[Source: Yulin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
Braised rice with peach gum and rare mushrooms, beeswax persimmon cake, golden mushroom roll with roasted sauce, cumin monkey mushroom Skewers… These dazzling vegetarian dishes are becoming everyone’s new favorite.
In recent years, with the high incidence of chronic diseases such as hyperlipidemia, coronary heart disease and diabetes With the trend, “vegetarian” is more and more respected by some people, and “vegetarian restaurants” often appear on the popular lists of some lifestyle apps.
However, cases of physical illness caused by blind advocacy and extreme vegetarianism in life are not uncommon, the most typical being various problems caused by malnutrition.
What do you think about vegetarianism?
What are the adverse effects of vegetarianism on the body?
How can nutrition be balanced?
“Meat and Vegetarian” is not a division of scientists, but a classification gradually formed by people in practice.
The so-called “vegetarian” refers to a diet composed of plant foods, mainly including grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc.
Correspondingly, “meat food” refers to animal food, such as chicken, duck, and fish.
Each person’s eating habits are different, and “vegetarian” has gradually derived various nouns in practice, such as “vegan”, “half-vegetarian”, “pestin” “”Ovo,” etc.
“Vegetarian”refers to chicken, duck, eggs, milk, fish, and any animal food, and “half-vegetarian” is not a monolith, eat “” “Semi-vegetarian” people can choose to eat one or two types of animal foods, for example, some people eat eggs, dairy products, but not other animal foods; some people eat fish, but Do not eat animal foods other than fish.
Whether you eat ‘vegetarian’ or ‘semi-vegetarian’, it does not include red meat such as pigs, cattle and sheep.
< span>Can vegetarianism be equated with health?
A survey on the prevalence of vegetarian food in Shanghai by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine showed that Shanghai Vegetarians accounted for 0.77% of the residents, the average age was 65 years old, and women accounted for 75%.
It can be seen that the proportion of vegetarians in my country is relatively low, but the absolute number is not small.
It is true that fresh vegetables and fruits contain many beneficial chemicals, most of which have antioxidant effects and are good for health.
However, there has been a misunderstanding among some members of the public for a long time, thinking that “vegetarian” equals health.
Vegetarianism is just a dietary choice, and many people equate it with healthy eating.
In the well-known American Nurses’ Health Study, the top two foods that cause weight gain are potato chips and fried potatoes, along with sugar-sweetened beverages and 100% fruit juice.
When residents choose vegetarian food, they should also distinguish between healthy vegetarian food and unhealthy vegetarian food. Vegetarian food does not equal health.
How much nutrition your body will lack if you are only vegetarian
The Scientific Research Report on Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2021) pointed out that, The basic foods that human beings need can be divided into five categories, namely cereals and potatoes, vegetables and fruits, animal foods, soybean nuts and oils and fats.
Different dietary composition or structure, or too much or too little of certain foods for a long time, will cause an imbalance between the supplied energy or nutrients and the body’s needs.
So, what nutritional deficiencies can vegans be missing from a large group of foods in their diets?
Vegetarian food itself is mainly composed of grains, vegetables, fruits and seeds, with high dietary fiber content, and the corresponding protein source and quantity will be insufficient.
If a vegetarian can barely meet the protein needs, once he is sick, the protein needs will become higher, then it is difficult for vegetarians to meet the needs of the human body.
Vegetarians are prone to lack of nutrients such as iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin B12, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and choline.
In this regard, you should be alert to the possible health problems caused by a vegan diet. For example, a long-term lack of vitamin B12 will cause numbness in the hands and feet and easy fatigue; a lack of zinc can lead to loss of appetite, dysgeusia, pica, and retarded growth; lack of vitamin D will affect the absorption of calcium, and the bones and teeth are not very good. Normal, infants will have rickets, increasing the risk of tumors…
“Vegetarians are more likely to have deficiencies in key nutrients, especially iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, vitamins B12. “Experts remind that the total amount of iron in vegetarian diets is not low, but the absorption rate of iron from plant sources is low, only 10%, compared with 20% for iron from animal sources.
If circumstances permit, it is not recommended to try a vegan diet. Experts point out that if you want to eat a semi-vegetarian diet, it is recommended to eat more whole legumes and whole grains, and eat more plant-based fermented foods, such as Tempeh, fermented soy milk, etc.
Vegetarianism doesn’t seem to have any significant improvement in health. Instead, lifestyle changes brought about by vegetarianism are more beneficial to the body, such as smoking , to get rid of bad habits such as drinking
It is recommended that vegetarian groups find a professional nutrition doctor to help set up nutritional arrangements. Because vegetarian diets have scientific requirements for nutrition and combinations
If you don’t find a professional doctor, I hope you don’t listen to partial beliefs, and don’t blindly adopt a vegan diet. Unreasonable and unscientific vegetarian food will increase the burden on your body, causing serious problems. life-threatening.
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