Senin, 07 Desember 2009

Cuisine that is traditionally vegetarian

These are some of the most common dishes that vegetarians in the Western world eat without substitution of ingredients. Such dishes include, from breakfasts to dinnertime desserts:
Vegetarian food products made from cereal grains.
• Gujarati cuisine from state of Gujarat in western India is predominantly vegetarian.
• Many bean, pasta, potato, rice, and bulgur/cous cous dishes, stews, soups and stir fries.
• Cereals and oatmeals, granola bars, etc
• Fresh fruit and most salads
• Potato salad, baba ganoush, pita-wraps or burrito-wraps, vegetable pilafs, baked potatoes or fried potato-skins with various toppings, corn on the cob, smoothies
• Many sandwiches, such as cheese on toast, and cold sandwiches including roasted eggplant, mushrooms, bell peppers, cheeses, avocado and other sandwich ingredients
• Many side dishes, such as mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, some bread stuffings, seasoned rice, and macaroni and cheese.
• Classical Buddhist cuisine in Asia served at temples and restaurants with a green sign indicating vegetarian food only near temples


Article Source : www.wikipedia.org

Foods used in vegetarian cuisine

Food usually regarded as suitable for all types of the vegetarian cuisine usually include:
Honey is consumed by most vegetarians, except that most vegans exclude it from their diet.
• Cereals/grains: maize, hempseed, corn, wheat, rice, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, rye, triticale, buckwheat, fonio, quinoa; derived products such as flour (dough, bread, pasta, baked goods).
• Vegetables (fresh or pickled) and mushrooms (though some strict Indian vegetarians do not eat mushrooms); derived products such as vegetable fats and oils
• Fruit (fresh or dried)
• Legumes: beans (including soybeans and soy products such as tempeh, tofu, soy milk, and TVP), chickpeas, peas, lentils, peanuts)
• Tree nuts and seeds
• Spices and herbs
• Other foods such as seaweed (however seaweed is considered inedible by some strict vegetarians for the same reason it can be considered as non-kosher by some: the possibility that various tiny animals may be found adhering to it.
Food suitable for several types of the vegetarian cuisine:
• Dairy products (milk, butter, cheese (except for cheese containing rennet of animal origin), yogurt (excluding yogurt made with gelatin), etc) – not eaten by vegans and pure ovo-vegetarians
• Eggs – not eaten by vegans and pure lacto-vegetarians
• Honey – not eaten by most vegans

Article Source : www.wikipedia.org

Minggu, 06 Desember 2009

Vegetarian cuisine

Vegetarian cuisine refers to food that meets vegetarian standards by excluding meat and animal tissue products. For lacto-ovo vegetarianism (the most common type of vegetarianism in the Western world), eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese are permitted. The strictest forms of vegetarianism are veganism and fruitarianism, which exclude all animal products, including dairy products as well as honey, and even some refined sugars if filtered and whitened with bone char.
Vegetarian foods can be classified into several different types:
• Traditional foods that have always been vegetarian (Cereals/grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.)
• Soy products including Tofu and Tempeh which are common protein sources.
• Textured vegetable protein (TVP), made from defatted soy flour, often included in chili and burger recipes in place of ground meat.
• Meat analogues, which mimic the taste, texture, and appearance of meat and are often used in recipes that traditionally contained meat.
• Vegans may also use analogues for eggs and dairy products.

Article Source : www.wikipedia.org

Jumat, 04 Desember 2009

Potential Nutrition of Vegetarian

Vegetarian diets can be relatively low in protein, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, retinol (vitamin A), vitamin D, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and iodine. Poorly planned vegetarian diets may sometimes fall short in vitamin B12, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, iron and zinc, and some vegans may have particularly low intakes of vitamin B12 and calcium. Nonetheless, well-balanced vegetarian and vegan diets can meet all these nutrient requirements and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.


