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A Healthy Vegetarian Diet – That Keeps You Slim And Trim

Vegetarian diet specially denotes the diet without meat. Practically, the vegetarian diet means a diet without any animal protein like – meat, fish and egg. However, some people consider eggs and fish in their diet but don’t include meat but remarkably people add whey and other milk based proteins in their diet. Nevertheless, it completely depends on the personal preferences and the requirements.

The vegetarian diet has been followed since thousand years back in Asia and other parts of the world. People mainly inspired by nature and from a religious view, they avoid killing animals and eating them. Countries like – India, the vegetarian diets have been followed from a thousand years before and still major part of its population still continue with pure vegetarian diet. From ancient age – the Indian wrestlers (KUSHTI – Traditional Indian Wrestling) use such diets. However, they also consume Dairy products, such as – Ghee (Clarified Butter), Chhena, Paneer, Khoa, yogurt and other varieties. But most of them come with higher levels of fat contents. Now a day, people mostly avoid them – especially full cream milk and related products. On the other hand, countries like – china, Japan and other countries use a wide range of fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, flowers, roots and herbs in their diet (directly or in cooked form).

Now come to the point, while we’re thinking about vegetarian diet, the boiled or blanched vegetables scares us, but believe it or not – there are lots of vegetarian foods really tests good. Not only it only takes several minutes to cook. Additionally, vegetarian diet has great health benefits. Problems that usually come with high protein diet are – ketosis, high blood pressure, kidney failure, kidney stone, high cholesterol, cancer, bad breath and many others. Whereas, the vegetarian diet completely free from those risks.

We know – what we’ve to eliminate from our diet. That is – meat, fish and egg. Then what next? What should we include in our diet regime? Well, our target is, fill the protein gap that vacant by eliminating the animal protein. Here is a quick view of those ingredients –

Nuts and Legumes:

they ensure the essential dietary fiber, some fat and of course protein. But keep in mind that, some nuts like cashew and others contain high volume of fat contents. So, don’t eat them in large quantity. Additionally, beans are the excellent source of protein. Beans like – kidney beans, chickpeas, Fava beans, navy beans, Soy are the MUST have in every vegetarian’s diet.

Essential Fatty Acids:

when we eliminate fish from our meal, we eliminate the essential fatty acids. Fish are the main source of essential fatty acids like omega-3. Fatty acids are important for heart. However, you can add the same essential fatty acids using – flaxseed oil, sunflower oil and olive oil.

Grains:

Grains are usually avoided due to its carbohydrate. However, you can try whole grain pasta, brown rice instead of pasta, rice and cereal. Completely slash down the carbohydrate is not a good idea. Nevertheless, you can add more or less 30% carbohydrate in your meal regularly.

Dairy Products:

as mentioned earlier, whole milk, butter, clarified butter and other milk fat is harmful, still, the Dairy Products are essential. Because, apart from the fat, they also contain proteins. You can try cheese, skimmed milk, and whey protein. They are an excellent source of protein and calcium.

Fresh Vegetables:

there is nothing like fresh vegetables. No matter whether you’re a vegetarian or non-vegetarian, you MUST eat fresh vegetables in order to supply essential dietary fiber, vitamin, minerals, and other essential elements. You can’t replace green and other colorful vegetables with anything.

Fresh And Dry Fruits:

fresh fruits like – apple, apricot, mango, cherry, papaya, berries (blueberry, raspberry and others), palm, pear, tomato is the great source of all essential vitamins, minerals and important elements that not only keep you fit but also improve your overall immunity.

Finally, the dry fruits like – dates, figs, peaches, raisins, prunes can be used as a snack and can open you a new door of energy.

Avijit Majumder

 

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