A Guide to Vegetarian Diet
There are many reasons to becomes or stay vegetarian, however, it is a very individual and personal choice. If you are already a non-vegetarian, adopting to vegetarian diet might not be simple. A healthy vegetarian diet consists mainly of plant based foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, seeds and nuts. The vegetarian diet has less cholesterol and fat, with more fiber.
Vegetarians fall under different categories, based on the types of animal-derived foods they consume. Vegans do not eat foods from animals including poultry, meat, milk, fish, cheese and eggs, and take only plant-based foods. Lacto vegetarians eat plant based food in addition to milk and milk products. They however do not consume fish, meat, eggs and poultry. Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat milk, milk-products and eggs in addition to plant-based foods. They do not consume poultry, fish and red meat. Flexitarians or semivegetarians mainly consume plant based diet, but eat small amounts of fish, poultry or meat occasionally.
To follow a healthy vegetarian diet, it is essential to choose the food items based on the food pyramid, which outlines the various choices and groups that must be eaten in the right quantities. Irrespective of the age or situation, a well-balanced vegetarian diet can meet all the nutritional needs of the body.
Adopting a Vegetarian Diet
There are many meatless products such as soy burgers, tofu dogs, texturized vegetable protein or nut loaves that add the variety to the vegetarian diet. These products are easy to find, and stimulate the taste with much less calories and fat. However, if you follow the vegan diet, you will have to find the alternatives for dairy products and eggs. Instead of milk, you can drink rice milk, fortified soymilk or almond milk. You can eat soy cheese, nutritional yeast flakes, replace butter with olive oil, and use the egg replacers in many recipes.
To get started with the vegetarian diet, plan a menu. Make a list of meals that you already prepare without using meat such as vegetable stir-fry or spaghetti with tomato. You can also select the meals that can be made without meat with the help of substitutions such as using soy crumbles or black beans instead of ground beef in vegetarian chili, or making fajitas with tofu rather than chicken.
For trying out new vegetarian diet recipes, borrow some ideas from cookbooks or scan the internet for meatless substitutions. You can also buy vegetarian food guide available in various bookstores. As more and more people are now realizing the health benefits of vegetarian diet, food items are easily available on the neighborhood grocery stores shelves.
