Are you a vegetarian?

It's funny how if you mention that you are a vegetarian, even today it tends to stop the conversation. It is always a contentious subject with your family or friends and whether it is for health, religious or another reason, you are bound to get a number of uninformed comments when you decide to become a vegetarian. You may want to consider a vegetarian diet for improving and maintaining your physical, mental and spiritual health. While a vegetarian diet is among the healthiest ways to eat, certain nutrients can be lacking on a diet that contains no animal products at all.

Placing children on a vegetarian diet can be beneficial to their health as it limits their exposure to animal products that may contain hormones and preservatives. You should not place your child on a vegetarian diet without first carrying out some research into nutrition.

A vegetarians diet with involves regular servings of fruit, vegetables and whole grains is known to be healthy. This type of diet would help address many of the health concerns which surround obesity because it helps eliminate excess amounts of protein and animal fats found in the standard diet. Additional health benefits of a vegetarian diet are that it is usually low in fat and cholesterol.

A high fiber vegetarian diet doesn't stay as long in your digestive system and nor does it take as long to produce in comparison to growing meat. Historically though, being a vegetarian goes back to the beginning of time, and indeed, most of our ancestors did not eat meat very often, if at all. When a vegetarian option cannot be found on the menu you should explain to the server that you do not eat meat (and/or dairy and eggs) and ask if the chef can prepare you something.

Medical research into the vegetarian diet highlights some interesting statistics. Of late, increasing numbers of people have switched to vegetarian meals - as scientific research has shown the adverse effects of animal meat. Another health statistic is the likelihood of someone on a vegetarian diet suffering from heart disease is half that of a non-vegetarian. A large number of the population becomes vegetarian at some point even if only for a short while.

Although more and more people are adopting a vegetarian diet, it is the West where the biggest health benefits would be seen. The reasons can go on and on, but it takes some effort to change over from a meat to a vegetarian diet. However, if you approach vegetarian cuisine as just a ‘substitute' for cooking with meat, you are sure to be disappointed.