Health Aspects for Vegetarian Diet

Planning a diet is very important. A diet is not just for losing weight but it is also something that one has to follow when being a vegetarian. One has to pay attention and plan ahead on what really needs to be consumed if they need a balanced diet that includes all the required protein, minerals, and vitamins.

I have been reading up a lot on how to plan an ideal Vegetarian diet. From various sources and research on the internet, below are the notes I jotted down.

Below are few things that impress one right away. This will be a series of notes on various aspects. For starters, I will be talking only about these for now.

To get the required Proteins, an Indian Vegetarian's diet is predominantly based on Dals (pulses). So in this case, it is again recommended to have a variety in the dals used so as to include all types of dals in one's diet. Individually, dals are supposed to have only 30% protein content and some missing amino acids. So to compensate for this one can add tofu as it is partially fermented and therefore has better digestibility. Besides Tofu is a complete protein.

Then comes the Calcium. Vegetarians and in particular women should follow a diet that has food rich in calcium. If you are Lactose intolerant then food such as soya, turnip, broccoli, ragi, etc will be ideal, for rest they can consume milk, curd, cheese, and paneer are sufficient

When I looked upon Iron, a lot of information came up from which I took only what was applicable to my diet.

The following are iron-rich foods: Cereals & Grains: barley (Bajra), Rice flakes, rice bran, corn flakes, oats, ragi.
Pulses & Beans: Cowpea, Lobia (black-eye beans), Lentils, Soybean, peas.
Vegetables: Beetroot greens, Mint, Parsley, Turnip greens, all green leafy vegetables coriander leaves.
Vegetables like broccoli are rich in iron. These vegetables are high in iron and also high in vitamin C
Spices: Turmeric
Fruits: Dried dates, Watermelon, Raisins, almonds, walnuts, watermelon, papaya, pomegranate.
In the case of lemon, orange, amla, sweet lime Vitamin C increases the absorption of their iron content.

So based on this information we need to plan for a menu to include these requirements.

Do share your thoughts on how and what you do to plan your healthy menu. I will be writing a menu based on what I plan.

Disclaimer: All the notes and thoughts are what has been written and expressed in the articles from the internet. I have only tried to paraphrase them in an easier lingo for myself to understand and follow better.