons of health, or conscience, or religion, or simply preference, vegetarianism is increasingly popular. It's even easy to be a vegetarian these days with so many meatless food products in the market, along with all kinds of vegetarian cookbooks and magazines.
Certainly being vegetarian is a boon if one eats healthy rich diet but a bane if one hardly pays any importance to what he or she is eating. Vegetarians are not present in India only but they are residing abroad as well, but there lies a remarkable difference between vegetarians in India and vegetarians in overseas. People abroad mostly become vegetarians for a philosophical and health reasons and therefore are careful that their new vegan diet should be nutritionally adequate and healthful. In India, we, being culturally a predominantly vegetarian since generations, do not pay heed to our diet which is why; despite being vegetarian, we suffer from all those disorders which are in the realm of non-vegetarian diet associated disorders.
An unbalanced non-veg diet is associated with heart disease, cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, cancer, obesity and a vegan diet is supposed to counter these maladies. But the paradox is that an unbalanced pure vegetarian diet can lead to exactly the same! Convenience vegetarian foods can be just as fattening as non-vegetarian foods. In fact some vegetarian products and recipes may contain more fat than meat-based foods. Over-consumption of these high-calorie convenience foods or 'vegetarian' fast-food leads to weight gain just like meat-based foods.
Vegetarian diets were once thought to be lacking in certain nutrients. With a little planning, vegetarians can easily meet all their nutritional needs. Here are some nutrition tips that will balance your vegetarian diet:
- A vegetarian's diet normally has lots of dals (pulses). Individually, dals have only 30% proteins content and some missing amino acids. To compensate, add tofu as it is partially fermented and therefore has better digestibility, and also is a complete protein. Besides, one must eat a variety of dals to increase the number of nutrients in their diet.
- Vegetarian diets are deficient in vitamin B-12 which is a vitamin found mostly in animal based products like milk, eggs, chicken, fish, meat etc. To compensate its deficiency one has 3 options:
- One can eat nutritional yeast (like in marmite).
- One can also eat sea plants based foods like seaweeds, spirulina etc.
- Last option is to take a multivitamin supplement containing B complex.
- Vegetarian diets must have foods rich in calcium. For people who are lactose intolerant the best bet is soya, turnip, broccoli, collard greens, bok choy (Chinese greens), ragi etc. For people who have dairy products, milk, curd, cheese and paneer are sufficient
- Omega 3 fatty acids found in soya oil and flaxseed oil is beneficial for vegetarians and it also contains other essential fatty acids which are important for the body.
- Folic acid is an important aspect of the diet and especially necessary for pregnant and lactating mothers. Lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals contribute the best.
- Iron levels are usually found to be low in the Indian women. This can be due to an incomplete diet. The best alternatives are kamal kakdi (lotus stem), raisins, green leafy vegetables etc. Vitamin C adds to the iron absorption, so have a lot of citrus fruits. However, do not combine iron rich foods with dairy products like paneer as it leads to nutrients loss.
A healthy vegetarian diet simply means eating a variety of the right kind of nutritious plant foods and meat substitutes. A vegetarian diet can provide all of the vitamins and minerals, as well as calories and protein that are needed by the body. The key to a healthy vegetarian diet is careful planning to assure balance and nutritional adequacy. If you're choosing a vegetarian diet, the most important thing you can do is to educate yourself. The internet is full of delicious and nutritious recipes for non-meat eaters. Take advantage!
