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In this section
of VeggieGlobal we have provided an easy-read vegetarian nutrition
guide - but please remember that the
information on this site is for general guidance only.
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR MEDICAL PRACTITIONER FIRST
BEFORE INITIALLY ENGAGING IN STRENUOUS PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES. If
you suffer from any nutritional deficiency or medical condition
relative to your diet, you should seek professional medical advice
from your doctor to make sure that your vegetarian diet is tailored
to your individual needs.
Choose the "Vegetarian Nutrition Menu" on the left or
read on.
Introduction
The
Harmonics of a Natural Diet
The
following article may help you understand how to balance your
bod through natural dieting and exercise!
OK ... it's not
an environmentally friendly comparison but ...
... different models of cars use different types and amounts of
fuels and lubricants ... so do people!
If you have a car
that runs on diesel then you don't fill it up with petrol,
because you'll wreck the engine. A gauge shows you how much oil
to add, and no more - again because you will damage the engine.
And if you put the wrong amount of air in your tyres, your car
becomes unstable. So, to avoid unnecessary problems you should
follow the guidelines set out by the cars' manufacturer, and in
most cases the highway code as well. Releasing the hand brake,
driving off in first gear - turning corners at a comfortable speed
and driving the right way down a one way street! This is how you
treat your car so that it works without problems.
This automotive
moral suggests how you might treat yourself... your own
body. You should add the right type of fuel ... that means the
right kind of foods, then exercise it moderately and regularly.
The more you gain awareness about what constitutes the smooth
running of your physical and mental self, then you'll begin to
feel all of the great benefits, which come about through careful
running and life-maintenance. You'll be adding just the right
type of "clean fuel" - and only as much as necessary!
Just because lots
of chocolate cakes come in a single packet doesn't mean you have
to eat them all at once! ... Imagine that just one cake is the
equivalent to the maximum oil level for your car... any more and
you'll damage the engine. Imagine a couple of glasses of lager
as a complete tank of fuel. (Rather than being "tanked up"
by 8 pints!) - The rest of the six-pack is irrelevant. Forget
it ... if you pump excess into yourself, it would be like over-inflating
the tyres on your car. You'll just skid and crash!
Too little fuel
or air could be considered as lack of the correct nutrients leading
to bad moods, tiredness, breathlessness, listlessness, pallor,
and poor resistance to infection.
Don't allow your body to become immobile for too long. In other
words, you'll just feel like you are driving with the hand brake
on. Don't start off in fourth gear. Don't strain the engine! When
you don't exercise it gets harder to force yourself to do so later
on. Balance your food intake with exercise.
Only eat as much as you need ... don't prepare excessive amounts
of food then force yourself (or anyone else) to eat it. Make less
and eat it all.
SO, NOW THAT YOU
ARE ON THE WAY TO FEELING HEALTHIER AND FITTER, YOU CAN HELP THE
ENVIRONMENT BY LEAVING THE CAR AT HOME..... AND WALK!!!
but seriously
though...
A human's natural dietary
requirement may be considered a lost harmonic for many, particularly
in the western world.
Even though the
health-conscious amongst us forage around the supermarket shelves
for non GM and additive-free products, there is little mental
connection with our own psyche - the roots of our natural life-force.
We need to establish what our bodies nutritionally need, and by
rekindling and listening to our instincts this lost connection
can be revitalized. Abiding by some trendy diet regime doesn't
constitute an understanding of our natural life-force and this
means that the answer can lie within rather than written
on a huge credit card statement thanks to some latest diet craze!
Our natural life-force often harbours untapped instincts that
could subliminally balance our bods; so when you are consciously
working with those instincts, you should in turn empathize with
the physical mechanics of your body. When you finally learn how
to tap into this naturally balanced circle of life maintenance,
you'ill find that you can subconsciously regulate your general
well-being without feeling cravings for food, loosing stamina
or even loosing your temper!
By reading through the nutrition guide we hope that those untapped
instincts will begin to awaken for you, so that eventually you'll
be able to regulate a healthy balanced diet without even having
to think about it.
feeding off your
instincts
What makes up a
healthy diet is revised almost annually. The search for the perfectly
balanced elixir of a long, fit and disease free life provides
lucrative returns for researchers and food manufacturers world-wide.
