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Vegetarian Resources:
The Fresh Earth Food Store is dedicated to creating a new understanding of health and sustainability with vegetarian foods and organic products. Below you will find links to a number of vegetarian resources to help you eat a balanced and healthy vegatarian diet.
Vegetarian Meal Plans:
Vegetarian Meal plans are a great way of creating variety in the choice of vegetarian foods and recipes that you use at home. These healthy vegetarian eating plans do all of the work for you by supplying you with shopping lists, recipes and most importantly a balanced vegetaian diet for the week. We recommend that you choose three of your favorite vegetarian meal plans that work for you and rotate between them on a monthly basis or even create your own meal plan by mixing and matching the plans available here. Find a Vegetarian Meal Plan
Vegetarian Recipes:
All of the recipes on this site are vegetarian recipes. You will also find sections for special dietary requirements such as Wheat Free Vegetarian Recipes and Vegan Recipes. There are all sorts of exciting and healthy vegetarian recipes that you can try at home: Vegetarian Lasagna Recipes, Vegetarian Burger Recipes, Vegetarian Pizza Recipes and much much more. Explore our Vegetarian Recipes.
Vegetarian Foods:
The Fresh Earth Food Store stocks a comprehensive and very carefully selected range of vegetarian foods. With our love of great vegetarian food and the inherent understanding of the importance of conscious vegetarian eating, we have done our best to bring you an eating and shopping experience that adds value to your life in every possible way. All of our products (besides being vegetarian) are naturally produced and contain no harmful additives and preservatives. Browse the store for Vegetarian Foods.
The definition of Vegetarian:Vegetarianism is the practice of following a plant-based diet including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat meat, including: red meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, shellfish, and products of animal slaughter such as animal-derived gelatin and rennet. There are a number of vegetarian diets.
A lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products but excludes eggs, an ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs but not dairy products, and a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet includes both eggs and dairy products.
A vegan diet excludes all animal products, such as dairy products, eggs, and honey. Vegetarianism may be adopted for ethical, health, environmental, religious, political, cultural, aesthetic, economic, or other reasons.
Semi-vegetarian diets consist largely of vegetarian foods, but may include fish and sometimes poultry, as well as dairy products and eggs. With these diets, the word "meat" is often defined as only mammalian flesh.
A pescetarian diet, for example, includes "fish but no meat". The colloquial application of the word "vegetarian" to such diets has led vegetarian groups, such as the Vegetarian Society, to clarify that such fish or poultry-based diets are not vegetarian, due to the fact that fish and birds are animals.
Health benefits and concerns for Vegetarians
Vegetarianism is considered a healthy, viable diet. The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada have found a properly planned vegetarian diet to satisfy the nutritional needs for all stages of life, and large-scale studies have shown that "Mortality from ischemic heart disease was 24% lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians". Necessary nutrients, proteins, and amino acids for the body's sustenance can be found in vegetables, grains, nuts, soymilk, eggs and dairy.
Vegetarian diets can aid in keeping body weight under control. The American Dietetic Association states that a vegetarian diet "may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases" "Regarding the benefits of prevention, vegetarianism can substantially reduce risks of heart disease and osteoporosis. Non-lean red meat, in particular, has been found to be directly associated with dramatically increased risk of cancers of the esophagus, liver, colon, and the lungs.
Other studies, in contrast, have shown no significant differences between vegetarians and nonvegetarians in mortality from cerebrovascular disease, stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, or prostate cancer, although the sample of vegetarians was small and included ex-smokers who had switched their diet within the last five years.
The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada have stated: "Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals." Vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementias such as Alzheimer’s Disease and other disorders.
Vegetarian Nutrition
Western vegetarian diets are typically high in carotenoids, but relatively low in long-chain n-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. Vegans can have particularly low intake of vitamin B and calcium if they do not eat enough items such as collard greens, leafy greens, tempeh and tofu (soy). High levels of dietary fibre, folic acid, vitamins C and E, and magnesium, and low consumption of saturated fat are all considered to be beneficial aspects of a vegetarian diet.
Protein
Protein intake in vegetarian diets is only slightly lower than in meat diets and can meet daily requirements for any person, including athletes and bodybuilders. Studies at Harvard University as well as other studies conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and various European countries, have confirmed that vegetarian diets provide sufficient protein intake as long as a variety of plant sources are available and consumed. Proteins are composed of amino acids, and a common concern with protein acquired from vegetable sources is an adequate intake of the essential amino acids, which cannot be synthesised by the human body. While dairy and egg products provide complete sources for lacto-ovo vegetarians, the only vegetable sources with significant amounts of all eight types of essential amino acids are lupin, soy, hempseed, chia seed, amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa. It is not necessary, however, to obtain protein from these sources—the essential amino acids can also be obtained by eating a variety of complementary plant sources that, in combination, provide all eight essential amino acids (e.g. brown rice and beans, or hummus and whole wheat pita, though protein combining in the same meal is not necessary). A varied intake of such sources can be adequate, a 1994 study found.
