
There are several kinds of vegetarian diets. Some allow
dairy (lacto vegetarian), while others allow both eggs and dairy (lacto-ovo
vegetarian), where others allow fish (pesco vegetarian) in addition to plant
products. Then there is the extreme vegan diet that excludes all meat and animal
products. The more restrictive the diet, the more likely it is your pie hole is
missing out on key nutrients. See part II of ‘Ice Cream and Potato Chips are Vegetarian too'.
Why do news articles so often sermonize the benefits of
vegetarian diets? Well typically, it’s because vegetarians are reported to
have lower blood pressure and cholesterol than their carnivorous counterparts.
Why is that? Meat, particularly red meat, is high in
saturated fat, calories and salt. These are the drivers of high blood pressure
and cholesterol, which can increase risk of heart disease, heart attacks, being
overweight and ultimately, well… death.
Now that’s all well and good, but what about all the other
foods that are vegetarian, or manufactured for vegetarians, that are still
‘bad’ for overall health? Ice cream, chips, fries, crackers, cakes, cookies,
pastries etc. Basically, being vegetarian doesn’t mean you’re healthy. In fact,
a poorly planned vegetarian diet can lead to all sorts of gaps in your nutrition
whether you’re slim and trim or not (see part II).
The Australian Guide to Health Eating recommend 2.5-3
serves of meat/fish/tofu/legumes per day (see Figure 1), and the US recommends 5-6 ounces
(155g) per day. Eating the recommended 65g piece of beef, lamb, kangaroo or
whatever, isn’t going to give you heart disease. It’s eating that 250g
porterhouse steak that might.
![]() |
Figure 1: Aust. Guide to Healthy Eating: Meat and meat alternative serves and portion sizes |
Part II of 'Ice Cream and Potato Chips are Vegetarian Too' will be available next week. Part II will discuss which nutrients are most often missed in vegetarian diets and why.
References:
nice
ReplyDeleteYou put the dismembered and cut up body parts of murdered animals in your body.
ReplyDeleteYou drink the breast milk designed for a baby calf, even though you're an adult human.
You eat the periods of chickens.
If you aren't vegan, what are you really doing with your life?
Thanks for sharing your opinion. The articles on this blog simply reflect the current scientific research findings about food and human nutrition.
DeleteThanks for the nice blog. It was very useful for me. I m happy I found this blog. Thank you for sharing with us,I too always learn something new from your post vegetarian chips
ReplyDelete