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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Veg or non-veg: balance your meal
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Veg or non-veg: balance your meal

Veg or non-veg: balance your meal

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Vegetarianism is fashionable these days. Many diehard carnivores are fast replacing tandoori chicken with its vegetarian counterpart, tandoori paneer. “Meats", believe some vegetarians, are toxic and unnecessary. They also believe that vegetarianism is the way to living a pure life and to not include meat in their diet makes them more humane and saves the lives of animals.

And the debate rages

The benefits and shortcomings of both of these systems of eating are well known. Vegetarian diets are good because they give us fibre, roughage and lots of vitamins, and are low in calories. These diets also give us antioxidant protection and improve immunity. Grains and pulses also give us fibre, balance blood sugars and keep us energetic for the day, nuts and seeds provide us with healthy fat and the cancer-fighting vitamins A, D, E and K. However, vegetarian diets can be deficient in the important vitamins B12, B6 and B3. The iron in vegetarian food is not absorbed by the body as well as the iron from meat. And proteins in lentils and beans are incomplete because they lack the essential amino acid methionine, which is why lentils are best eaten with grains such as wheat or rice. Vegetarian diets must include some nuts, peanuts or cashew nuts to make the proteins in lentils complete.

Meat fix: Non-vegetarian food is a rich source of protein.

Clearly both types of food have their plus points and their negatives, which is why perhaps the best balance comes when the two systems are followed together.

Maximize the interdependence

• The rule of thumb is that it is better to have at least half a plate of veggies, in any form, raw or cooked, with a fist-sized serving of fish, poultry, and some grain in the form of rice or breads and rotis preferably made from multigrain.

• If you have diabetes or high cholesterol, avoid mincemeat, salami and sausages. These have very high saturated fat and cholesterol content.

• If you want to convert to vegetarianism, give up meat, but stay with the eggs and seafood at least three days in a week.

• Have eggs and seafood at least three days in a week.

• If you are vegan, which means you are the type of vegetarian who does not even have milk and eggs, keep a regular check on your B12 and calcium levels. For B12 and B6, try adding brewers yeast or marmite to your diet and take at least 500mg of calcium supplements or pills daily first thing in the morning. Also ensure that you consume flax and pumpkin seeds for healthy omega-3 fats.

• If you are a lacto-ovo (milk-and egg-consuming) vegetarian, you need to ensure that you have adequate iron intake. Ensure that you add some lime juice to your meals to maximize iron absorption. The vitamin C in lime juice or even tomatoes helps.

Madhuri Ruia is a nutritionist and Pilates expert. She runs InteGym in Mumbai, which advocates workouts with healthy diets.

Write to Madhuri at dietdesk@livemint.com

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Published: 12 Jul 2010, 09:25 PM IST
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