Vegetarian Diet and a Healthier Life

MAY 2014

If you’ve considered adopting a vegetarian diet, there’s a lot of clinical evidence to support your decision to do so.

A review of clinical journals reveals that there have been, and continue to be, many positive results concerning the effects of long-term health and eating a vegetarian diet.

For example, studies show that over a five-year period, those who eat meat gain more weight than non-meat eaters. Vegetarians also tend to have lower cholesterol than non-vegetarians. Vegetarian diets are lower in saturated fat and animal protein, and higher in fiber, complex carbohydrates, and vitamins C and E. Several published reports show that vegetarians also have a lower risk of obesity, hypertension, and of developing diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.

Keep in mind that being vegetarian doesn’t mean living on French fries and bananas. Calories still count in a vegetarian diet and if you consume too many calories, you’ll likely gain weight. A healthy vegetarian diet consists of high-fiber, whole-grain foods, and lots of fruits and vegetables.

In place of meat, a lot of vegetarians use soy-based products like tofu or tempeh, which can be made to taste a lot like meat.

There are several vegetarian diets:

• Vegans eat no animal products at all: no dairy, no eggs, nothing that comes from an animal.

• Lacto-vegetarians also eat dairy products, like cheese, milk, butter, and yogurt.

• Lacto-ovo vegetarians also eat eggs.

• Flexitarians eat mostly a vegetarian diet but sometimes eat meat in small quantities.

According to a position paper by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2009, vegetarian diets “are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” In addition, several studies have examined vegetarian diets in conjunction with the rate of certain diseases, like heart disease or certain cancers.

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HealthBreak

The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research say eating red meat is the only “convincing” dietary association with colon cancer. A study of Seventh-Day Adventists, about 40 percent of whom are vegetarians (many also avoid caffeine, alcohol and tobacco), found their risk of developing diabetes was about half that of non-vegetarians.

Health benefits of vegetarianism come from eating less, or no, red meat, and from eating more healthy foods, like nuts, fruits, and vegetables.

If the idea of going vegetarian scares you, go into it slowly. Set one day a week as your “non-meat” day. After a few weeks, try going without meat for two or more days. Soon you may find that giving up meat every day is the right decision for you.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., an Independent Licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association