How healthy is a vegetarian diet?

Question

Hi! I'm trying to be a vegetarian so i could lose weight. I ran about two miles a day. I'm constantly hungry, so i eat lots of carb and vegetable and...eggs. Is my hunger normal? And are eggs ( 2 a day) okay?

Answer 1

Vegetarian diets are healthy. They have been shown to reduce the riskd of heart disease, certain cancers, etc. You simply need to replace the protien and vitamins you are no longer getting from meat.

Getting proper nutrition on a vegetarian diet is simpler than you may think. Most peoples concerns revolve around protien, iron, and b12.

Protien:
A varied diet of beans, lentils, whole grains, and vegetables, nuts, seeds will meet you daily need for protien. The average person consumes way too much protien in a day. The average person should get 50 grams per day. High protien food include: tofu, lentils, chick peas, baked beans

Iron:
Contrary to what we are told in the expensive advertising campaigns by the meat industry, an appropriately planned, well-balanced vegetarian diet is compatible with an adequate iron status. Although the iron stores of vegetarians are sometimes reduced, the incidence of iron-deficiency anaemia in vegetarians is not significantly different from that in the general population.
Good sources of iron:
tofu, lentils, certain fortified cereals

B12
If you are eating eggs and drinking milk then your most likely getting enough b12. Other sources of b12 are yogurts, soy milk, and some fortified cereals.

You should probably cut down on the carbs and eat more vegetables. The problem with consuming too many carbohydrates as a proportion of your nutritional intake is that they raise your insulin levels. Raised insulin levels tells your brain not to use stored fat as a source of energy. As soon as what you have eaten has been used up, your brain tells you to go and eat again - because your body wants energy from outside, it is less inclined to use the energy stored as fat in your body. Too many carbs leads to binge eating of carbs - it becomes a vicious circle that is very hard to break.

Answer 2

Of course you're going to be hungry if you're running two miles a day, everyone would be.

Vegetarian diets are healthy as long as they're done carefully. Since you're exercising vigorously, make sure you're getting a good amount protein, as everyone else has said.

There's new(?) research out that a diet with a sufficient amount of fiber will help keep you feeling full while you're dieting. I'm not dieting but I eat Raisin Bran for breakfast and it keeps me feeling full better than a lot of other breakfast foods.

Also, lots of whole grains! They help you feel full and they're just good for you all around.

Good luck! :)

Answer 3

A vegetarian diet is perfectly healthy if you design it properly. You have to make sure you are getting enough vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and so on, just as you would in an omnivorous diet.

You are right to eat constantly. It is healthiest to eat six mini-meals a day so that your body's metabolism does not slow down too much... that is, so that you keep burning calories. Your hunger is perfectly normal for someone who engages in so much physical activity. And the eggs should be fine as long as you don't cook them in butter or margarine or anything.

Answer 4

Vegetarian diets are very healthy as long as you do your research and be sure to get enough protein. Eggs are a good source of protein but they are awfully high in cholesterol-I think the current recommendation is no more than four/week. Beans, dairy, legumes and soy are also good sources.
A tip for weight loss you may not know-make most of your simple carbs-breads, pasta, grains-minimally processed whole grains, e.g. whole wheat bread, brown rice. whole grain pasta. It's the low fiber processed carbs that add pounds.

Answer 5

I think others have fairly well answered your primary question so I'm just adding in on the the 2 eggs. I was surprised to learn recently that the protein for the egg is in the whites and not the yolk. A trick I've been using when scrambling eggs is to discard one egg yolk - so you'd still have the two whites which are the bulk of the egg less a yolk which is really your health concern in terms of cholesterol.

Answer 6

Vegeterian diet good though you need to have some protein in your diet. You can eat lentils and beans for proteins.

Answer 7

drop your milk type and you cut calories by about 20 percent

Answer 8

don t skip breakfast

Answer 9

Not very healthy. My friend has withered away. I see nothing wrong with fish or baked chicken! The Mediterranean diet is one of the most healthiest in the world! Fish has omega 3!!!!

Answer 10

I would reccomend reading The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell.