Vegetarian diet concepts for non vegetarians
Posted by johann | Filed under Vegetarian
This month is the 4 year anniversary of my decision to stop eating meat and poultry. To set the record straight, I am no expert on Vegetarian diets or even the more strick vegan form. All I can offer is my own experience. Having said that, are there any healthy concepts that can be learned from a vegetarian diet?
A quick overview of the different types of vegetarians
Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarians: no red meat, chicken nor fish, but the consumption of dairy products and eggs. The variation of vegetarianism that most often calls itself simply “vegetarian”.
Lacto-Vegetarians: no meat and no eggs, save the consumption of milk.
Vegans: no meat, eggs nor milk. No animal products of any kind. Vegans also try to avoid wearing wool and leather.
I fall in the first category, Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian, except, I do eat fish, so that would probably disqualify me being a vegetarian to most people, but for my own health needs I find adding a rotation of fish protein to the other sources of protein in my diet beneficial. Vegetarians consuming fish are known as Pesce-Vegetarians (sometimes shortened to Pescetarians). It does however confuce people sometimes with a religion when I explain this to them, so I stick with Vegetarian, but I consume fish.
Benefit for non-vegetarians: Planning a meal, Vegetarian style
As a kid growing up in South Africa, all meals always started with the animal protein as the main focus, and then any additional vegetables, fruits, beans or nuts were picked based on the main dish. Sometimes more meats were added, especially when I think of a South African Braai (Barbeque). My parents would have Lamb Chops, Boerewors (beef, pork or lamb sausage) and chicken most of the time and sometimes it was supplemented with a side of Sosatie (Meat kebab) and perhaps on special occasions beef steaks. They never really did a lot of pork chops, but that would fit in nicely. This was a typical braai. Added as side dishes would be salads such as mixed green, patato, coleslaw and perhaps a carrot salad. This however usually only served as palate cleansers between the meats on the plate. With these enormous amounts of meats cooked for a braai, Sunday morning breakfast would be leftovers perhaps sliced and made into a stew with some Mielie Pap (Maize porage, similar to grids) Sunday lunches started with the same focus, but my mother would offer healthier food with the main dish being a Chicken or beef roast and sometimes lamb chops. Our family was not the exception, but pretty much the norm for a South African diet.
These days, my focus on planning a meal starts with vegetable or salad. Sometimes I would have cheat day and do my Irish Pub run for Fish and Chips, but those are really the rarity, and not the norm. Starting with salad or vegetables then gives you more options, for example:
- Salad or Vegetable focus
We pick salad as an example - Warm or Cold Salad
We pick cold salad as an example - Pick a base for the salad
Mixed greens, spinach, beans or legumes, pasta, vegetables such as asparagus, beets, bell pepper or fruits, eggs, tofu, grains or cheese. - Pick a protein
If the salad base does not constitute a good source of protein such as beans or tofu, then consider some non-animal protein to include that will also enhance the salad taste and appeal. It must still taste good. If you are not vegetarian, then pick your lean meat, poultry or fish to accompany your salad. The rule is to limit the protein to only a 3rd of all the calories in the meal. - Adding additional carbohydrates and fat
There are many theories by well known doctors on the ratio of these three sources, but for good measure, I stick with a 33/33/33 calorie ratio. ** See the protein reference below.
This decision process can be repeated for a vegetable focused meal as well.
How proteins are broken down
Proteins are broken apart by the protein-digesting enzymes in a process called hydrolysis. Protein digestion takes place in two different places, the stomach and the small intestine. The building blocks of proteins are amino acids. Most protein is absorbed in the form of single amino acids, but some are absorbed as two or three amino-acid combinations.
Biological value (BV) – protein absorption
The Biological value is a unit of measure for foods indicating what the proportion of absorbed protein from a food into the human body’s protein is.
Some typical values of foods based on a scale where 100 is 100% nitrogen absorption.
- Whey Protein: 96
- Whole Soy Bean: 96
- Chicken egg: 94
- Soybean milk: 91
- Cow milk: 90
- Cheese: 84
- Fish: 76
- Beef: 74.3
Male daily protein recommended intake (grams per day)
9–13 years 34
14–18 years 52
19–30 years 56
31–50 years 56
51–70years 56
> 70 years 56
Female daily protein recommended intake (grams per day)
9–13 years 34
14–18 years 46
19–30 years 46
31–50 years 46
51–70years 46
> 70 years 46
Table References: Hamilton, E. M. N., Whitney, E. N., and Sizer, F. S. 1991. Nutrtion: Concepts and Controversies, 5th ed. West Publishing Co.,New York, USA.
Institute of Medicine. 2005. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. National Academy Press. (Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academies).
Intellectual Athletic ex-pat South African American Vegetarian Techie who loves his wife, parents and all creatures regardless of their current state of delusion.