Vegetarian Diets

People practice a vegetarian lifestyle for various reasons. The four main types of vegetarians are:

• Strict vegetarian or vegan – excludes all animal products such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese and other dairy products.
• Lacto-vegetarian – excludes meat, poultry, fish and eggs but includes dairy products.
• Lacto-ovovegetarian – excludes meat, poultry and fish but includes eggs and dairy products.
• Flexitarian – a semi-vegetarian diet with a focus on vegetarian food but will occasionally eat meat.

It doesn’t matter which category of vegetarian you fall into, or if you are considering becoming a vegetarian, to maintain a healthy diet you need to choose a variety of foods which include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. This is because some important nutrients and vitamins (see below) found in animal products may be missing from your diet.

• Iron - Good sources of iron include dark green vegetables (like spinach), broccoli, dried fruits, prune juice, oatmeal, nuts and potatoes (eaten with skin). Eating foods rich in vitamin C (citrus fruits, orange juice, tomatoes, broccoli, capsicum, strawberries) at each meal increases iron absorption.
• Vitamin B12 – This vitamin is found in animal foods (including eggs and diary products), which normally is not a concern for vegetarians who eat some dairy products or eggs. However, strict vegetarians or vegans may need to take a vitamin B12 (cobalamin) supplement.
• Calcium - If dairy products are not included in your diet, adequate amounts of calcium can be obtained from plant foods, such as leafy green vegetables, broccoli, beans, tofu, almonds, sesame seeds and sesame butter (tahini), figs, rice milk, soy milk.
• Protein - Protein is found in most plant foods as well as animal foods. Good sources of protein include beans, whole grains, soy products, nuts and seeds, quinoa, dairy products, eggs.

So, if you are or are considering becoming a vegetarian, keep in mind to maintain a healthy diet.

One Kilogram of Fat

We eat food to fuel our bodies for energy, growth and repair. However, when we regularly eat more energy than our body needs, the excess is stored inside fat cells. There are roughly 37,000 kilojoules (kJ) in one kilogram of fat.

To lose a kilogram of body fat in a week, you would need to cut back your food intake and/or work off 37,000 kJ, or around 5,000 kJ a day.

Physical Activity

Physical activity not only burns up stored energy but can also help increase muscle development (in particular resistance or weight training) and the more muscle tissue you have, the more kilojoules you can burn.

The amount of kilojoules you burn will depend on number of factors such as your age, sex, body type, exercise intensity and duration. The average man can burn around 1,100 kJ/hour walking and 3,000 kJ/hour running while the average woman can burn 825 kJ/hour walking and 2,250 kJ/hour running.

Food Intake

What you put in your mouth is in fact more important than the amount of physical activity you partake. As noted in our previous blog post, The 70-30 Rule, 70% of your fat loss effort should be spent on nutrition and 30% on exercise. For most people it’s the 70% that’s the hardest. If you eat a large serving of creamy pasta and wash it down with a couple glasses of wine after your run, you will actually be eating more kilojoules than you burned off.

The keys to healthy eating are to eat more vegetables and whole grains, watch the portion sizes, be careful of what you drink (especially alcohol) and everything in moderation.

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Reasonable and healthy weight loss should be between 0.5 to 1.0 kg per week for most people. By increasing your level of physical activity and reducing your overall kilojoule intake, you will be able to lose those 37,000 kJ without much trouble. Stay focused, motivated and you should be able to shed that kilogram of body fat in no time.