Vegetarian Diets
The typical diet of most people on the planet is a varied diet
consisting of meat, fish, chicken, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and
grains, and generally some form of staple eaten as a tummy filler such
as potatoes or rice. This has been the traditional diet for many
hundreds if not thousands of years. But there are also those whom have
opted out of the flesh eating regime and gone the way of a vegetarian
diet.
Just the name itself explains what it is. A vegetarian diet is one in
which one eats no meat, chicken, fish and for some, eggs. This is done
for one or both of two reasons:
1) Health Purposes – many now believe that red meat and saturated
fats are the cause of many avoidable aliments such as cardiovascular
problems, and that chicken is raised with chemicals we don’t need in our
bodies such as steroids, and that fish have been infiltrated with
mercury which is suspected of causing mental disease later in life
2) Animal Rights – many have decided that it is wrong to kill animals to
eat them and that they should be protected from what they determine is
‘cruelty’ in the way they are raised and slaughtered to get them to the
market.
There are also more strict vegetarians who eat a ‘vegan’ diet. On this
diet they avoid dairy products and eggs and tend to eat a lot more
‘live’ foods, meaning raw, uncooked foods to be able to get more of the
healthy enzymes that are destroyed during cooking.
Whether you are on one side or the other, there is one thing to be
said for a vegetarian diet: if you eat a proper and complete vegetarian
diet, it cannot be less than healthy for you. Certainly you should
consult a physician first, and those who cannot handle high carbohydrate
diets may not benefit from a vegetarian lifestyle.
The biggest problem with those who eat vegetarian diets is that they
think because they don’t eat meat they can get away with eating junk –
health junk. This is not so. A good solid vegetarian diet should be void
of processed sugars, white flour and breads, corn syrup and most
chemical preservatives that are added to foods.
Do you want to be a good vegetarian? Follow this simple rule when
going shopping: stay away from the middle aisles in the grocery store.
Follow the outside where you have all the fresh fruits and vegetables.
The exception is to go down the aisle that contains the brown rice and
beans. These will be your staples during this diet.
Don’t even start to think that this is a boring diet; especially if you
love to cook. There are a ton of quick meals and casseroles that you can
make that are absolutely delicious and much more interesting than your
standard meat and potatoes dish.
Yeah, I know, macho man ... you think rabbit food is for … well,
rabbits. But that is a misconception about the vegetarian diet, and
you’ll change your thinking one day when you wake up in an emergency
room because you had a heart attack or a stroke from eating double
cheeseburgers and fries. Maybe then you’ll decide to try a veggie burger
with some sweet potato wedges and learn that they are actually very
tasty. |
