If you have an ongoing health concern like diabetes, or if you’re pregnant (or trying to conceive), or if you’re an athlete in training for a sport, you naturally have concerns about whether a vegetarian diet is your best option. The answer is – yes, if you’re eating enough of the right foods. Vegetarianism is great for keeping blood sugar under control and getting the body in peak shape, whether you hope to run a marathon or have a baby.
Doing vegetarianism as a diabetic
For diabetics, diet is the first line of defense, literally the difference between life and death. Left untreated, diabetes can cause blindness, kidney failure and even loss of the hands and feet, and it affects people of all ages. If you’re a diabetic, your doctor has already told you that your diet is the single most important weight you can manage your diabetes – a low fat, high carbohydrate and high fiber vegetarian diet is an excellent option.
Worldwide, over 30 million people suffer from diabetes. Essentially, the condition is one in which the body is unable to process nutrients efficiently. In a "normal" body, the food we eat is converted to usable energy in the form of glucose, a sugar that’s carried by the blood to all of our various functions with the help of the hormone insulin. Diabetics, however, have an imbalance of insulin – either too little or none at all – which means that the body has difficulty converting blood sugar to usable energy. This means that the glucose remains, unconverted, in the bloodstream and never gets where it’s needed, leading to fatigue, muscle pain loss of concentration and coordination and blurry vision. When someone has a hypoglycemic episode, that’s what’s going on – the amount of usable sugars in their bloodstream is too low. In extreme cases this can lead to the person lapsing into a coma, or even dying.
As a matter of controlling their blood sugar, diabetics have to keep a close eye on their diet, eating a wide variety of foods and making sure they sit down to regular meals. Carbohydrates must be watched carefully – at least half of the recommended diabetic diet must include complex carbohydrates from sources like baked potatoes, whole grain breads, vegetables and legumes. Sounds like a vegetarian diet, doesn’t it?
The vegetarian diet is so good for diabetics, in fact, that some vegetarian diabetics can transition off medication, including many who previously had to inject insulin. The level of control that vegetarianism allows diabetics allows them to feel confident that they’re eating for optimal health.
Adding a third vegetarian to the family
If you’re hoping to get pregnant, both you and your doctor want you to be in the best possible condition to insure that both you and your baby are healthy. Eating well is important before and during pregnancy – and the more of a head start you can get on good health before you conceive, the better.
Vegetarians may eat a healthier diet than omnivores, but you’ll still need to follow the same advice as meat-eaters in many respects. Take a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement for several months before you get pregnant, and make sure it offers plenty of B12 and folic acid, or folate, a B vitamin that helps prevent birth defects of the spine and brain. Get plenty of physical activity and drink lots of water, and avoid alcohol, tobacco and caffeine. Eat nutritious foods and cut back or eliminate junk food and refined sugar.
As a vegetarian, you’ll probably be in better shape than if you were eating meat, and closer to your ideal weight. You’ll also have a strong immune system now that you’re avoiding animal foods, which you’ll pass on to your baby. Just make sure that you’re getting plenty of iron – many women begin pregnancy deficient in iron, and as your body grows and you store more blood to nourish your baby, you don’t want to risk becoming anemic.
Enough protein for you and your baby
Once you’ve conceived and you know that you’re carrying a child, you’ll probably start to worry about getting all the nutrients you need for you and your baby. But protein really isn’t your biggest concern – as we’ve already covered, most people already eat too much protein. If you’re eating a healthy diet consisting of a variety of foods, you’re probably getting plenty of protein from whole grains, beans, legumes and either dairy or soy milk.
A greater concern is that you get enough omega 3 fatty-acids – a nutrient that plays an important role in brain function and development – as well as calcium, folic acid (folate), iron, zinc, and vitamins B12 and D. If you’re a pesco vegetarian (one who eats fish), you can get plenty of omega-3s by eating fatty fish like salmon. If you don’t eat fish, add ground flax seed (found at natural food stores or your supermarket) to your meals, or take a supplement.
The rest of the important nutrients should be plentiful, if you follow some simple recommendations:
Eat four servings of cooked dried beans and peas each day – they’re full of zinc, iron and protein. Munch on nuts and seeds, but be careful of eating too much fat.
Include four servings of calcium-rich foods. Read labels on dairy and milk substitutes, and try to get 30 percent of the RDA of calcium – that’s 300 mg of calcium per serving. Use soy and rice milks that are fortified with Vitamin D, which helps your body process calcium.
Eat from five to seven servings of vegetables and three to five servings of fresh fruit each day, for energy, vitamins, fiber and antioxidents.
Include six to eleven servings of whole grains, like bread, cereal, brown rice and oatmeal.
Get your vitamin B12 by eating at least one serving each day of or more servings of B12-rich foods like milk, fortified soy milk, miso and tempeh.
If you find yourself eating too little and you need to consume more calories, shakes an smoothies are tasty, easy to digest and full of nutrients.
High performance from plant foods
If you actively train for a sport, you’ve probably already heard that you can’t reach top performance on a vegetarian diet – and a vegan diet, well, that’s right out! But it’s not. Many world-class athletes are vegetarians, including some very famous names. Baseball legend Hank Aaron, exercise guru Jack LaLanne, professional skateboarder Steve Berra, football player Jopw Namath, three-time Ironman champion Ruth Heidrish, Olympic track star Carl Lewis, and tennis greats Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are among thousands of pro athletes who built their bodies in vegetarian and vegan diets.
Athletes are among the few vegetarians that actually need to worry about getting enough protein in their diets. When animal products are removed from the diet, considerably less protein is being consumed, and a highly active body requires more protein than that of the average person. When there’s too little dietary protein, carbohydrates enter the bloodstream faster, causing insulin levels to rise quickly, and then plunge a short time later. This is the dreaded "sugar crash" that we’ve all experienced, and it’s a killer for athletes who depend on a steady supply of usable energy. Additional protein in the diet balances the carbohydrates, heading off the sugar crash by releasing energy into the bloodstream at a more efficient rate.
Protein is also important to athletes as it’s used to rebuild muscle tissue during training. The way in which muscles are grown and strengthened is an ongoing process of breaking down tissue and them building them back up again – without enough protein, the taxed muscles won’t rebuild themselves.
It’s a simple matter to add protein to a vegetarian diet. You’ve already read about the amazing variety of plant foods that provide adequate protein. Adding one or two protein rich snacks each day can boost your protein intake by 10 to 25 grams – a cup of vegetarian chili over rice, a bowl of whole grain cereal with soy milk, a whole-wheat roll with peanute butter, a large baked potato and a cup of soup are all great protein-rich snacks.
Scientists, physicians and sports trainers all know that a high-carbohydrate diet is best for athletes, as the carbs provide necessary energy and stamina. Sugar that’s stored in the muscles for their use is called glycogen, and your body uses these stored sugars when performing both endurance activities like running, swimming and biking, and lower-intensity activities like sprinting, skiing and snowboarding. The vegetarian diet , with its emphasis on whole grains, legumes, fruit, and vegetables, offers the necessary high intake of carbohydrate.
A vegetarian diet should provide all the vitamins and minerals that athletes require, but if you’re training hard you should make sure you eat enough foods that provide vital nutrients like iron and zinc (found in fortified breakfast cereals, legumes, nuts and seeds) and vitamin C to enhance the absorption of iron.
There is some concern that vegetarian or vegan diet puts female athletes at a higher risk for amenorrhea (irregular menstrual cycles) and osteoporosis. Some studies have associated high-fiber, low-fat vegetarian diets combined with extremely high levels of exercise with reduced estrogen levels. The consensus among scientists, though, is that the fault lies in low energy intake – not eating enough calories – rather than being a problem with the vegetarian diet. These same studies have found that female athletes have normal menstrual cycles when they increase their caloric intake.
Aging gracefully – and meat-free
Gerontology – the study of old age and aging – is a relatively new science, and little is known about the specific nutritional needs of older people as compared to children and younger adults. Many people live out their seniority with vigor, but even they notice that certain health problems increase as they get older. One thing that scientists know is that much of how we age is genetic – there are certainly patterns to how all humans change as they age, but those changes come at a different pace for different people. Some of that difference is genetic – and some of it due to diet and lifestyle.
As we’ve already discussed, the right diet can improve your health and allow you to live longer. Research into the health and longevity of vegetarians has shown that those who eat a vegetarian diet that’s lower in calories, saturated fat, and protein, and higher in fiber and phytochemicals suffer from less obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and some forms of cancer than non-vegetarians – and they tend to live longer, too.Good eating habits in the years that lead up to old age will not only help your current health but will help to minimize the various ailments that plague the elderly. Your genes will play a part in how you age – but a healthy vegetarian diet will help, no matter what genetic cards you’ve drawn.
One thing that researchers agree upon is that older adults need less calories as they age. Part of that is due tot he inevitable decline in the rate of metabolism – like it or not, your metabolism will slow as you age, meaning you need to consume less energy to keep your body functioning. You’ll also, in most cases, become less physically active, another reason you’ll need less calories.
And yet, you’ll still need the same amount of various nutrients that you always did – in some case, you’ll need more.
As people age, it becomes more likely that specific medical problems that require a special diet. Those with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease will need to plan their diets according to their physician’s recommendations. Most conditions, however, benefit from a diet that’s high in fiber from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and low in animal products, and we already know that a vegetarian lifestyle can help to keep blood sugar levels in check. If you follow a special diet, consult with a nutritionist or dietitian for help with vegetarian meal planning.
You may also be hoping that a healthier diet will help with arthritis but, so far, there is no evidence that one kind of diet is better for the treatment of arthritis than another. A low fat vegetarian diet will help you maintain optimum weight, though, which has been proven to lessen or even prevent some symptoms of arthritis.
There are a number of factors that can affect the eating habits of older adults. Sometimes money plays a part – many elderly people are on tight budgets and they undereat because of financial distress. Others find it difficult to tolerate a lot of foods as they age, or they’re unable to shop and cook for themselves, so their diet suffers. Older people with diabetes or high blood pressure have to modify their diets significantly, and sometimes there are problems with chewing or swallowing that keep them from eating as much as they should.
The most important thing to remember as you age – and this applies to anyone who’s over 40 and notices their metabolism slowing – is that you need to get as much nutrition from the food you eat as possible while keeping an eye on caloric intake. That means cutting out the empty calories that come from junk foods – consuming less sweets, chips, soft drinks and alcohol, while eating more nutrient-dense foods that give you real bang for your caloric buck.
The basic recommendations for all adults are even more important for older people. In a nutshell:
Limit your intake of:
sweets
regular coffee and tea
greasy or fatty foods
alcohol
oil, margarine, and "junk" foods
other added fat
salt
Eat plenty of:
fruits
whole grain breads and cereals
vegetables
Drink plenty of fluids, especially water
Special problems of older adults
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The biggest source of discomfort in older adults is digestive problems. Unfortunately, this often causes people to avoid foods that are rich in nutrients that they need – flatulence, for example, may inspire them to cut out foods like beans and cabbage, both of which are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Sometimes, the answer is to add other foods to the diet to compensate.
Let’s look at some common problems that affect us as we age:
Constipation is a common complaint, usually caused by not drinking enough fluids and by not eating enough fiber. Some medications, like antacids made with aluminum hydroxide or calcium carbonate, can increase the risk of constipation, and habitual use of laxatives actually makes the problem worse. The first step in avoiding constipation is to eat a diet that includes lots of whole grain breads and cereals, and plenty of vegetables and fruits. Many people find that eating dried fruits like prunes or figs helps, as they have a natural laxative effect for many people (your grandpa drank all that prune juice for a reason!) Make sure you drink plenty of fluids, especially water, and limit foods that are high in fat, including high fat dairy products, oils and margarine, and fried foods. Regular exercise helps, too.
Gas and heartburn often plague older adults, especially after eating. The symptoms are both uncomfortable and embarrassing – belching, intestinal gas or flatulence, bloating, and a burning sensation in the stomach and chest. They’re caused by a number of different things, including overeating, eating too many high-fat foods, and drinking alcohol or carbonated beverages. Lying down to rest right after eating and taking certain drugs – including aspirin – can contribute to the problem, too. Eating a high-fiber diet often works, although sometimes the symptoms return when the body adjust to the increased fiber intake. To battle indigestion, try eating smaller, more frequent meals instead of one or two larger meals. Eat slowly and chew food thoroughly before swallowing. As with constipation, regular exercise can help minimize problems with gas.
Chewing and swallowing problems are an unfortunate way of life for many older adults. Raw foods may be a problem, so cooking vegetables and fruits may be necessary, even though the foods lose some of their nutrient value in the process. Cutting your food into smaller pieces and taking extra time to chew, not rushing meals, may be helpful. If you wear dentures, check with your dentist to make sure that you have the proper fit – our mouths change as we age, and they may need to be replaced. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids, especially water, and keep it on hand during meals – some medications contribute to "dry mouth," and could be adding to the problem.
Loss of appetite is a common problem for the elderly, and it’s sometimes caused by depression. Depression is common in older people, because of changes in their living conditions, the loss of beloved companions, side effects of some medications, and difficulty in caring for themselves. Eating a number of small meals throughout the day may help, and it’s also good to seek out opportunities to socially over meals. Your nearby senior center probably offers regular meals, and you can discuss your vegetarian needs with their dietitian. You can also contact your local vegetarian groups and ask in they sponsor restaurant outings or potluck dinners, which can give you the chance to get out, have a nice meal with good company and make some new friends!
Meal planning for older adults
Seniors often find that meal planning is a challenge, especially if it’s difficult for them to shop and cook. Arthritis can make it tough to manage a trip through the grocery store, open bottles or handle cooking utensils. Impaired eyesight may make it difficult to drive to the store and read food labels or package instructions, and it’s sometimes hard to be motivated to cook when you’re only making meals for yourself.
If this applies to you, you’ll need to plan meals that are simple, quick, and easy to prepare. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals are a great snack or easy meal, and hot cereals like oatmeal can be cooked in a microwave in just a manner of minutes. Canned fruits and vegetable have a long shelf life, and will keep for months in the pantry. Whole grain breads, muffins, tortillas and bagels can be stored in the freezer, so you can thaw just enough for one meal at a time. Also stick your pantry with frozen vegetables, whole grain crackers, peanut or almond butter, canned beans and shelf-stable cartons of soy or rice milk.
If you’re able to cook, make a full recipe that normally serves six or eight people and then freeze individual servings to be eaten later. Veggie lasagna, casseroles, cheese enchiladas, vegetarian chili, whole grain cookies and muffins or pancakes all freeze well, and can be reheated as needed for a quick meal.
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