Dietary
Information
Vegetarianism
is a very healthy option but you have to be conscious
of what you eat to ensure you maintain a balanced
diet. You could eat food that is vegetarian
but isn't necessarily good for you at every occasion.
But if you want to have a balanced diet there
are a few simple guidelines to follow. A
balanced diet should supply you with all the nutrients,
vitamins and minerals you need to keep your body
strong and healthy.
Below
is a simple nutrition pyramid that shows quickly
and easily how your food should be divided out.
At the top are the things you should eat little
of and have scarcely. These are the oils,
butter, other fats and sweets. Then at
the bottom there are the foods that should be
plentiful in your diet. These are the bread,
cereal, rice and pastas. Basically as long
as you eat a variety of foods including grains,
fruit and vegetables, beans, pulses, nuts or seed,
a small amount of fat along with dairy products
your diet should be a healthy and well-balanced
one.
A balanced vegetarian
diet is subdivided up into different categories.
These are all listed and described below.
Protein
- this helps growth and repair in the body.
A vegetarian gets
protein from sources like - beans, nuts, pulses,
eggs or dairy produce such as milk and cheese.
Peanuts, peanut butter, sesame seeds, soya beans
and other soya products are good sources of protein
as well.
Carbohydrates
- this helps the digestive system. It is also
known as roughage and dietary fibre.
Carbohydrates are
in plentiful supply in a vegetarian diet. They
can be obtained from breads, rice, pastas, potatoes,
jams and pulses.
Fat
- this helps insulate the body and provide different
flavours. Nowadays we are being asked to reduce
the amount of fat in our diet - particularly saturated
fat. In a vegetarian diet there is less saturated
fat than in an omnivore diet. But you still have
to be aware not to eat too much fat.
Fats can be obtained
from butter, spreads and oils. It is a good idea
to check the amount of saturated fat in reduced
and low fat foods as it can be misleading. Oils
that are to be recommend are olive oil and some
vegetable oils. They contain fewer amounts of
saturated fat generally.
Vitamins
- there are many different types of vitamins.
The main ones have been mentioned below. These
are to keep the body healthy and all the different
parts of it working well.
Vitamin A
can be found in dairy produce, green vegetables
and yellow-orange fruits and vegetables. It is
usually quite well- supplied.
Vitamin B group
is a group that need quite careful attention.
There shouldn't be a lack of it in the diet if
you eat wholegrain cereals, whole-wheat bread,
some nuts and pulses, fresh fruit and vegetables.
Other foods that are good sources are almonds,
peanuts, sunflower and sesame seeds and some yeast
extracts.
But there are a
couple that need particular attention - that is
folic acid and B12. A good source of these is
Marmite but it does no harm to take a vitamin
tablet containing these if you are quite worried.
But they should be supplied I a balanced diet.
Vitamin C
is plentiful in the vegetarian diet. This is because
fruit and vegetables are usually in abundance
in the vegetarian diet and these are the best
sources for Vitamin C. But particularly good sources
of it include oranges, lemons, limes, blackcurrants
and strawberries.
Vitamin D
isn't found in many foods. The main sources are
eggs and fortified margarine. It would probably
be wise to take a vitamin tablet containing this
vitamin.
Minerals
- there are several important ones like calcium
and iron that you have to be careful of.
Iron can
be obtained form lentils, the soya bean and it's
products, dried fruits, whole grains, broccoli,
dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds. It
is one mineral that should be paid attention to
particularly for women
Calcium can
be obtained from dairy products for vegetarians.
But if you are vegan this could be a bit of a
problem. They can get calcium from other sources
like broccoli, soya beans and soya products, almonds,
sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and brazil nuts.
| 
