What
are Some Good and Bad Things about Becoming a vegetarian?
There are many positive — and some negative — aspects about
becoming a vegetarian. As there are various types of vegetarians (see
Interested in becoming a vegetarian), people become vegetarians for different
reasons. Some eliminate or reduce their intake of animal foods and products for
moral, ethical, or environmental reasons. Others feel they will become
healthier or lose weight — which may or may not occur. The healthfulness of any
eating plan depends on the foods that are consumed. If groups of foods are
omitted, it’s important to understand how to replace the vital nutrients that
go with them.
Nature offers an enormous variety of fruits, vegetables,
grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Plant foods are abundant in nutrients — they
have some or all of the following: vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrate,
fat, and water. They also contain phytochemicals – plant chemicals that are not
essential to life, but may help protect against disease – such as
beta-carotene. Since so many, possibly thousands, of these compounds exist,
this is just the tip of the iceberg (lettuce). Others include lutein, lycopene,
isothiocyanates, and zeoxanthin — quite a mouthful! Phytochemicals are often
apparent as a pigment — red, purple, or orange, for example. Eating a variety
of colors of fruits and vegetables can help ensure that the benefits nature
provides are reaped. By the way, most of these compounds aren’t available in a
pill, so eating fruits and veggies is the only way to get them.
A well-planned vegetarian eating plan can provide all of the
nutrients needed. Particular attention has to be paid to protein, especially
for those who consume no animal products (vegans). Everyone requires protein,
comprised of amino acids, to maintain and repair muscle tissue, and manufacture
blood cells, antibodies, hormones, enzymes, and all types of body structures.
Protein also helps children and adolescents to grow. Nine amino acids are
termed “essential” because they must be obtained from food (as our bodies do
not make enough or at all). If a food doesn’t have all of these, it is an
“incomplete” protein. All plant foods are incomplete, except for soy. The good
news is that some foods are missing the amino acids found in others. We call
these complementary proteins. An example is rice and beans. Each food’s
assortment of amino acids complements the other. In other words, essential
amino acids missing in one food are provided by another. As long as they are
eaten in the same day, our bodies can form proteins from them. In addition,
most of the time, vegetarians, especially vegans, require a greater quantity of
food than omnivores (those who eat all foods) because plant foods offer less
complete protein per serving than animal foods.
The negative aspects of vegetarianism are the
possible deficiencies that may develop if a balanced eating plan is not
consumed. If dairy, meat, fish, and poultry are excluded, one may become
deficient in vitamin B12(important for nerve transmission and necessary for
life), calcium (for strong bones, among other functions), iron (for blood), and
zinc (for immunity and healing), just to name a few. As a result, it is what is
included, rather than excluded, in our diets that counts. For example, there
are vegetarians who subsist on bagels and pasta alone (the white diet); or who
cut out all meat but eat cookies and candy — not balanced eating plans, to say
the least. One’s choices are key to healthy eating: select nutrient-dense foods
more often and nutrient-lacking ones less often. After all, the name we place
on ourselves is not as important as our overall choices.
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