What Vegetarian?

1. What does a "vegetarian diet" mean? The term "vegetarian" is really a misnomer, since vegetarians eat more than just vegetables. Vegetarian simply means a plant-based diet. There are several kinds of vegetarian diets, defined by what types of foods are consumed.

• A strict vegetarian, a vegan, avoids all foods of animal origin, including meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, and eggs.
• Lacto-vegetarians include dairy products in their diet. Lacto-ovo- vegetarians also eat dairy products and eggs.
• Pesco-vegetarians eat fish, dairy products, and eggs along with plant foods. (We believe this is the healthiest diet for most people).
• Finally, there are semi-vegetarians, who cheat a little and eat a little poultry along with fish, as well as dairy products and eggs. Most veggie lovers are not strict vegans.

2. Is the vegetarian diet automatically the healthiest way to eat?
Yes and no. Yes, a vegetarian diet is excellent for good health when you follow the general rules of a nutritionally-balanced diet and be sure you get the nutrients from vegetables that you miss by giving up animal foods. On the other hand, avoiding meat won't keep you healthy if instead you consume a lot of high- fat, nutrient-empty, junk foods. Vegetarians must also have an otherwise healthy lifestyle to harvest the full benefits of their plant eating. It does little good to eat a tomato and sprout sandwich on whole wheat bread if you also plant yourself on the couch in front of the TV set and smoke cigarettes several hours a day. The vegetarian who piles on the chips soaked in hydrogenated oil, along with high-fat cheese, and artificially-sweetened or highly-sugared beverages would be better off nutritionally if he had less of a sweet tooth, cut down on fat, and indulged in a little animal flesh.
3. What's so good about a vegetarian diet?
Here are six reasons:

1. Vegetarian cuisine is naturally low in saturated fats, and foods of plant origin contain little or no cholesterol.
2. Plant foods are also much higher in fiber than animal foods.
3. Many plant foods contain significant amounts of vital B-vitamins, and folic acid: and fruits and vegetables are powerful sources of phytochemicals - nutrients that help every organ of the body work better.
4. Vegetarians tend to eat fewer calories, since grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, volume-for-volume, tend to be lower in calories than meat and poultry. Studies have shown that as long as their diet is balanced and nutritious, the people who consume fewer total daily calories live longer and healthier lives.
5. Veggie lovers believe that foods from plant sources, which are lower on the food chain, are safer than animal foods, since pollutants tend to concentrate in fatty tissues. While raw fruits and vegetables can carry harmful bacteria and pesticide residues just like meat, you can remove many of these pollutants by washing the plant foods. Trimming the fat from meat or chicken is less effective. Meat, poultry, and seafood are also more frequent carriers of foodborne illnesses than plant sources.
6. Environmental conservationists believe that having more plant-based diets is healthier for the planet. It takes less energy and less farmland to feed a vegetarian than it does to feed livestock.

4. Are vegetarians really healthier in the long-run?
Absolutely, positively, yes! Even though nutritionists seem to disagree on many topics, all agree that plant-eaters and fish-eaters tend to live longer and healthier lives than do animal eaters. In every way, the brocolli-munchers tend to be healthier than the beef-eaters:

• Vegetarians have a lower incidence of cancer, especially colon, stomach, mouth, esophagus, lung, prostate, bladder, and breast cancers. The protection against intestinal cancers is probably due to the fiber in a plant-based diet. In fact, vegetarians have a lower incidence of nearly all intestinal diseases and discomforts, especially constipation and diverticulosis. The phytonutrients in plant foods, especially antioxidants, flavanoids, and carotenoids, may also contribute to protection against cancer.
• Plant food is better for your heart, since it is low in cholesterol and saturated fat, and high in fiber. Vegetarians have a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, namely heart attacks and stroke. A study of 25,000 Seventh-Day Adventists showed that these vegetarians had one-third the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than a comparable meat-eating population. Another study showed that death from cardiovascular disease was fifty percent less in vegetarians. These statistics may be the result of more than just diet; vegetarians tend to have healthier overall lifestyles.
• Plant eaters are much less likely to get diabetes than animal eaters.
• Vegetarians tend to see better.
• An eye disease called macular degeneration, which is deterioration of the retina leading to blindness, occurs less frequently in vegetarians.
• Vegetarians tend to be leaner than meat eaters, even those who skin their chicken and trim the fat off their steak; and, in general, leaner persons tend to be healthier. Being lean does not mean being skinny. It means having a low percentage of body fat. Muscular weight-lifters tend to be lean, though no one would call them skinny. You don't have to "beef up" at the dinner table to make muscle. Even the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines recommend eating more vegetables and grains and less meat, despite pressure from the politically-connected meat industry to promote meat.

5. Does it cost more or less to eat vegetarian?
Except for a few delicacies, pound-for-pound plant foods tend to be more of a bargain. Of course, iceberg lettuce, sugary ketchup, and french fries - the typical fast food fare - do not qualify as healthy, vegetarian foods, even though they are cheap.
6. I worry about getting enough iron. Aren't vegetarian diets low in iron?Not necessarily. Some vegans we know seem so thin and pale that we want to treat them to a 16-ounce sirloin. Yet, studies have shown that vegetarians who eat a balanced diet don't seem to have any more iron-deficiency anemia than meat eaters. Even though the iron in plant foods is not as well absorbed as the iron in animal foods, vegetarians usually eat a higher volume of iron-containing foods. Also, many plant foods naturally contain vitamin C, which aids the absorption of the iron. You don't have to eat red meat to make red blood cells.
BEST PLANT FOOD SOURCES OF IRON
Milligrams of Iron Tofu (1/2 cup)7
Iron-fortified cereals (1 oz)4-8
Cream of wheat (1/2 cup, cooked)5
Blackstrap molasses (one tablespoon)3.5
Pumpkin seeds (two tablespoons)3
Lentils (1/2 cup, cooked) 3
Prune juice (8 oz)3
Chick peas (1/2 cup, canned)2
Swiss chard (1/2 cup)2
Dried fruits: apricots, peaches (3 oz)2
Beans: black, kidney (1/2 cup)2
Tomato paste (2 oz)2Figs (5)2
Jerusalem artichoke (1/2 cup, raw)2

The average adult woman needs around 15 milligrams of iron per day. Men and post-menopausal woman need around 10 milligrams. Children and pregnant and lactating women need more.