What is it?
The vegetarian diet is one that allows you to eat a wide variety of foods, mainly fruit, vegetables, and legumes. The main characteristic is that it avoids the consumption of meat and fish, and sometimes foods of animal origin, such as milk, honey or eggs. Experts recommend that people who begin to follow this diet do so under the supervision of a specialist to avoid nutritional deficiencies.
The American Dietetic Association states that, «a variety of plant foods eaten during the course of a day can provide all essential amino acids and ensure adequate nitrogen retention in healthy adults.»
Vegetarianism can be divided into several types depending on the types of foods it prohibits:
- Vegan: they only eat foods and products of plant origin, eliminating eggs, milk and their variants from the diet.
- Vegetarian ovo: are the people who, in addition to not eating meat, fish and poultry, do not consume dairy products, except milk and eggs.
- Lacto vegetarian: they avoid eating eggs, but they can drink milk and the products that come from it.
- Ovolacto-vegetarian: suppress foods restricted by vegetarianism. They don’t eat animals, but they do eat dairy, eggs, and honey.
- Semi vegetarian: is one who does not eat as much meat as other people, but does include a small amount in their eating routine. An example would be the so-called pesco-vegetarian, who eats fish.
Posible problems
An incorrect follow-up of this regimen can cause deficiencies in the organism. Possible problems derived from this diet, such as those related to the lack of vitamin B12 intake (which is mainly acquired from the consumption of foods of animal origin), can be avoided with proper supervision.
Omega 3 is a polyunsaturated acid that is obtained mainly from oily fish and vegetable oils. It improves blood circulation and takes care of the heart, however in the vegetarian plan it is scarce because fish is eliminated from the nutritional routine.
The vegetarian diet can cause the amounts of zinc in the body to be lower than they should, creating a nutritional deficit. People who have this problem can correct it by adding food supplements.
Iron is one of the essential minerals for growth and development. It is also essential for the formation of hormones and some tissues of the body. The most important sources of this mineral are in lean meats, seafood and poultry. Vegetarianism suppresses two of these and can cause deficiencies, which can lead to significant health problems, such as anemia.
In cases of people who follow stricter plans such as vegan, they may have problems by eliminating dairy products and their derivatives, such as calcium not reaching the recommended levels. This mineral is a fundamental element for the formation of bones and provides contractibility to the muscles. An absence of this can lead to health disorders, such as osteoporosis.
Tips
To avoid the problems of these diets there are several tricks that can help to undermine the negative effects of eliminating certain foods from the routine. First, the following elements must be taken into account:
Protein
To obtain sufficient daily protein intake, we can include products such as potatoes, corn or whole wheat bread in the diet, which are rich in these and are good for maintaining a healthy diet.
Iron
Swiss chard, spinach, cereals, oats, and dried fruit provide iron. Eating these foods can supplement the intake of lean meats to some extent and prevent the onset of anemia in vegetarians.
Calcium
To provide the body with the necessary calcium, especially those who follow a vegan diet or ovo-vegetarians, we can include foods that include cabbage, broccoli or tofu prepared with calcium. A substitute for dairy can be the so-called soy milk, which is an important source of this mineral.
B12 vitamin
It is an essential vitamin and in vegetarian diets it is considerably reduced and can cause disorders. To avoid them, experts recommend adding food supplements to meals.