To Be Or Not To Be A Vegetarian (Or A Non-Vegetarian)

Which food is better for health: veg or non-veg?

Now a days there are several food classifications. A few examples:

1. Low carb versus high carb diet
2. Low protien versus high protien diet
3. Low cholesterol versus high cholesterol diet
4. Low fat versus high fat diet
5. Vegetarian versus non-vegetarian diet

Pseudo Classifications?

As we shall see shortly, these oversimplified classification of diets and foods do not help us in making our food choices for health promotion and disease prevention. The only naturally intuitive and valid classification in my opinion is: Natural versus processed food

But here we will discuss Vegetarian versus non-vegetarian food. There are positive and negative points about both foods. Non-veg food is full of protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. But your doctor may raise 100 objections about it, like, it has very high cholesterol, saturated fat and no fiber. Vegetarian food is full of natural antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, but vetables and fruits lack protein. Veg food also lacks vitamin B12

You have to be smarter in choosing vegetarian food groups in order to get sufficient good quality protein. Combine at least one food from cereals group (like wheat, maize, bajra, jowar rye etc.) with at least one food from legumes/pulses group (like chana, arhar, peas, lentils, moong rajma etc.) Why? Because, Both groups are deficient of a different amino acid. Their amono acid profiles are complimentry to each other.

The arguments in favor of vegetarian diet are:

• A vegetarian diet provides many health benefits
• Vegetarians have significantly lower risk of obesity and related metabolic disorders like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease etc
• They have  lower risk of diet-related cancers, like colon cancer, diverticular disease, constipation and gall stones

The arguments against vegetarian diet are:

• Vegetarian food may have Vitamin B12 deficiency
• Vegetarians are at a higher risk for Iron deficiency anemia
• Vegetarian food may have zinc deficiency

For Indian food calories chart Click here

For nutrition in apple Click here