Eating the wrong vegetarian food is harmful to your health! How to eat vegetarian food correctly?

Vegetarianism is considered a "health-preserving" diet by many people. In recent years, many people have joined the ranks of vegetarians. Currently, the number of vegetarians in my country is about 50 million, and the "vegetarian trend" is becoming popular.

Although more and more people are eating vegetarian food, an unreasonable diet is a big problem. Long-term unreasonable vegetarian diet will not only fail to make the body healthier, but will also lead to malnutrition.

What effects does being a vegetarian have on the body, and what is the correct way to be a vegetarian? In this article, we will answer questions about being a vegetarian, and attach a vegetarian recipe at the end of the article. Save it and use it as a reference!

1. What are the benefits of a vegetarian diet to the body?

A well-planned vegetarian diet can not only provide the body with adequate nutrition, but also reduce the risk of many diseases.

Studies have shown that vegetarians have significantly lower all-cause mortality, ischemic heart disease, circulatory system disease, and cerebrovascular disease mortality rates than omnivores who eat animal-based foods. [1]

In addition, the prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and risk of cancer in vegetarians are lower than those in omnivorous animal foods.

2. Which of these two vegetarian foods is more recommended?

The most common vegetarian diets can be roughly divided into two types: lacto-ovo vegetarian and vegan.

In addition to vegetarian food, lacto-ovo vegetarians can also consume eggs and dairy products; while vegans are strictly vegetarians and do not eat any animal food, including eggs and milk.

No matter which vegetarian diet you choose, it is fine as long as it ensures a balanced nutrition. However, compared with the two, pure vegetarian diet has more disadvantages, and lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is more recommended.

This article also focuses on lacto-ovo vegetarianism.

3. What nutrients are easily lacking in vegetarians?

For vegetarians, there is no serious problem of deficiency of carbohydrates, fats, dietary fiber and water. It is easy to meet the body's needs as long as they follow the requirements of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents".

The focus should be on preventing the deficiency of protein, vitamin B12, mineral iron and zinc, because meat is an important source of high-quality protein, vitamin B12, and mineral iron and zinc. Therefore, attention should be paid to the intake of these nutrients in the diet, and attention should also be paid to the supplementation of vitamin D.

4. How to supplement nutrients that are easily deficient?

① Protein:

Although meat protein is high-quality protein, meat is not the only source of protein. Eggs, milk, and beans are all sources of high-quality protein.

Ovo-lacto vegetarians are recommended to eat:

A whole egg

300~500ml milk

25g soybeans or equivalent amount of soy products

(50g dried tofu or 50g shredded tofu or 100g northern tofu)

15-25g nuts (20-30g for vegans)

Various grains and beans

In this way, the protein intake is at least 50g/d, which is more than 90% of the recommended daily protein intake of 55g for women. If you are a man, it is recommended to supplement 10-20g of protein powder on this basis every day.

It is also important to note that different types of protein foods should be eaten at the same meal as much as possible, as this can complement each other and improve protein absorption and utilization. [1]

For example: the protein in cereal foods lacks lysine but is rich in methionine, while the protein in bean foods lacks methionine but is rich in lysine. Eating the two together can complement each other's protein.

② Vitamin B12:

Vitamin B12 is mainly found in animal foods and is a nutrient that is easily overlooked. Severe deficiency can cause degeneration of nerve fibers, leading to symptoms such as lack of energy, anxiety, forgetfulness, and even anemia. Therefore, vitamin B12 is also called the "nerve nourishing" vitamin.

A survey shows that vegetarians are generally deficient in vitamin B12 and have elevated homocysteine ​​levels and enlarged red blood cells, with vegans being the most serious. [2]

Vitamin B12 is mainly found in meat, and it is easy for vegetarians to be deficient. Plant-based foods rarely contain vitamin B12, and fermented soy products such as black beans, fermented bean curd, natto, seaweed, and mushrooms contain some. However, black beans and fermented bean curd generally have a high salt content, and many people cannot accept the taste of natto. Therefore, it is difficult to supplement it through diet, and it is recommended to take vitamin B12 supplements.

