Eating Healthy When You Are Vegetarian
September 8th, 2010

You can eat healthy and still maintain your vegetarian beliefs by following the Vegetarian Diet Pyramid. The pyramid helps you to know which foods should be consumed and have what your body needs for good health.

Vegetarians should follow the pyramid's recommendations regarding the levels of food importance. The healthy vegetarian diet consists mainly of plant-based foods. The emphasis is on nonmeat food sources, which naturally means less fat and cholesterol and also fortunately more fiber.

Not all vegetarians are equal, some are vegans, others are lacto-vegetarians, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and others are flexitarians. It can be difficult to determine how to eat the right foods so the pyramid shows various food groups and food choices within those groups and the correct quantities of those foods. A well-planned vegetarian diet can be the foundation of a proper and healthy diet.

No matter which type of vegetarian you are there are substitutes for the foods you avoid.

If you avoid milk, you can drink fortified soymilk, ride milk, or almond milk.

If you avoid butter, you can sauté using olive oil, water, or vegetable broth, wine or fat-free cooking spray instead of using the butter to sauté.

If you avoid cheese, you can use soy cheese or nutritional yeast flakes, which can be found in health food stores.

If you avoid eggs, you can try commercial egg replacers or you can replace one egg by using 1/4 cup of whipped tofu or 1 tablespoon milled flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water. Use tofu instead of eggs when making an egg-free omelet.

A vegan diet will typically be lacking in vitamin B-12, calcium, iron and zinc. In a strict vegetarian diet you may be getting less of some of these nutrients needed by your body: protein, calcium, Vitamin B-12, iron, and zinc.

To make sure that you are getting these nutrients vegetarians should make sure that they get the protein they need they should eat eggs, or dairy products, soy products, meat substitutes, legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds or whole grains. In order to get the calcium they need vegetarians should eat low-fat dairy foods, dark green vegetables such as spinach, kale, and broccoli. Tofu is also enriched with calcium and fortified soymilk and some fortified fruit juices are other ways to get calcium.

Vitamin B-12 can be received by eating soy products or by taking a supplement that contains B-12.

Iron can be replaced in a vegetarian diet by eating dried beans and peas, lentils, enriched cereals, whole grain products, dark leafy green vegetables and also dried fruit. Your body needs to be able to absorb these sources so it is important that along with those foods a vegetarian consumes strawberries, citrus fruits, tomatoes, cabbage or broccoli as you consume the above iron-containing foods.

Zinc can be obtained in the vegetarian diet by eating whole grains, soy products, nuts, and wheat germs.

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