Health
A vegetarian diet can be a healthy choice if you pay attention to all the nutrients your body needs and your diet is balanced.Mao Clinic has created a pyramid vegetarian food and recommends eating 6 servings of cereals daily, 5 servings of nuts, legumes, green vegetables and other foods rich in vegetable proteins, four servings of vegetables, two servings of fruit and two servings of foods rich in unsaturated fats. If you do not follow the recommendations, you may experience side effects that lead to poor health, reduce energy levels, and give you discomfort. For strict vegetarians who avoid all animal products, including dairy products, you need to remember that a diet can cause deficiencies in very important nutrients.
Vitamin B12 deficiency
If you're a strict vegetarian and don't eat dairy products, eggs, or meat, you may be deficient in vitamin B12. Symptoms of this deficiency may include anemia, weakness, poor coordination, and tingling in the arms and legs, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. B12 is important for metabolism, maintaining the health of the central nervous system, and the formation of red blood cells. Vegetarian sources of vitamin can include vitamin-fortified cereals, dietary yeast, and vitamin supplements.
Iron deficiency
Iron, which is the easiest to digest, is found in foods that vegetarians don't consume: red meat, poultry, and fish. An insufficient amount of iron in the body can lead to anemia. Symptoms of iron deficiency are: exhaustion, weakness, slow cognitive development, chills, increased susceptibility to infections. Women who are deficient in iron may give birth prematurely, or their newborns may be too underweight. The type of iron found in beans, lentils, fortified grains, spinach, raisins, and tofu can be an excellent substitute for iron found in animal products. The National Institutes of Health recommend that vegetarians consume twice as much iron as meat eaters, because vegetable iron is more difficult to digest than animals. In order for iron to be better absorbed, it is advised to take vitamin C or consume citrus fruits with foods rich in vegetable iron.
Zinc deficiency
Zinc helps you smell and taste. It is also very important for the immune system: zinc helps heal wounds, it is important for cell division and growth, and is also involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates. Zinc can be found in protein-rich foods, including meat and dark poultry meat, so vegans and vegetarians may be deficient in zinc. This leads to a decrease in appetite, frequent infections, hair loss, and a host of other symptoms. In this case, the best way out is to eat green vegetables, peanuts and peanut butter, which are rich in zinc, but remember that zinc in animal proteins is absorbed by the body faster, so vegetable zinc needs to be eaten more.
Calcium deficiency and bone loss
Bones need calcium to be strong, and the best way to get it is to eat dairy products. If milk, yogurt and butter are not part of your diet, lean on cereals, bread and juices with added calcium, fortified with vitamins tofu, kale cabbage, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage. Calcium deficiency leads to decreased bone density and osteoporosis, dental problems, and other diseases. Calcium helps blood to circulate, muscles to move, nerves transmit signals from the brain, and it also contributes to the production of hormones and enzymes. Some calcium supplements are not compatible with drugs, so if you are taking any medications, ask your doctor if you can take calcium supplements.