1. A Vegetarian Diet is generally a healthier diet – there is no vitamin or mineral that you cannot get from eating a vegetarian diet. Some people believe that meat and fish are a necessary part of a balanced diet, but this is simply not true. Vegetarian food is also lower in fat and cholesterol than meat, which helps to protect the heart and prevent many diseases.
2. Less exposure to chemicals – a lot of animals are given hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. If you eat meat you have no idea what the animals you are eating were exposed to during their life.
3. Kinder to the Environment – eating a vegetarian diet puts a lot less strain on the environment. Production of meat requires huge amounts of water, grain and fuel to produce. This could be used much more efficiently to feed starving people in Africa. In addition to this a massive amount of the land on the earth is used for livestock, reducing the amount of land used for forests.
4. Eating a vegetarian diet is generally cheaper – meat and fish are generally a lot more expensive than vegetarian alternatives, so being vegetarian can help your budget as well as your health!
5. Eating vegetarian helps you to stay slim – vegetarians generally find it much easier to stay within their normal weight range as a vegetarian diet is typically lower in fat and calories than a meat eater’s diet.
6. Making a stance against factory farming and slaughter houses – hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in slaughterhouses every day. Many of these animals are kept in dreadful conditions, often in pain and have no quality of life. By eating only a vegetarian diet.
7. No nasty surprises in your food – meat products can include all sorts of nasty things, for example the animals’ tail, feet, rectum and organs. Yuck!
8. Less likely to get food poisoning – food poisoning is much more likely to come from eating bad meat or fish, compared to eating vegetarian foodstuffs.
9. Humans are not designed to eat meat – biologically, the human digestive tract is that of a herbivore. Biologists have compared the human digestive tract to that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals and found that the human digestive tract is more similar to herbivorous animals.
10. A clearer conscience – knowing that you are vegetarian or vegan and taking into account all the above reasons, you can feel better about yourself in the knowledge that you are healthier, helping the environment and not contributing to the pain and suffering of animals.

So if you are a new vegetarian and are feeling weak at the sight of meat, or if you are just wondering why you should consider being vegetarian, hopefully all these reasons will help you decide the best way forward for you.

Becoming a vegetarian is actually easier than you might think. While this eating pattern is different, it is not difficult; while it takes commitment, it is not rocket science.

There are different “levels” of vegetarian eating. So, the first thing you have to do is to distinguish what type of pattern you are most interested in. Because people convert to eating a vegetarian diet for a variety of different reasons, such as religion, animal-rights and health and wellness issues, those reasons will also play a part in what style of vegetarian easting you prefer.

Becoming a vegetarian literally means not eating meat. And for most vegetarians it also means not eating meat byproducts, which include eggs and dairy products. People who eat only a whole food diet will not eat meat at all, nor meat byproducts and eat only raw foods, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.

There are actually many different ways of traveling down the vegetarian road. It’s important to know yourself well enough to know which method of moving to a vegetarian lifestyle will be more apt to be successful in your life-moving over slowly or going cold turkey. Many individuals choose to become a vegetarian slowly by eliminating meat and fish from their diet over several weeks. Some people find that eliminating one type of meat every month makes the transition even easier.

After becoming a vegetarian most individuals report “feeling better” and having more energy to perform their daily living activities. In fact some people have so much energy they also take on a new exercise routine.

Becoming a vegetarian is a choice. Every day you choose a diet, an exercise plan, a stress level and your work patterns. By doing what you did the day before you are still making a choice. Sometimes we believe that our lives have been chosen for us, but that just is not the case. By choosing to live a vegetarian lifestyle you are making a choice to include more vitamins, minerals and nutrient dense foods to help your body have optimal health.

However, being a vegetarian is not an ‘all or none’ choice. By eliminating half of the meat that you would normally eat and replacing that with fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, you are also making an effective healthy choice in your life.

It is never whether or not you all are or are not a vegetarian-but rather how much of a vegetarian are you?

Pregnant vegetarians should choose high iron foods like whole grains, legumes, tofu, and green leafy vegetables daily and consume them with foods rich in vitamin C to increase the bio availability of the iron. All pregnant women, including vegetarians, should be checked for iron-deficiency anemia and consider supplementation if they are unable to meet their needs through diet alone. Now that you are pregnant you may wonder at times if your vegetarian lifestyle will impact negatively on your unborn child. First you need to understand what a healthy, well-balanced vegetarian diet should be like and for that you need to look at those nutrients you could be missing out on.

Throughout pregnancy, recommended intakes of vitamins and minerals are higher than for the non-pregnant state. With careful planning, a vegetarian diet during pregnancy can provide all the necessary nutrients you need and your baby need.

Savvy Vegetarian

Hopefully you have been following the advice on Savvy Vegetarian and are eating a great vegetarian diet!

In order to meet the weight gain recommendations for pregnancy, extra dietary energy is required. Despite compensatory mechanisms such as cessation of menstruation and increased iron absorption, the iron requirement of pregnancy is quite high and the diet needs to be especially rich in iron. All pregnant women, including vegetarians, should be checked for iron-deficiency anemia and consider supplementation if they are unable to meet their needs through diet alone. Many women in the US, both omnivores and vegetarians, do not consume diets that meet the RDA for zinc during pregnancy. First you need to understand what a healthy, well-balanced vegetarian diet should be like and for that you need to look at those nutrients you could be missing out on.

As a lacto-ovo vegetarian, my physician has recommended that I include tempeh, peanut butter, low-fat cottage cheese and eggs in my diet. He has a very realistic diet plan for vegetarians as well as vegans. Vegans and vegetarians are more diet-aware than meat eaters and generally get more nutrients as well.

If you are a vegetarian you may be wondering if it is okay to keep eating a vegetarian diet during your pregnancy.
Folic Acid: Vegetarians have an advantage over non-vegetarians since a vegetarian diet is usually very high in folic acid. These same people will often express strong doubt about the nutritional adequacy of your vegetarian diet now that you are pregnant. You can get all the nutrients you need from a high quality vegetarian diet. Becoming vegetarian is a major change, and your body is going through enough changes without the additional stress of changing your diet.

Hopefully you have been following the advice on Savvy Vegetarian and are eating a great vegetarian diet!. A good vegetarian diet has a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes i e beans, lentils, and nuts and some eggs and dairy or their equivalent.

You should be aware however, that yeast infections are more common during pregnancy and many women suffering from chronic yeast infections choose a diet that limits their intake of yeast. Being a pregnant vegetarian is completely healthy, as long as the woman maintains a balanced diet supplemented with prenatal vitamins.

Conclusion

All pregnant women, including vegetarians, should be checked for iron-deficiency anemia and consider supplementation if they are unable to meet their needs through diet alone. Historically, women have been advised to substantially increase their calcium intake during pregnancy in order to meet the fetus’s needs without compromising their own bone density. Vegetarians who consume dairy products get calcium from milk and cheese.

It is perfectly safe to eat a vegetarian or even a vegan diet when you are pregnant. Many vegetarians already consume a well balanced and planned out diet so planning for pregnancy may not take much work.