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Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet


Vegetarians are defined as those who eat a diet based on plants, including grains, legumes, fruit, seeds and nuts.  Some vegetarians also consume eggs and milk and/or milk products (Whitney et al. 47).  There are many reasons people choose to become vegetarians.  Healthy lifestyle, personal sense of responsibility, moral, economic, religious reasons, and love of animals lead many people to choose a vegetarian lifestyle.  Eating a plant based diet is associated with lower death rates.  In our textbook, Understanding Nutrition, it is noted that “the risk of dying could be lowered by 7 to 19 percent by eliminating just one serving of meat a day” (Whitney et al. 64).
Vegetarians usually have and maintain a healthier weight.  Vegetarian’s diets are usually more healthy in general, with less fats and total kcalories, and tend to eat more fibers and nutrients overall (65).  Since vegetarians usually are not overweight, they tend to be less prone to other complications and diseases that accompany being overweight.  Vegetarian diets may reduce the risk of diabetes.  Vegetarian diets often include fiber and low levels of fat and cholesterol.  Therefore, vegetarians often have lower rates of hypertension, as well as lower blood pressure.
Reduction in the possibility of heart disease is yet another benefit to having a vegetarian diet.  Fats found in a plant based diets tend to be heart healthy monosaturated fats that are better for the heart and may also reduce the risk of heart disease.  Vegetarians have lower risks and occurrences of cancers as well, colon cancer in particular.  A vegetarian lifestyle may also reduce risk for arthritis, cataracts, osteoporosis, gallstones, and diverticular disease (65).
Vegans, who do not eat eggs or any milk products, need to consume fortified foods and/or supplements in order to include all necessary nutrients in their diets.  Vegetarians need to make sure they vary their diets to eat enough calcium, iron, protein, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins D and B12 (66).
Green leafy vegetables have about 5 times as much calcium as other vegetables.  They make a good addition to a vegetarian’s diet who is trying to make sure that he or she is eating enough calcium (65).  Dried fruits offers six time the amount of iron as regular fruits.  Zinc can be obtained by consuming beans, whole grains, nuts and legumes.  An interesting way Understanding Nutrition offers to include calcium in the vegetarian diet, is to use soy infant formula, that has been fortified with calcium for cooking (67). 

Works Cited

Whitney, Ellie, and Sharon Rady Rolfes. Understanding Nutrition. 14th ed., Cengage, 2016.

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