Many health-conscious people choose to eat vegetarian. A proper vegetarian diet can be beneficial to health, but what are the downsides of long-term vegetarianism? What should one pay attention to for a healthy vegetarian diet?
I. The Downsides of Long-Term Vegetarianism
1. Long-term vegetarianism can increase the risk of fractures.
Studies have found that a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of cancer, especially the risk of leukemia. This finding has been confirmed in foreign research. However, blindly adopting a vegetarian diet without understanding your own body can trigger health warnings. Research shows that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians have more brittle bones. "Their bones are thinner, they consume fewer calories and proteins, and they have a lower body mass index and body fat percentage," experts wrote in the research report. "Their risk of fractures is greater." A new discovery is that teenage vegetarians are more prone to eating disorders, with 11% of respondents showing a tendency to binge eat. More teenage vegetarians, due to a lack of guidance, suffer from severe deficiencies of iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamin B. They also mistakenly believe they are very healthy.
2. Long-term vegetarianism can lead to menstrual irregularities.
From a physiological perspective for women, about one-third of the respondents experienced menstrual irregularities, and some also developed anemia. Can women really survive on a purely vegetarian diet? Due to low fat intake, estrogen secretion is too low, which greatly affects these women's libido and fertility and can easily lead to wrinkles, accelerating the aging process.
3. Long-term vegetarianism can easily lead to calcium deficiency.
Although a vegetarian diet has many benefits, a completely vegetarian diet can lead to iron-deficiency anemia and calcium deficiency. Consuming too many vegetables can also be harmful. For example, spinach, green vegetables, celery, and tomatoes contain high levels of oxalic acid, which can bind with calcium from other foods to easily form calcium oxalate stones. This is one of the reasons why many vegetarian women are prone to kidney stones. At the same time, vegetarians often have insufficient intake of vitamins A and E. A deficiency of these two vitamins can cause the epithelial cells of the gallbladder to easily shed, leading to cholesterol deposition and the formation of stones.
Tofu and Potato Braised with Pork
In addition, a completely vegetarian diet can disrupt the balance of food components, leading to insufficient intake of animal protein. Even when supplemented with plant proteins from sources like beans, their absorption and utilization are far inferior to animal protein. When completely vegetarians have insufficient protein intake, the balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fats in the body is disrupted, which can lead to a weakened immune system, anemia, and indigestion. Relevant departments once conducted a special nutrition survey on some "monks," and the analysis results showed that they basically suffered from varying degrees of malnutrition, had weak immune functions, and were susceptible to various infectious diseases.
For today's white-collar workers under high pressure, occasional vegetarianism can be a change of pace, but long-term vegetarianism is not the best strategy.
II. How to Eat Vegetarian Healthily
If you choose to be vegetarian for health reasons, experts believe you can moderately and "flexibly" consume animal-based foods. The specific approach is: on the basis of consuming a large amount of plant-based foods, moderately consume animal-based foods according to your personal situation, generally once a week, and no more than three times at most. At the same time, animal-based foods should mainly consist of fish, and meat should be avoided as much as possible. Fish is rich in protein and unsaturated fatty acids, making it more beneficial to health. Most importantly, maintain healthy cooking methods and pay attention to a variety of food items to achieve a balanced diet.
Vinegar-Sautéed Cabbage
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