Protein


The typical vegetarian gets adequate protein as long as caloric intake is adequate and a variety of foods is eaten. Vegetarian diets are usually relatively low in protein, which may be beneficial
Despite a widespread belief that vegetarians must eat grains and beans within a few hours of each other in order to make a 'complete' protein which contains all 9 "essential amino acids", this has never been substantiated by research. The protein-combining theory was brought to popular attention in Frances Moore Lappé's 1971 bestseller Diet for a Small Planet. In later editions of the book, as early as 1981, Lappé withdrew her contention that protein 'combining' is necessary.

Iron

In several studies, vegans and other vegetarians were not found to suffer from iron-deficiency more than non-vegetarians. However, while one study agreed that iron-deficiency anemia is not more common among vegetarians, they found "vegetarian children had ... reduced levels of haemoglobin and iron compared to omnivores" due "to the absence of animal iron sources with high utilizability".
Tofu can be a valuable source of protein, iron, zinc and calcium for vegetarians and vegans
The recommended iron intake for vegetarians is 1.8 times that of nonvegetarians, due to the fact that plants, dairy, and eggs contain only non-heme iron, and this is absorbed less efficiently than heme iron. Although a lower percentage of non-heme iron is absorbed, greater amounts of non-heme iron are concentrated in many non-meat sources of iron (than the amount of iron per serving in meats), and therefore, cereals, eggs, nuts, seeds, and legumes (including soy foods, peas, beans, chickpeas, and lentils) are significant sources of iron, and a well-planned vegetarian diet should not lead to iron deficiency, but fruitarianism and raw foods diets should not be pursued for infants or children. Meat, fish, and poultry (not dairy or eggs) are the only sources of heme iron; intake of heme iron is associated with colon cancer. Non-heme iron is more sensitive to both inhibitors and enhancers of iron absorption. Vitamin C is an iron absorption enhancer. The main inhibitors for most people are phytates (e.g. legumes and grains), but other inhibitors include tannins (tea, wine), calcium and polyphenols.
Iron is an integral part of many proteins and enzymes which maintain good health. In humans, iron is an essential component of proteins involved in red blood cells' oxygen transport. Iron also helps regulate cell growth and differentiation.

Zinc

Western vegetarians and vegans have not been found to suffer from overt zinc deficiencies any more than meat-eaters. However, phytates in many whole-grains and fiber in many foods may interfere with zinc absorption and marginal zinc intake has poorly understood effects. Vegetarians may need more than the US RDA (15 mg) of zinc daily if their diet is high in phytates.
Major plant sources of zinc include cooked dried beans, sea vegetables, fortified cereals, soyfoods, nuts, peas, and seeds.

Vitamin B12

Eggs are an excellent source of vitamin B12 for vegetarians.
Vitamin B12 deficiency is potentially extremely serious, leading to pernicious anemia, nerve degeneration and irreversible neurological damage.
Lacto-ovo vegetarians may get vitamin B12 from eggs and dairy products; for some this is adequate but some may remain B12-deficient. The world's largest group of professional dietitians says the form of vitamin B12 sourced from animal-products is protein-bound and not as easily digested, especially as people age, and therefore recommends B12 supplementation for everyone over the age of 50. Pregnant and lactating vegetarians (and breastfed infants if the mother's diet is not supplemented) should also use supplements, whether pills, injections, or B12-fortified foods, if they don't get adequate B12 from animal-products like eggs or dairy.
Evidence suggests that vegetarians and vegans who are not taking vitamin B12 supplements do not consume sufficient servings of B12 and often have abnormally low blood concentrations of vitamin B12. This is because, unless fortified, plant foods do not contain reliable amounts of active vitamin B12.
It is essential, therefore, that vegetarians consume adequate amounts of dietary supplements or foods that have been fortified with B12 (such as nutritional yeast or other yeast extracts, vegetable stock, veggie burger mixes, textured vegetable protein, soy milks, vegetable and sunflower margarines, and breakfast cereals). B12 that is to be used in these supplements is typically grown from vegan sources (such as bacteria). Another bacterial source happens to be that plants and edible fungi (like mushrooms) on farms or in the wild may absorb vitamin B12 from bacteria in soil, but since modern pesticides kill most B12 in the soil (including on organic farms to some degree, as the pesticides spread, via hydrology, from non-organic farms to organic ones), the B12 in these plants is not considered a reliable dietary source, whereas B12 supplements from bacteria grown under controlled conditions are considered reliable amounts of B12. There is a patent for a cultivating vitamin B12 from plants.
Nori (seaweed) contains B12 very abundantly. However, while the one included in Nori is effectiveit does not contain reliable or significant amounts of active B12; instead, seaweeds tend to be high in inactive B12 which actually may inhibit uptake of active B12.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Vegetarian diets that lack eggs or generous amounts of sea vegetables (seaweed) can be low in omega-3 fatty acids (O3FA). This and a high ratio of O6FA to O3FA in the diet may raise risk of heart disease in some vegetarians. Major vegetarian sources of O3FA include walnuts, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil, olive oil, canola (rapeseed) oil, and avocado. DHA supplements derived from DHA-rich microalgae are also available.
Common flax seed contains more omega-3 fatty acids than fish.

Walnuts are a source of omega-3 fatty acids
A well-known source of O3FA for non-vegetarians is fish, and to get the same amount of O3FA, one needs to only consume 1/3 the weight of walnuts compared to a given weight of salmon; and flax seeds have even more highly-concentrated O3FA than walnuts. However, vegetarian sources of O3FA are primarily the short chain variety and likely to have lower concentrations of the particular essential fatty acids (EFA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The body can synthesize small quantities of EPA and DHA from other omega-3 fatty acids, such as alpha-linolenic acids, which are present in vegetarian sources of O3FA's. The human body can also convert DHA into EPA. Whilst the human body can in theory do this conversion, in practice modern diets and lifestyles reduce the effectiveness of the conversion systems.[citation needed] Roughly ten times[citation needed] more of the short chain omega-3s must be consumed to have the same effect as the long chain form from fish oil.
While there is no scientific consensus on the role of omega-3 fatty acids, it is generally believed that they may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, lower triglycerides, stabilize mood and help prevent depression, help reduce symptoms of ADD, reduce joint pain and other rheumatoid problems and reduce the risk of dementia in older age.

Vitamin D

The human body can synthesize vitamin D when skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Vegans who do not eat foods or pills fortified with synthetic vitamin D and with little exposure to the sun's ultraviolet radiation (e.g., those who don't expose their extremities for at least 15-30 minutes per day or those living at latitudes close to the poles) are vulnerable to Vitamin D deficiencies.
Vitamin D acts as a hormone, sending a message to the intestines to increase the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, which produces strong bones. Vitamin D also works in concert with a number of other vitamins, minerals, and hormones to promote bone mineralization. Research also suggests that vitamin D may help maintain a healthy immune system and help regulate cell growth and differentiation.


Iodine


One study reported a "potential danger of [iodine] deficiency disorders due to strict forms of vegetarian nutrition, especially when fruits and vegetables grown in soils with low [iodine] levels are ingested." Iodine, however, is usually supplied by iodized salt and other sources in first world countries. Other significant sources of iodine include sea vegetables (seaweed) and bread made with dough conditioners.

Riboflavin

According to the American Dietetic Association, “Some studies have shown vegans to have lower intakes of riboflavin, compared with nonvegetarians; however, clinical riboflavin deficiency has not been observed.”

Kamis, 03 Desember 2009

Benefits of a vegetarian diet

Vegetarian diets are usually rich in carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. They contain lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.
Studies show that the health of vegetarians compares favourably with that of non-vegetarians. British vegetarians have lower death rates than non-vegetarians, although this is at least partly due to non-dietary lifestyle factors, such as a low prevalence of smoking and the generally high socioeconomic status of vegetarians, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.
Notably, vegetarians avoid the negative health effects of animal protein including red meat. One review found that mortality from coronary heart disease was 24% lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. Studies of cancer have not shown clear differences in cancer rates between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There is evidence that vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index, lower risk of obesity, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower homocysteine levels , lower risk of high blood pressure, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. One large prospective study found that non-meat-eaters had only half the risk of meat eaters of requiring an emergency appendectomy.
Vegetarians are less likely to die by choking on food since the most common food to obstruct the airway is fish, which caused about 4,500 accidents a year in the UK as of 1998. Meat, poultry and bones were cited as the next three most common causes of choking, followed by sweets and non-food objects