③ Mineral Iron:

Animal foods such as red meat, animal blood, animal liver, and shellfish are good sources of iron. The iron they contain is heme iron, which is easily absorbed and utilized by the human body.

Although plant foods such as black fungus, pine mushrooms, red dates, spinach, and seaweed have high iron content, they are non-heme iron and have low absorption and utilization rates by the human body.

However, if combined with vitamin C, it can help improve the absorption and utilization rate of iron in plant foods [1]. Therefore, it is recommended that vegetarians increase the intake of vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C in their diet, such as Chinese cabbage, kiwi fruit, winter jujube, blood orange, guava, etc., and can supplement with vitamin C tablets or iron supplements.

④ Mineral zinc:

In addition to meat, nuts, whole grains and fermented soy products are also good sources of the mineral zinc, such as sunflower seeds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, chestnuts, black sesame seeds, etc. Among them, phytic acid in soy products is destroyed after fermentation, and the absorption and utilization rate of zinc will also increase.

5. A one-day vegetarian diet is here! Based on the dietary recommendations for vegetarians in the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, the following vegetarian diet is formulated for women with light physical strength who do not need to lose weight.

If it is a man, the ingredients that need to be adjusted are: 50 grams of millet, 100 grams of sweet potato, 20 grams of walnuts, 40 grams of red dates, 80 grams of white flour, and 100 grams of northern tofu.

Notice:

① The amount of salt is not written in the recipe. You can control it by yourself. It is enough not to exceed 6 grams of salt per day, which is less than 1 mineral water bottle cap (1-2 mm away from the bottle cap).

▲Photo: 6 grams of salt (cap of Master Kong packaged drinking water bottle)

② It is best to use a non-stick pan for frying, otherwise it will consume more oil.

▲Picture: 1 porcelain spoon contains about 10 grams of oil

Remark:

Vegetarians are prone to lack of vitamin B12 and the mineral iron. It is recommended that they supplement with multivitamins or targeted supplements every other day. In order to promote calcium absorption, it is recommended to supplement 10 micrograms of vitamin D per day.

Vegetarians are prone to lack of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. It is recommended to use more rapeseed oil and soybean oil for cooking, and more flaxseed oil and perilla seed oil for cold dishes.

Illustration of some food quantities:

▲Photo: Three red dates (20 grams of edible part)

Want to know how heavy a date pit is? I cleaned it very well!

▲Picture: 3 jujube pits weigh 0.8 grams

▲Photo: 2 grams of seaweed

▲Photo: 30 grams of carrots

▲Picture: 20g red beans (mung beans can be used as a reference)

▲Photo: 100 grams of sweet potato

▲Photo: 10g paper-shell walnuts

For illustrations of other ingredients, see this article: 1200 kcal CRD diet recipe is here!

Even though this recipe is only for one day, as long as you change the ingredients carefully, you can change it into a recipe for many days. For example, replace the cabbage with rapeseed, green pepper with colored pepper, dried tofu with dried tofu, garlic sprouts with leeks, sweet potatoes with purple potatoes, walnuts with cashews, etc.

Summarize:

For those who have religious beliefs or like vegetarianism, it is also possible to be a vegetarian. However, it is easier to achieve nutritional balance with a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet than a vegan diet, and it is more recommended.

In addition, when eating vegetarian food, you must make a reasonable combination and pay attention to supplementing complex nutrients or specific nutritional supplements.

References:

[1]. Yang Yuexin, Ge Keyou. Chinese Nutrition Science Encyclopedia 2nd Edition (Volumes 1 and 2)[M]. People's Medical Publishing House, 2019

[2]. Cui Xueying, Wang Bian, Wu Youmei, et al. Survey on vitamin B12 nutritional status of vegetarians in Shanghai[J]. Chinese Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2019, 27(2): 107-112.

DOI:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1674-635X.2019.02.008.

[3]. Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018