There will always be someone reaching for the ultimate ... and
whoever makes the first life prolonging, body-shaping chocolate
bar will be very rich!
From both ends of
the social spectrum, true natural dietary balance may have become
a lost sense of purpose. It's now distorted by social upbringing
and lifestyle pressures. That's why many of us find it very hard
to choose the right mixtures of healthy food, and still make eating
an enjoyable pleasure. We simply depend on manufacturers to provide
taste-enhancing, quick-fix packages to fill our needs. Many of
us are confused or oblivious as to what constitutes a well balanced
food intake. But many of us also assume that everything we buy
from a supermarket, or even our health food shop is an assemblage
of nutrients automatically containing the essential sustenance
of life ... That, of course is short-sighted.
In the natural world,
animals instinctively feed off nutrients essential for their survival
... (as long as their environment, hence their food source has
not been destroyed by humans). Most humans have lost the natural
ability to feel what is right for us. Therefore
we understandably seek guidance.
If we are to keep
our health in check, we are obliged to make conscious efforts
to fulfil our nutritional needs. We should also consider the long
term effects of a bad diet and how this can eventually cause discomfort
not only for for ourselves, but also a strain for others around
us in later years. Some of you may eventually need to depend on
family and welfare services to look after you ... It may well
be because you have eaten, drunk and smoked yourself into an obese
couch potato.
There are
variants and extremes. Most people simply conform to an unhealthy
diet and an inactive lifestyle through ignorance, sheer habit
and laziness ... Many elderly people falsely believe that because
they are still alive, the platefuls of dead animals drenched in
salt and fat, followed by sickly sweet pie and custard is not
doing them any harm! it's strange how they avoid the truth; that
they are treading on a very thin line between life and death -
The fact that they may be on an assortment of life saving tablets
or keeping their doctor busy when the warning bells occasionally
ring seems of no consequence. In the other extreme, heads of the
family might hand out a self-proclaimed dietary regime which may
not suit all family individuals. Uneducated authority of this
kind can lead to family members growing severely undernourished
through lack of nutritional essentials. They may require far higher
amounts of minerals or vitamins than others in the same family.
At the opposite end of the scale, obese family heads overstuff
and oversupply their obese children with unsuitable convenience
food, which can equally bring on other increasingly common forms
of nutritional deficiency. In fact, obesity has now reached epidemic
proportions in the western world.
So whether you are
a pale, fainting rake or a slab of nicotine-stained lard, the
correct diet to help yourself throughout your life should
go hand in hand with consideration towards others, for all different
kinds of reasons.
Try to re-evaluate and stamp out social interdependency with unhealthy
food and then help to positively influence others around you who
suffer the same bad habits.
You can stop the onset of self-inflicted illnesses which
can otherwise arise from an unhealthy diet, smoking and other
undesirable traits of yours and your family's lifestyle.
And don't just think of yourself ... think about others who might
have to put up with your habitual ignorance.
And remember that important incentive; recent research has found
that vegetarians live up to 6 years longer than their meat-eating
counterparts. All nutritional research leads to the conclusion
that a well balanced vegetarian diet is by far the best option
for a healthy, long life.
the veggie trap
Another legacy of
poor nutritional conditioning can effect meat eaters who have
turned veggie. An "alternative" must take the place
where meat once took center-stage on our plate ... Well, we can
remain rather short-sighted by gauging our vegetarian requirements
against meat like alternatives, but this limits rather than expands
our adventures into culinary, veggie delights ... It can also
lead to a poor nutritional balance.
Meat-like alternatives
are highly processed products made generally from soy and other
alternatives. Unlike the dangers of meat, there are no potential
side effects, although they can contain similar artificial flavours
and enhancers. Eating processed proteins just for the sake of
emulating a meaty experience means we are simply taking up valuable
tummy space which should be reserved for more natural products
like vegetables, pulses, rice an natural soy; all foods containing
nutrients, which the body can easily absorb and benefit from.
Proteins are not necessary to maintain a healthy well balanced
body but B12 and iron - which is normally found in meat is vital.
Omega 3, normally found in fish is also essential to some extent.
