Food & Drink 

Advertisement

Going vegetarian: your questions answered

You’ve thought about going vegetarian, but your worries about staying healthy and getting a balanced diet have always stopped you. Worry no longer. It’s never been easier to give up meat, says Susie Chance

There are many reasons why people go vegetarian, but the current foot-and-mouth crisis, hot on the heels of recent food scares, will certainly have jolted many of us into taking a closer look at what we eat.

The good news is that giving up meat has never been so easy. Once considered a cranky way of eating, based around nuts, lentils and brown rice, today it’s a different story. Many of our favourite modern ingredients are vegetarian, from sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and puy lentils to couscous, lemongrass and coconut milk. With a world of new flavours to experiment with, even top chefs are now offering inspired veggie options on their menus, routinely.

A healthy balance
But, you ask, is it really healthy to be vegetarian? A properly balanced veggie diet can and does fit very well with government healthy eating guidelines. It has even been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers. The key is the word ‘balanced’ – just as it is for meat eaters. To eat healthily, whatever your diet, it’s important to eat a variety of different foods, without too much fat, salt or sugar. For vegetarians, this means basing what you eat around the recommended daily amounts from the following food groups:

• Protein: 2-3 servings (eg: peas, beans, lentils, eggs, nuts, seeds, Quorn, tofu)
• Dairy and dairy alternatives: 2-3 servings (eg: milk or calcium-fortified soya milk, cheese or cottage cheese, yogurt)
• Starchy foods: at least 4 servings (eg: bread, breakfast cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta, polenta. Wholegrain varieties are best)
• Fruit and veg: at least 5 servings (eg: fresh, frozen, dried or juiced).

Delicious     Digg     reddit     Facebook     StumbleUpon

  Get the latest iVillage news on your desktop    Sign up for more iVillage RSS feeds

© iVillage Limited 2000-2008. All rights reserved. | © iVillage inc. 1995-2008. All rights reserved.
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB