Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Food

Binu Samuel Eng-111
Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Food

A food is a any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans whether of nutritional value or not. A substance taken in by a living organisum that provides it with energy and materials for growth, maintenance and repair of tissues. A portion of food or the act of eating a portion of food is considered a meal. Food is traditionally obtained through farming, ranching, and fishing, with hunting, foraging and other methods of subsistence locally important for some populations but minor for others. Nutrients in food are grouped into several categories. Macronutrients means fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Micronutrients are the minerals and vitamins. Additionally food contains water and dietry fiber. There are mainly two types of food Vegetarian and non-Vegetarian.

All major studies of vegetarians have found vegetarians to live about 5 years longer than the general population in their country and to have good general health. Much of this advantage lies in less smoking, more exercise and characteristics of diet other than just avoiding meat. Heavy smoking can take a decade from your life and lack of exercise can take away 2-3 years even if not resulting in excess weight. Vegetarians of all types show reduced risk of heart disease, but more attention to increasing B12, omega-3 fats and calcium intakes and to reducing Trans fats and salt could give substantial further improvements. Increased calcium, potassium and magnesium intakes are all associated with reduced stroke mortality. Reduced blood pressure is associated with reduced mortality from all causes. Vegetarians are often (but not always) found to have lower blood pressure. Evidence for an overall benefit for fruit and vegetables has declined over the past five years as more prospective studies have reported. Human studies mostly point towards plant foods, including vegetables, fruits and nuts, as the basis for long term health.
The nutritional weak points of plant-based diets do not exist in typical primate diets hitch are very rich in minerals, including calcium, and include adequate amounts of vitamin B12 from insects and dirt. In contrast to fruits, cultivated green leafy vegetables have similar calcium content to the wild leaves eaten by other primates. This gives them a special importance in modern plant-based diets. If greens are not consumed in large amounts (e.g. 200 g of kale or 500 g of dark lettuce per day) then 500 mg of calcium from fortified foods or supplements is indicated. Some particular nuts and seeds (flax, hemp, walnuts) are particularly high in omega-3 fatty acids and are therefore useful to balance grains and fruits.

A properly planned and varied vegetarian diet can offer health benefits. For example, observation of populations across Europe indicates that high intakes of vegetables and fruits are associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, cataract and some cancers. But when deciding to become vegetarian, it is not enough just to exclude meat from your previous diet. Care needs to be taken that the essential nutrients normally provided by meat and other animal foods are replaced by those from plant foods.

Mix plant food sources at each meal to improve protein quality. For example, eat grains (e.g. wheat), which are poor in the essential amino acid lysine with legumes (peas, beans), which are lysine rich. Including egg or milk products with the meal will improve protein quality further. To improve iron absorption eat vitamin C-rich fruits (e.g. blackcurrants, guava, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi fruit), or drink a large glass of fresh fruit juice, with each meal. The vitamin C helps you to absorb more iron from the meal. Drink tea away from the meal, substances in tea can reduce iron absorption. ‘Vegetarianism’ is now a movement the world over. Many even associate it with animal rights. Indeed, a large number of people consider the consumption of meat and other non-vegetarian products to be a violation of animal rights.

Never feed any raw non-vegetarian foods to your turtles - the risks are too great! All non-vegetarian food should always be served cooked (boiled without any salt and spices). While red meats (goat, beef, etc.) can be given once in a while as a treat these have a very high fat content, and should be avoided. The best choice therefore is cooked chicken. Cooked fish can also be given, but it is preferable to restrict it to fresh-water fish and avoid ocean fish. Frozen fish is to be strictly avoided. (Hard) Boiled egg whites can also be given, but again as an occasional treat because they have an extremely high protein content. .

Fresh liver is an excellent source of vitamin A, and should be given frequently as part of the non-vegetarian diet. For convenience, fresh liver can be chopped it into small pieces and frozen with a little bit of water in an ice-tray. This keeps it fresh, and all you need to do is drop a cube into the water when feeding. Meat is nutritious and rich in complete protein Non-vegetarian food is a good source of excellent protein. It contains biologically complete protein i.e. all the 8 essential amino acid that are not synthesized by the body and should be supplied in the diet. Meat also contains iron, vitamin B1 and niacin.

Humans have Omnivorous set of teeth If you observe the teeth of herbivorous animals like the cow, goat and sheep, you will find something strikingly similar in all of them. All these animals have a set of flat teeth i.e. suited for herbivorous diet. If you observe the set of teeth of the carnivorous animals like the lion, tiger, or leopard, they all have a set of pointed teeth i.e. suited for a carnivorous diet. If you analyze the set of teeth of humans, you find that they have flat teeth as well as pointed teeth. Thus they have teeth suited for both herbivorous as well as carnivorous food i.e. they are omnivorous. One may ask, if Almighty God wanted humans to have only vegetables, why did He provide us also with pointed teeth? It is logical that He expected us to need and to have both vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian food.
Because of the high cholesterol content, non veg food is not okayed by Ayurveda. A 100 gms of Mackerel contains 95 mgs of cholesterol, haddock 65 mg, tuna 63 mg , halibut 50 mg, beef 70 mg, chicken 60 mg and pork 70 mg. And when the comparison is made based on calories, fish ( 50mg/100 calories) is much higher in cholesterol than pork (24mg/100 calories), beef ( 29 mg /100 calories ) or chicken ( 44 mg /100 calories ). Animal protein causes osteoporosis or bone loss. Fish contains neither fiber nor carbohydrate. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine warned that many fish contain high levels of Mercury, which may increase risk of a heart attack. There is evidence that fish fat ( Omega-3 fat ) will increase a person's risk of cancer and the risk of metastasis ( spread of cancer to other parts of the body ). So vegetarian food is beneficial for our health, it will keep us away from above conditions in a certain points, but at the same time we should take a well balanced vegetarian foods.