A vegetarian diet promotes a healthy weight, improves blood sugar control and insulin response, and reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. When converting to a vegetarian lifestyle, you will want to make sure that your food choices are balanced and healthy in order to get all the nutrients that your body needs. A vegetarian diet can be healthy if it is carefully planned to include all essential nutrients.
Types of Vegetarian Diets
There are several kinds of vegetarian diets, states the American Heart Association. Vegan diets include foods that directly come from plants. The lactovegetarian includes plant foods plus dairy products. The ovo-lactovegetarian diet includes eggs. Semi-vegetarians don't eat red meat but will eat chicken and fish, along with plant foods, dairy products and eggs.
Protein Requirements
Vegetarians don't eat need foods from animals in order to get enough protein in the diet. Proteins from plants such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, seeds, soy and nuts can provide enough of the essential and non-essential amino acids, states the American Heart Association.
Soy proteins have been shown to contain equal amounts of protein when compared to animal sources. Thus, many vegetarians choose this as the sole source of protein.
Iron and Vitamin B-12
Vegetarians must get iron from dried beans, spinach, enriched products and dried fruits, since most iron comes from red meat, liver and egg yolk, states the American Heart Association. Vitamin B-12, which is normally found in animal sources, can be found in fortified breakfast cereals, fortified soy beverages and brewer's yeast.
Calcium and Zinc
Vegans who don't consume milk need to be aware of a possible deficiency of calcium and zinc. The USDA explains that vegan sources for calcium include fortified breakfast cereals, soy products, calcium-fortified orange juice, and some dark green and leafy vegetables. Calcium can be obtained in milk products for lactovegetarians. Milk is also a good source of zinc for lactovegetarians, states the USDA. Other sources of this mineral include white beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, zinc-fortified breakfast cereals, wheat germ and pumpkin seeds.
Other Tips When Planning a Vegetarian Diet
The American Heart Association recommends that you keep your sweets and fatty foods to a minimum since they are low in nutrients and high in calories. Include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet. If you choose to include milk and dairy products in your diet, use fat-free/nonfat and low-fat varieties. Eggs are high in cholesterol, so you will want to monitor your intake and your cholesterol levels, states the American Heart Association. You need no more than 300 mg total of cholesterol daily.
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