Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Vegetarian Restaurant Primer

By Ros Harlot

Mentioning you are a vegetarian as part of a conversation on health issues is still guaranteed to bring about a silence, even in today's world. If you are thinking of following vegetarian diet for certain causes - religious belief, health reason, economic reason, animal rights - you will often face a barrage of uninformed arguments from skeptical relatives and friends. You may want to consider a vegetarian diet for improving and maintaining your physical, mental and spiritual health. Unfortunately, there are some nutrients that can only be obtained from animals despite a vegetarian diet being a healthy one.

You will probably be aware that putting your child on a vegetarian diet can greatly improve his or her health and limit the exposure to animal products that are often linked to hormones and preservatives. You would be wise to carry out some research before placing your child on a vegetarian diet to ensure they receive a suitably nutritious intake.

Of course the main health benefits of heating regular quantities of fruit, vegetables and whole grains are well known. By adopting the vegetarian diet, many obese people could deal with the problem of too much protein and animal fat in their diet and increase the amount of fiber. Of course the health benefits are well known if you have a low fat and cholesterol diet.

The higher than usual amounts of fiber found in a vegetarian diet means that it doesn't stay in your system for as long nor does it take as long for the food to be produced initially. History and archaeology has shown us that our ancestors hardly ever ate meat so being a vegetarian would be normal for us. Although a vegetarian option is usually on the menu in almost any Italian restaurant nowadays, it's always a good idea to remind the server that you require a vegetarian option and whether or not you eat dairy products and eggs.

We now have some interesting facts about the vegetarian diet, brought about by medical research. Of late, increasing numbers of people have switched to vegetarian meals - as scientific research has shown the adverse effects of animal meat. Non-vegetarians are also twice as likely to develop some form of heart disease. A large number of the population becomes vegetarian at some point even if only for a short while.

It is in America today where the health benefits of being a vegetarian would be most keenly noticed. Like all things in life, something worth doing that will benefit your health in the long term, is not necessarily the easiest thing to do. In the end though, you will be disappointed if you only consider a vegetarian diet as a replacement for meat. - 15275

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