Vegetarian Diets

(Vegetarianism) : Another View

 

Vegetarian Diets are part of a larger concept - vegetarianism - which is a lifestyle wherein one eats only plant-based foods and does not consume meat and animal products. A healthy vegetarian diet consists primarily of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Because the focus is on non-meat food products, a vegetarian diet typically contains less fat and cholesterol, and more fiber, than a standard diet. The only concern with this is that you may not be meeting basic nutritional requirements regarding protein, iron, Vitamin B-12, Calcium etc., so you need to take extra steps for a well-planned vegetarian diet to stay healthy. The Vegetarian Food Pyramid would be helpful for this, as, obviously, is talking to a doctor or nutritionist.

People ascribe to vegetarianism for all sorts of reasons - ethical, environmental, etc. - but it is also appealing for weight loss. A vegetarian diet aids in weight loss - obviously - by liming your food intake to fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc., and denying you higher fat, higher calorie items like meat and cheese products. A vegetarian diet - whether for short term as a weight loss vehicle, or long term as a lifestyle - is not as difficult to pull off as it used to be. Vegetarianism's steady growth in popularity has spawned a mainstream industry of packaged food products, grocery stores, restaurants, cookbooks and the like catering to the concept. FYI: true vegetarians - who eschew all animal products - are called Vegans.

But there are a number of other, modified vegetarian lifestyles which include: Lacto-vegetarians (milk and milk products okay); lacto-ovo vegetarian (egg and all dairy are okay); pescetarian (fish is okay); and flexitarian (also called semi-vegetarian, where small portions of fish, poultry and meat are sometimes consumed). For most people, true vegetarianism is a rather extreme concept, requiring tremendous discipline. The modified approaches to vegetarianism are, obviously, less stringent. Should you choose the vegetarian path to weight loss you should undoubtedly find some success (you need to be exercising, too...) but, like all successful paths, it will require discipline and dedication on your part.

More information on Vegetarianism