Five Things About The Vegetarian Diet That You Should Know
BY Hlombe Makuluma
The explosion in obesity and disease of lifestyle in the world
is costing the economies of various countries millions of
dollars. Lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes mellitus,
hyperlipidaemias, high blood pressure, coronary artery diseases
and cancers are very common in industrialised countries.
Vegetarian diets could offer some positive leads towards the
epidemic of lifestyle diseases.
1. Vegetarian Diet and Today's Lifestyle diseases
There is evidence that a vegetarian diet is beneficial for
various lifestyle disease such as, diabetes, high blood
pressure, coronary artery diseases, cancers, etc. The reason for
this might be due to various factors such as low fat content of
the vegatarian diet compared to the omnivores diet, there could
also be lifestyle changes for the vegetarians such as
non-smoking, non drinking behaviors, general heightened health
consciousness of the vegetarians. The increased fibre content of
the vegetarian diets also play a role especially in the
prevalence of colon and breast cancers.
2. Vegetarian Diet and Diabetes
Vegetarian diets are usually rich in fibre and complex
carbohydrates and are restricted in fat. Several studies have
proven that this diet improves control of blood glucose, delay
glucose absorption, lower insulin requirements, aid in weight
control and lower blood pressure in diabetic patients.
3. Vegetarian Diet and Cardiovascular Disease
An association between a vegetarian diet and a decrease in the
incidence of myocardial infarction, heart diseases, angina, has
been established. This association is due to an increase in the
consumption of fruit and vegetables, especially consumption of
soybean, legumes, nuts. The whole reduction in these incidences
are as a result of reduced fat content (hypolipidaemic effect),
and also vegetarian diets reduce weight and blood pressure and
cholesterol levels thus providing further cardiovascular
prevention.
Vegetarian diets are also rich in anti-oxidants such as vitamin
E, vitamin C, B-carotene and flavanoids as well as folic acid,
which all have a protective effect to the cardiovascular system.
4. Vegetarian diet and Cancer
Vegetarian diets rich in fibre and other dietary components
associated with high intake of whole grains, vegetables and
fruit lead to a reduction in colorectal cancer. There is
mounting evidence that this kind of diet is also beneficial in
reduction of the incidence of breast and prostate cancers too.
Again the reduction in the prevalence of cancers in vegetarians
is postulated as due to the presence of the same antioxidants
mentioned above.
5. Other effects of Vegetarian diet
Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in Vitamin B12 and there has
been several reports of VitB12 deficiencies amongst vegetarians.
The major effect of vegetarian diets that are high in fibre and
leguminous seeds is increased intestinal gas production,
resulting in more flatulence
It is very unlikely that weight management and diseases
prevention processes could be regulated or controlled
instinctually as was the case in our previous times. At the
moment, weight management have to be a cognitive skill and as
people we need to find ways and methods of ensuring that we
create an environment that supports healthy behaviors.
As a starting point in our quest to lead a long healthy life
aspects of the vegetarian diet could be the first step in a
thousand mile journey. We could also augment our lifestyles with
a gradual increase in physical activity........throw away the TV
remote control, use stairs instead of lifts, park far from the
shopping mall entrance, gradually increase physical activity
coupled with diet control to at least 30 minutes of vigorous
exercise most days of the week, let us not use the drive thrus
or better let us demand more healthy take-aways or stop take
aways altogether.
Let us not supersize our meals, let us only buy foods with full
information on the labels pertaining to energy and all the other
'nutritional'content.
Copyright 2007 . Please feel free to pass this article on to
your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a
shareware article.
ABOUTH THE AUTHORHlombe is a Wellness Practitioner who has practiced medicine
over the last 15years his areas of interest include weight management, aging and fitness,healthy living in general read more about him at http://www.livelonghealthylife.com |
