Friday, November 28, 2008

Healthy eating for vegetarian TEENS (2 of 2)

Iron: Plant foods with plenty of iron include broccoli, raisins, spinach, Swiss chard, tofu apricots, lentils, chickpeas and pinto beans. Fortified breakfast cereals provide iron, too. However, the kind of iron found in meat is more easily absorbed by your body than the iron found in plants. The trick is to eat or drink food with lots of vitamins D (i.e. orange juice) along with your meals. This helps increase the amount of iron you absorb from vegetable sources.

Vitamin B12: This vitamin, found in animal products but not in plants, helps your central nervous system function properly. Although only a tiny bit is needed, it is critical. Vegans need to add some to their diet through fortified foods.

Going Veggie Among Meat Eaters

These days, it’s quite easy to go meatless in a meat-eating world. There are usually plenty of appetizing options in restaurants, cafeterias and supermarkets, from vegetarian sandwiches to couscous, roasted vegetables, pasta and coleslaws. Many restaurants also offer salad bar fixings and non-meat entrees such as baked potatoes. Finally, there are many ethnic restaurants (Indian, Chinese and Thai) that offer a rich array of non-meat dishes. And of course, there is always pizza

Types of Vegetarians

The term “vegetarian” can include many different kinds of diet, here are three are primary ones:
♦ Semi-vegetarian—no red meat. Occasional fish and poultry.
♦ Vegetarian (lacto-ovo)-no meat, fish or poultry. Animal products such as eggs, milk, cheese are eaten.
♦ Vegan—no animals or animal products. Many vegans also will not wear leather, wool, silk or use goose down because there come fro animals.

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