Going Vegetarian Essay, Research Paper

Going Vegetarian The Healthy Way AOL HEALTH, MayoClinic, Thursday, March 16, 2000

This article was about becoming, and keeping a vegetarian diet, but doing it healthily. Vegetarians are people who don t eat meat, poultry or fish. Their diet is plant-based foods. Vegans don t eat any animal products at all. Some vegetarians, who occasionally eat poultry or fish, also call themselves vegetarians, but they re really only part-time veggies. Some religions choose to have a vegetarian diet, but most choose because they want to become healthier. Being Vegetarian has some benefits; the rates of some cancers are lower, also with heart disease, high blood pressure and non-insulin dependant diabetes. A study done of 2,000 Vegetarians was done, and the deaths from cancer, and heart disease were cut 25-50 percent. Veggies are also less likely to have gallstones, kidney stones and constipation. Getting information about Vegetarianism is key. Vitamins and Minerals that are missed when people extract meat from their diets are some of the most needed elements; protein, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin b-12. Some good ways to get the Proteins needed in your diet, is soy products, like tofu (if you like), beans rice and nuts. Calcium is one of the most important things your body needs, soymilk, tofu, and dark green veggies. Women need at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium each day! Iron can be found in cereals, whole grains, and by eating vitamin-c rich foods like tomatoes. You can also gain iron from cooking in iron pans. Also in whole grains, soy products and nuts, Zinc can be found. The only real way Vitamin B-12 can be given is in dairy products, or by taking supplements. Even though vegetarians may be eating plants and no dairy or meat, a vegetarian diet isn t automatically low-fat. Oils and margarine in some dishes make the meal a fatty one, you just have to calculate what you are eating.

I chose this article because for one, I am a vegetarian, and thought that I could get more insight to what I have chose to do with my eating. I ve been vegetarian for a year now, and at the beginning, I didn t know much about being a vegetarian at all besides the fact you don t eat meat. For a while, I tried being vegan, but it was too much hassle for my busy day, and didn t have time to read the label of everything, making sure some underlying animal product was in it. I did though, after a few months learn that I wasn t getting enough protein, and bought a few books to help educate myself. I found that protein combining, like eating beans, rice and finally added eggs to my diet, cause a full feeling, instead of that hunger down below. I would definitely recommend that as a vegetarian, that you should eat eggs and other dairy products, because it s just too hard not too, and they give you so much of everything that you need, daily.