Food Moment

I personally love vegetarian dishes and I truly believe that they can be quite nutritious, balanced and healthy. There are studies that suggest that vegetarianism is the way to go – if done right, you cannot go wrong with a vegetarian diet! Knowing what I know as a dietitian I too have to agree with that! Vegetarian dishes can be nutritionally complete if planned carefully.  Does this mean that you should drop meat and go this path? Not at all. However, you can take advantage of healthy vegetarian dishes when meat isn’t around. You can rotate and occasionally include a delicious & nutrient dense vegetarian dish into your meal routine.

There is a lot to vegetarianism. I could put out a series of classes on this topic. Hence, this post will only vaguely touch on the topic and I will highlight the main points.

You probably heard that there are different types of vegetarians:

• Lacto-ovo vegetarians – they do not eat meat, poultry nor seafood; however, they do eat dairy products and eggs.
• Ovo-vegetarians – no meat, no poultry, no seafood, and no dairy products however eggs are all right.
• Vegan (total vegetarian) – these guys will not eat anything that comes from animals. This is a strictly plant based diet that is based on whole grains, seeds, nuts, lentils, fruits and vegetables.

Vegetarian diet can get a little tricky due to the number of nutrients present in meats and other animal based foods. These guys have to put a bit more time into planning their meals (especially in the beginning). Some of the nutritional concerns for vegetarians are:

• Protein
• Iron
• Calcium
• Vitamin D
• Zinc
• Vitamin B-12

As you probably figured these are the nutrients that are present in meats and dairy products and those are the main foods that many vegetarians avoid. So how do they make up for this? Well believe it or not you can get all the above nutrients from eating a plant based diet but like I said it takes a bit of research and planning.

Plant based foods such as beans, lentils, seeds, nuts and whole grains are abundant in protein. This protein, however, is not complete and vegetarians have to mix up their proteins sources on a daily basis in order to get all of the necessary (essential) amino acids. These are amino acids that the body does not produce on its own and they need to come from diet. Quinoa is probably the only one known seed (commonly known as a whole grain) that contains complete protein and its protein content is of meat quality!
Lacto-ovo vegetarians can easily get their complete protein from dairy products and eggs.

Iron can be a bit tricky for vegetarians. Iron present in meats is absorbed a lot easier than the iron present in plant based foods. Good news is that vitamin C helps in iron absorption. So when you’re eating beans, it is a good idea to supplement the meal with vitamin C or simply have a vitamin C rich food on the side. Also since plant based iron is not that well absorbed by our bodies, it could never hurt to take an iron supplement. This is especially important for vegetarian women who obviously menstruate and poor iron intake can easily lead to iron deficiency anemia. Bottom line is, as a vegetarian, you have got to be aware of all your plant based iron sources and take advantage of them.

Did you know that spending 10 minutes in the sun gives you your daily need of vitamin D? Not all of us can do this and so we get our vitamin D from vitamin D – fortified milk. Vegans don’t drink milk but they can get vitamin D from other milks such as soy milk or rice milk which are also fortified.

You definitely need your zinc. So if you’re a vegetarian you will get it from whole grain cereals, peas, and oatmeal.

Vitamin B-12 is also a tricky one. Lacto-ovo vegetarians can get it easily from dairy products and eggs. Vegans can get vitamin B-12 from fortified drinks (soy milk and such), ready to eat cereals, and some meat substitutes. It may also be necessary to supplement. 

As you can see it gets tricky. You have to do a bit of planning and know nutrition basics to be a successful and healthy vegetarian. For your benefit, grocery stores now have many ready to eat food options for vegetarians. One of my favorite brands is Amy’s. I have seen and tasted some of Amy’s delicious “TV dinners” that were fairly healthy & very nutritious.

What are your thoughts and experiences with the vegetarian diet? And if you’re a vegetarian already, tell us about your experience.

Eating out can get some of us in real trouble. If you’re frequently on the go, don’t plan your meals in advance and eat out on a daily basis then I can guarantee you that you’re eating more than you really need. Of course ideally you should make your own meals using as many fresh food products as possible but that’s not always realistic. That is why I put together a little guide on how to eat smart at a restaurant.

Note: most chain restaurants are now required to have nutrition information available to you. It should be either on their main menu next to the dish or on a separate menu. The information includes calories, protein, fat and sodium content of the dish. I have recently noticed that at some places nutrition information is also posted on the menu that hangs on the main wall when you walk into a food place. For instance, Panera Bread has that. They also tell you the amount of calories of all their pastries. Read more about this law here.

With that said here are some things you can do to not over eat when you’re out in a restaurant:

• Order water with lemon as your drink. I also recommend ordering a glass of water with couple slices of cucumber. Avoid sugary, alcoholic drinks and try a 5 oz glass of red wine. Check out my “Thoughts For a Bar Hopper” article.
• Do not get full on the bread that is frequently served before the appetizer arrives. The best thing to do is to let the waiter know that you want to pass on the bread all together. You should do the same with chips and salsa – do you really need to eat 300 calories of chips???
• Skip appetizers! I know this is hard but the appetizer itself provides you enough calories for a whole meal. Most appetizers are not that healthy unless you’re at a sushi place getting soy beans.
• Order a salad or a soup. Now watch out for what kind of soup it is. Is it heavy on cheese? Most of the creamy soups you get are high in calories. Broth based soups are low in calories. For instance Chili’s serves a really good chicken, broth based soup with lentils and avocado. The serving is really small. That would be a soup to have! Potato & Cheese soup would be one to avoid. As far as salads go, it should be a small, simple salad preferably with spinach rather than iceberg lettuce. Order dressing on the side and use sparingly. Don’t let the restaurant drown your salad in the dressing! I am not talking about a main course salad here packed with stuff and drowned in dressing!
• By now you should no longer be starving. You have had water and either a small soup or a salad. Now it’s time to decide what you will order. Ordering healthy stuff is impossible in all places. Some restaurants serve only really unhealthy, high fat and calorie foods. So what can you do? You can look on the menu for and check out their sandwiches, pasta. chicken and fish dishes. Try to avoid dishes that are fried and go for the foods that have been steamed, baked, grilled or roasted.

• Whatever you end up ordering there are two ways in which you can make a huge difference. 1. Go for whole wheat, whole grain stuff. So if you’re eating bread, rice or pasta, make it whole wheat, brown and whole grain. 2. Portion control – do not clean your plate. This is the number one thing that people don’t get. Eating all of that will not help you in any way and we can argue about this for a long time but you do not need all those calories! As soon as your dish arrives ask the waiter for a to go box and stuff half of your food into the box. I see too many people eating out actually consuming everything that’s on that plate and then they wonder, “why am I gaining weight?!” Gee, I wonder!
• Skip dessert. I know desserts are fun but you will just have to let it go. Chili’s (sorry I recently went there and couldn’t believe how unhealthy their food is! Hence I’m using them as an example!) brownie/vanilla ice cream dessert has 1100 calories. Yes, you do not need that.
• Leave the restaurant and be proud of yourself because you just finished controlling what goes into your body instead of letting the restaurant do that. Congratulations!

What are your tips for eating out? Any healthy appetizers that you know of? How do you handle going out to restaurants? Please share your feedback!