If you are a strict vegetarian and have been adhering to it for a while, it is inevitable that you will experience symptoms of pallor, gauntness, and even iron deficiency anemia. Because strict vegetarians do not eat meat, some nutrients such as animal protein, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and polyunsaturated fatty acids that can only be obtained from animals will be relatively lacking.
Important organs of the human body, such as the heart, liver, kidneys, etc., require a large number of protein components. Protein is also an important raw material for secreting hormones and plays an important role in regulating the body's functions. Proteins also form antibodies that help us defend against the invasion of foreign microorganisms. The body's immunity is not good, most of which is insufficient protein intake.
Vitamin B12 is a nutrient found almost exclusively in animal foods. If the intake of vitamin B12 is lacking, it will lead to megaloblastic anemia, nervous system damage, mental depression, memory loss and other nervous system problems.
Iron is an important trace element that helps us make blood. Consuming only plants will lead to a large deficiency of heme iron, which can lead to iron deficiency anemia.
Of course, there are some people who have to be a strict vegetarian because of their religion and values. But now many students actually have no religious pursuits themselves, nor do they resist so-called animal products. Just for the purpose of losing fat and slimming, he has also become a strict vegetarian. This is completely unnecessary.
Again, I'm not saying that vegans are bad. This article is only for those who want to lose fat through a strict vegetarian diet.
Vegetarians eat vegetarian methods correctly
Rather than strict vegetarianism, the new vegetarianism is more suitable for students who want to develop healthy eating habits through a vegetarian diet plan. "Vegetarian" means that most of them are mostly plant-dependent, but they do not exclude meat, milk and eggs. At the very least, you can be a lacto-ovo vegetarian.
- Protein
Beans are the best friend of the new vegetarian, lentils, chickpeas, are a source of protein that many vegetarians abroad highly respect. Lentils and chickpeas have a high protein content and can quickly replenish energy in a short period of time. Adding 50g of lentils to each meal can obtain nearly 15g of food fiber, which is called "meat in beans".
Like soybeans are rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins, fermented soy products contain vitamin B12, so soybeans and fermented soy products (curd, natto, etc.) are new vegetarians must eat more.
Vegan students eat 50g-80g of soybeans every day, which contains 5g-10g of fermented soy products.
The daily intake of soy intake is 25g-60g, plus 1 egg or 1 bag of fresh milk per day.
Nut foods are rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, seaweed contains n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, mushroom foods are rich in minerals and polysaccharides, so vegetarians should often eat nuts, seaweed and mushroom foods.
- Iron supplementation
Trace elements such as iron are best obtained from animals. So, for nutritional well-being, if you're not a vegan, it's best to eat some meat in small amounts.
Of course, you can also get iron from plants, but the absorption rate will be relatively low, compared to the 25% absorption rate of heme iron contained in meat, the absorption rate of non-heme iron in plants is only 3-8%. Therefore, vegetarians should eat more plants containing iron.
In your daily diet, the following iron-containing plant foods can help you get enough iron:
Legumes: flower beans, red beans, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, peas
Nuts: cashews, walnuts, pistachios
Vegetables: spinach, red amaranth, sweet potato leaves, dragon flower, mountain celery, kale
Fruits: dragon fruit (red flesh), passion fruit, dragon fruit (white meat), sweet persimmon, banana
Cereals: quinoa, brown rice, wheat germ, oats
Algae: seaweed, wakame
Mushrooms: shiitake mushrooms, matsutake mushrooms, lion's head mushrooms
In fact, you don't look at the vegetarian food as if you only eat "grass", in fact, he needs to pay more attention to things than ordinary diet. So, if you don't have a special reason, it is not recommended to "take the initiative" to become a vegetarian.