Posted on: November 30, 2009
Veggie-centric, the Right Way
Anyone can benefit from a vegetarian diet, but not all vegetarian diets are created equal
By Bev Bennett
CTW Features
If you'd like to avoid animal-based foods but worry that you'll miss out on essential nutrients, diet experts have good news. An appropriately planned vegetarian lifestyle is healthful, nutritionally adequate and may reduce your risk of certain diseases, according to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), Chicago, which recently issued a position paper on vegetarian diets.
As a vegetarian, which means you don't eat meat, poultry, fish and seafood, you may lower your blood pressure and hypertension, lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. What's more, like many vegetarians, you may maintain a normal weight.
You can safely follow a vegetarian diet, regardless of whether you're a teen, adult, pregnant or an athlete, according to the ADA.
However, you should avoid common traps as you adopt a vegetarian diet, says Reed Mangels, Ph.D, registered dietitian and co-author of the ADA paper.
Watch out for the following, she says:
• Compensating for a no-meat diet by eating more eggs, cheese and milk.
"You're getting protein, but you're also getting cholesterol and saturated fat," she says.
Beans, especially soy beans, deliver protein without the cholesterol.
• Eating too many refined carbohydrates.
A healthful vegetarian diet includes more than spaghetti and white bread.
"Eat more whole grains," says Mangels, Amhurst, Mass.
• Junk-food vegetarianism. If soft drinks, chips and candy are replacing meat you need to seek expert information about a balanced diet.
• Substituting processed taste-alike foods for meat products. "Watch out for the sodium content," says Mangels, who recommends not eating erzatz meats every day.
•Limiting your food choices.
"A vegetarian diet gives people a chance to see what they can do to make their diet more interesting and varied. The more different foods you eat the more likely are to get what you need," she says.
Bev Bennett, a veteran food writer and editor, is the author of "Dinner for Two: A Cookbook for Couples" and "30-Minute Meals for Dummies"