Vegetarian Diet – Part 1 - Health Plus Digest

Vegetarian diets are not just for health nuts anymore. Research has shown vegetarian diets improve the health of people eating vegetarian diets as well as giving them more energy and to help with weight loss as well as weight maintenance.

And vegetarian diets aren’t boring either. In the past years agriculture has advanced in the quality and variety of foods that weren’t available 50 years ago. Although we are creatures of habit the next time you go to the grocery store take a look around. Look past the apples, oranges and bananas to the star fruit, mangos and kiwi. Although green peppers are a staple they also come in three other colors – red, yellow and orange – all with a distinctive sweet flavor.

Our sense of taste usually dictates what we will or won’t eat but our bodies require a variety of foods to stay healthy. We have become slaves to our palates without remembering that we eat so that we can live. Not the other way around. We do not live so that we can eat.

Unfortunately many people fall victim to advertising and the fast food gimmick that is part of today’s culture. Some fast food restaurants are actually beginning to offer vegetarian diet options – although the quality and nutritional benefits are questionable.

References:

MayoClinic: Vegetarian Diet

http://www.mayoclinic.org/vegetarian-diet/art-20046446

MedlinePlus: Vegetarian Diet

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vegetariandiet.html

American Heart Association: Vegetarian Diets

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/Vegetarian-Diets_UCM_306032_Article.jsp

KidsHealth: Becoming a Vegetarian

http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/vegetarian.html

The Vegetarian Resource Group: Veganism in a Nutshell

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm

Colorado State University Extension: Vegetarian Diets