Iron
Vegetarian diets typically contain similar levels of iron to non-vegetarian diets, but this has lower bioavailability than iron from meat sources, and its absorption can sometimes be inhibited by other dietary constituents. Vegetarian foods rich in iron include black beans, cashews, hempseed, kidney beans, lentils, oatmeal, raisins, black-eyed peas, soybeans, many breakfast cereals, sunflower seeds, chickpeas, tomato juice, tempeh, molasses, thyme, and whole-wheat bread. The related vegan diets can often be higher in iron than vegetarian diets, because dairy products are low in iron.[39] Iron stores often tend to be lower in vegetarians than non-vegetarians, and a few small studies report higher rates of iron deficiency. However, the American Dietetic Association states iron deficiency is no more common in vegetarians than non-vegetarians (adult males are rarely iron deficient); iron deficiency anaemia is rare no matter the diet.
Vitamin B12
Plants are not generally significant sources of Vitamin B12. However, lacto-ovo vegetarians can obtain B12 from dairy products and eggs, and vegans can obtain it from fortified foods and dietary supplements. Since the human body preserves B12 and reuses it without destroying the substance, clinical evidence of B12 deficiency is uncommon. The body can preserve stores of the vitamin for up to 30 years without needing its supplies to be replenished. The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 (including some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B12 supplements. The research on vitamin B12 sources has increased in the latest years.
Fatty acids
Fish is a non-vegetarian source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Plant-based, or vegetarian, sources exist such as soy, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, canola oil and especially hempseed, chia seed, flaxseed, and purslane. Purslane contains more Omega 3 than any other known leafy green. Plant foods can provide alpha-linolenic acid but not the long-chain n-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are found in low levels in eggs and dairy products. Vegetarians, and particularly vegans, have lower levels of EPA and DHA than meat-eaters. While the health effects of low levels of EPA and DHA are unknown, it is unlikely that supplementation with alpha-linolenic acid will significantly increase levels. Recently, some companies have begun to market vegetarian DHA supplements containing seaweed extracts. Similar supplements providing both DHA and EPA have also begun to appear. Whole seaweeds are not suitable for supplementation because their high iodine content limits the amount that may be safely consumed. However, certain algae such as spirulina are good sources of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), linoleic acid (LA), stearidonic acid (SDA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and arachidonic acid (AA).
Calcium
Calcium intake in vegetarians is similar to non-vegetarians. Some impaired bone mineralisation has been found among vegans who do not consume enough leafy greens, which are sources of abundant calcium. However, this is not found in lacto-ovo vegetarians. Some sources of calcium include collard greens, bok choy, kale, and turnip greens. Spinach, swiss chard and beet greens are high in calcium, but the calcium is bound to oxalate and therefore it is poorly absorbed.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D levels do not appear to be lower in vegetarians (although studies have shown that much of the general population is deficient). Vitamin D needs can be met via the human body's own generation upon sufficient and sensible UV sun exposure. Products including milk, soy milk and cereal grains may be fortified to provide a good source of Vitamin D and mushrooms provide over 2700 IU per serving (approx. 3 oz or 1/2 cup) of vitamin D2, if exposed to just 5 minutes of UV light after being harvested;[65] for those who do not get adequate sun exposure and/or food sources, Vitamin D supplementation may be necessary.
Reasons for a vegetarian diet
Ethics - Various ethical reasons have been suggested for choosing vegetarianism.
Religion - Indian cuisine offers a wide range of vegetarian delicacies because Hinduism, practiced by majority of India's populace, encourages vegetarian diet. Shown here is a vegetarian thali.
Hinduism and Jainism teach vegetarianism as moral conduct. Buddhism in general does not prohibit meat eating, while Mahayana Buddhism encourages vegetarianism as beneficial for developing compassion. Other denominations that advocate a fully vegetarian diet include the Seventh-day Adventists, the Rastafari movement and the Hare Krishnas. Sikhism does not equate spirituality with diet and does not specify a vegetarian or meat diet.
Environmental - Environmental vegetarianism is based on the concern that the production of meat and animal products for mass consumption, especially through factory farming, is environmentally unsustainable. According to a 2006 United Nations initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. The initiative concluded that "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
Cultural - People may choose vegetarianism because they were raised in a vegetarian household or because of a vegetarian partner, family member, or friend.
References:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism]
[http://www.vegsoc.org/]
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