However, all these ingredients including Omega 3 can easily be
found in vegetables and veggie supplements if you know where to
look. (The rest of VeggieGlobal's nutrition guide will give you
information on this.) With this in mind, it's important that vegetarians
pay more attention to the amounts of vegetables on their plates
instead of assuming that a veggie burger with a vague sprinkling
of peas and chips is going to achieve a necessary balance of essential
nutrients.
Try to forget the
concept of always needing meat-like substitutes to fill the gap.
Consider that meat, and therefore meat substitutes don't fall
into your dietary equation. Re-evaluate the ways you view and
prepare natural foods. It may be that various textures of food
on your plate are important to feeling essentially fulfilled
... The same goes for flavours. There are many chewy like
textures that are pleasing to the palate like mushrooms and other
fungi, some pastas, tofu, dough bases, sun-dried tomatoes etc.
For better or worse,
textures and flavours of food are more important to many people
than its nutritional value. But if you stay off artificially flavoured
and chemically treated foods for a length of time, the flavours
of natural foods will eventually become far more intense.
In fact, you may find artificially enhanced foods quite repulsive
after a couple years ... and, in many cases, if you tried such
foods again you can actually taste the added chemicals! Even the
unpleasant effects of pesticides on fruits etc. can be easily
felt. Of course, GM foods bring a whole new frightening factor
into the equation. But we leave that for another time.
for the meat eater
turning vegetarian
From a lifetime
of flesh eating, you may first need to take one step back before
plunging into the really healthy zone! For this purpose
there are, of course processed substitutes like processed soy
etc. which can help your transition to a meat free diet. Remember
that processed usually means that the product is full of additives
and flavours. Natural and artificial flavours are similarly added
to both meat based dishes and meat-like dishes. It's therefore
likely that if somebody replaced meat lasagne with a soy alternative
without you knowing, you wouldn't notice the difference!
Flavours constitute a satisfying eating experience as well as
the texture. Herbs and spices compliment the texture rather than
the actual flavour of meat itself. You normally identify meat
through texture. So, as long as meat substitutes have almost an
identical texture, you should have no trouble feeling comfortable
about eating it, as it will no doubt be flavoured with your usual
sauces, spices and gravies.
Alternatively, a
careful balance of natural flavours can produce a magical meal
... all from selective proportions of vegetables and spices. So
once you have eliminated the need of meat substitutes as a centre
feature, then you can take your transition-to-veggie one step
further! You can begin to prepare non-processed foods that are
balanced in natural texture, natural flavour and nutritional value
... Then you have really cracked it!
When we are completely
health-efficient with a natural veggie diet, then vitamin and
mineral supplements may not be necessary. However, as we describe,
it isn't easy to acquire a natural harmonic with such a healthy
diet process. Therefore you may need to compensate on occasions
with supplementary vitamins and minerals.
finally
If you are a meat
eater still contemplating the idea of becoming vegetarian, then
you may wish to consider this final thought to help you with your
decision.
Many vegetarians may have eaten meat themselves once ... perhaps
even stuffing themselves with dead animals and overcooked vegetables
smothered with mountains of salt, followed by sugary puddings
... all full of chemical additives! But, as every veggie will
tell you, it's really never too late for change and the positive
effects in many people can be seen and felt very quickly. In fact,
the morals, ethics and health benefits can all tie together effortlessly.
Once you are a healthy veggie you will probably end up hiding
looks of horror when you, yourself have to sit at a table with
meaties gorging on flesh and gelatine filled puddings. It's an
epiphany that you can only truly relate to when that moment arrives.
And when it does, wisdom should dictate how you deal with that
"clear-conscience" feeling without coming across to
others as self-righteous. If you strike the right social balance
with others regarding your move to a vegetarian lifestyle, you
may even find others following your example. Everyone benefits
for health reasons, and of course, so do the animals ...
How cool is that!?
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Copyright VeggieGlobal
& Looking-Glass
plenty more to read
here at VeggieGlobal's nutrition site
Even being aware
of what types of food to avoid may not mean you fully understand
how to maintain a healthy balance in your bod! Tuning into which
nutrients are important to maintain and improve your health means
a few moments absorbing some of the following pages ...
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