Vegetarian diet has become a leading trend in recent years, it could be due to religion beliefs, health issues, environmental awareness or simply not to kill. Regardless of the reasons behind, one thing for sure is that risks of getting cardiovascular diseases (heart diseases) in vegetarians are definitely lower than meat-eaters. One study has found that typical vegetarian live about 3.5 years longer than meat-eaters. However, studies have shown that there are often some sort of nutrients deficiency in vegetarians, such as vitamin B12, proteins, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium.
Vegetarian diet isn't necessarily healthy, you still need to eat a balance diet to stay fit. After all, French fries and potato chips are animal free but that doesn't mean they are healthy. When it comes to vegetarian diet, variety is the key. Now lets look into further details of some essential nutrients where vegetarians may be lacking of ๐๐๐
Vitamin B12
Function: To boost energy, maintain healthy nerve cells, helps in the production of RNA and DNA (body's genetic material), and work closely with folic acid to make red blood cells.
Deficiency may cause: Anemia, symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nervousness, numbness, tingling sensation in the fingers and toes. Vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly people may cause dementia. Severe Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause nerve damage.
Sources: The only vegetarian foods that contain significant levels of natural Vitamin B12 are milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs. Some vegetarian foods are often fortified with Vitamin B12, including rice, cereals, soy beverages.
* pregnant women are usually recommended to take Vitamin B12 supplements, consult your doctor for the dosage required.
Vegetarian diet isn't necessarily healthy, you still need to eat a balance diet to stay fit. After all, French fries and potato chips are animal free but that doesn't mean they are healthy. When it comes to vegetarian diet, variety is the key. Now lets look into further details of some essential nutrients where vegetarians may be lacking of ๐๐๐
Vitamin B12
Function: To boost energy, maintain healthy nerve cells, helps in the production of RNA and DNA (body's genetic material), and work closely with folic acid to make red blood cells.
Deficiency may cause: Anemia, symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nervousness, numbness, tingling sensation in the fingers and toes. Vitamin B12 deficiency in elderly people may cause dementia. Severe Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause nerve damage.
Sources: The only vegetarian foods that contain significant levels of natural Vitamin B12 are milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs. Some vegetarian foods are often fortified with Vitamin B12, including rice, cereals, soy beverages.
* pregnant women are usually recommended to take Vitamin B12 supplements, consult your doctor for the dosage required.
Protein
Function: Proteins play many critical role in the body, such as building block of your muscles, skin, enzymes, hormones, antibody, structural support for organs, transport or store small molecules within cells and throughout the body.
Deficiency: Edema (puffy and swollen skin), fatty liver, loss of muscle mass, bone fractures, stunted growth in children, unhealthy skin, hair and nails. The most severe form of protein deficiency is known as kwashiorkor. It most often occurs in children in developing countries where famine and imbalanced diets are common.
Sources: It is always misleading when people claim that vegetarians will not get sufficient proteins in their diet, but that was the result of imbalance diet. In fact vegetarian diet can be rich in proteins too! Eggs, soy, lentils, quinoa, wheat, beans, tofu, nuts, chia seeds, contain high amount of proteins too! Just make sure your protein sources are varied, rather than just from one food group, to obtain complete protein.
*The term "complete protein" refers to amino acids, the building blocks of protein. There are 20 different amino acids that can form a protein, and nine that the body can’t produce on its own. These are called essentials amino acids—we need to eat them because we can’t make them ourselves. In order to be considered 'complete' a protein must contain all nine of these essential amino acids in roughly equal amounts.
Omega 3 fatty acids
Function: helps to lower elevated triglyceride (blood fat) levels, curb stiffness and joint pain in Rheumatoid Arthritis, visual and neurological development in infants, lower levels of depression.
Deficiency: fatigue, poor memory, dry skin, heart problems, mood swings or depression, and poor blood circulation.
Sources: Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)- a short chain omega 3 fatty acid, can be found in plan based foods like flaxceed, walnuts and tofu. What vegetarians are often lack of are DHA and EPA, long chain omega 3 fatty acids, they are usually available in marine based food such as salmon and trout. But recent studies have found that certain type of algae possess rich amount of DHA and EPA too, one of the common types is Spirulina.
Calcium
Function: Calcium is a mineral that is an essential part of bones and teeth. The body also needs calcium to help muscles and blood vessels contract and expand, to secrete hormones and enzymes and to send messages through the nervous system.
Deficiency: Seizures, Osteoporosis, Hypocalcemia (symptoms include confusion or memory loss, muscle spasms, numbness or tingling sensation in hand, feet & faces, depressions, hallucinations, muscle cramps, brittle nails, bone fracturing).
Sources: Milk, yogurt, tofu, kale, figs, chia seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, raisins, apricots. The body also needs Vitamin D to regulate the amount of calcium in the body. Sources of Vitamin D include exposure to sunshine, fortified cereals and soya beverages.
AGAIN and AGAIN, despite you're on a vegetarian diet doesn't mean you're healthy, eating a balance diet is still the key tips.
Follow my Facebook page to get more latest info about healthy dining places, health articles and healthy recipes๐
Comments
Post a Comment