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The Top Five Nutrients Vegetarians Lack

Date Added : August 19, 2010 | Views : 485





Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets have advantages.

Vegetarian diets tend to be rich in antioxidants, certain

vitamins, and healthy fats. Non-vegetarian diets, by

contrast, tend to contain more protein, iron, zinc,

calcium, and vitamin B-12.



If you already decided to adopt a vegetarian diet,

it is essential you learn how to increase your intake

and absorption of these nutrients to avoid short-term

and long-term health complications.



In the next few paragraphs, I will explain how you

can regularly assimilate larger portions of these

nutrients into your regular diet:



1. Protein. Different types of protein are made up

of different permutations of amino acid chains.

In order to create a "complete protein" or a

protein that can be assimilated into the human

body as tissue, you must consume foods that contain

complementary chains of amino acids.



Wheat, nuts, and beans are three types of vegan-friendly

incomplete proteins; however, wheat is hard to

digest and up to 50% of its protein is lost

during the process.



Isolated soy protein, which you can get from a number

of sources (including soy milk), can be digested

efficiently-enough to match the animal protein yields.



2. Iron. Plant sources contain a significant amount of

iron, but in nonheme form, which is more sensitive

to inhibitors than iron that comes from animal products.

You should do two things to increase your blood-iron

levels: 1) consume more plant iron; and 2) avoid absorption

inhibitors, such as tea, coffee, and fiber.



3. Zinc. Whereas non-vegetarian diets seem to enhance

the absorption of zinc; vegetarian and vegan diets

do the exact opposite--they inhibit it.



Nutritionists suggest that you can overcome

this by consuming more foods that contain zinc,

such as soybeans, cashews, and sunflower

seeds while reducing your intake of inhibitors

by washing vegetables and grains.



4. Calcium. While vegetarians can easily consume

an adequate amount of calcium without any dietary

additions, it is important that vegetarians avoid

consuming certain foods that are high in oxalates,

which inhibit calcium absorption.



Dietitians suggest that vegetarians do not consume

spinach, beet greens, and swiss chard as the

calcium component of a meal plan. While they are

rich in calcium, they also contain high amounts of

oxalates.



Rather than consuming those foods for calcium,

vegetarians should consider other options, such as

soy yogurt, tofu, beans, almonds, and calcium-

fortified foods.



5. Vitamin B-12. Many vegetarians lack

vitamin B-12 simply because it does not exist

naturally in any non-animal forms. Vegetarians

should seek out vitamin B-12 fortified foods,

such as certain soy milks and cereals to

supplement what they lack.



As I outlined, there are a number of nutrients

vegetarians can lack of they do not research

and plan. This is not meant to discourage

people from becoming vegetarians, but instead

to encourage them to spend time planning a

health approach to their vegetarian diet

before starting it.



When planned adequately, a vegetarian diet

can not only make up for what it lacks from

animal products, but it can far exceed

the healthfulness of most non-vegetarian diets.

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