Article Source : www. wikipedia.org

Rabu, 02 Desember 2009

Varieties of Vegetarian

Vegetarianism is the practice of following a diet based on plant-based foods including fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat meat, game, poultry, fish, crustacea, shellfish, or products of animal slaughter such as animal-derived gelatin and rennet. A vegan diet is a form of vegetarian diet which excludes all animal products, including dairy products, eggs, and honey. A lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products but excludes eggs, an ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs but not dairy products, and a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet includes both eggs and dairy products. Vegetarianism may be adopted for ethical, health, environmental, religious, political, cultural, aesthetic, economic, or other reasons.
A semi-vegetarian diet consists largely of vegetarian foods, but may include fish and sometimes poultry, as well as dairy products and eggs. A pescetarian diet, for example, includes fish but no meat. The common use confusion between such diets and vegetarianism has led vegetarian groups, such as the Vegetarian Society, to note that such fish or poultry-based diets are not vegetarian.

Semi-vegetarianism is often criticised by vegetarians or vegans who assert that one cannot be "semi-vegetarian" or vegetarian only occasionally. According to such criticisms, a vegetarian is someone who consistently keeps to a diet that excludes all animal products or is, at the least, lacto-ovo. Semi-vegetarianism and the related term "flexitarianism" have been dubbed "problematic" and "diametrically opposed to vegetarianism".

Other dietary practices commonly associated with vegetarianism

• Fruitarianism is a diet of only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant.
• Su vegetarianism (such as in Buddhism), excludes all animal products as well as the fetid vegetables: onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, or shallots.
• Macrobiotic diet is a diet of mostly whole grains and beans. Not all macrobiotics are vegetarians, as some consume fish.
• Raw veganism is a diet of fresh and uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds, and vegetables.
• Dietary veganism: whereas vegans do not use animal products of any kind, dietary vegans restrict their veganism to their diet.

Strict vegetarians also avoid products that may use animal ingredients not included in their labels or which use animal products in their manufacturing e.g. cheeses that use animal rennet, gelatin (from animal skin, bones, and connective tissue), some sugars that are whitened with bone char (e.g. cane sugar, but not beet sugar) and alcohol clarified with gelatin or crushed shellfish and sturgeon. Vegetarians who eat eggs sometimes prefer free-range eggs (as opposed to battery farmed eggs).

Types
* Flexitarianism - Mostly avoiding all meat, but eating it under some situations.
* Pollotarianism - Mammalian meat, fish, and seafood is excluded, but chicken or other poultry is not.
* Pescetarianism - Mammalian meat and poultry is excluded, but fish and seafood are not.



Article Source : www.wikipedia.org

Lacto Vegetarianism

A lactovegetarian diet is a vegetarian diet which includes dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream, and kefir, but excludes eggs. The origin of "lacto" is the Latin word for milk [lac, lactis]. Cheeses which include animal rennet and yogurts which contain gelatin are also avoided. Lacto-vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people comes from ancient India and was originally based on religious beliefs. Within Indian cultures this diet is often what is meant by the term "vegetarian".

The greatest proportion of vegetarians, such as those in India or those in the area of the classical Mediterranean such as the Pythagoreans, are or were lacto-vegetarian.

Lacto-vegetarians abstain from specifically eating eggs, fish, chickens, cows, sheep, pigs and sea animals. Eggs contain animal hormones including testosterone, which may or may not increase aggressiveness. Lacto vegetarianism may be adopted by vegetarians wishing to lower their dietary intake of cholesterol, since egg yolks, as well as dairy products, contain cholesterol. Unfertilized eggs contain a similar amount of cholesterol as fertilized eggs.

Article Source : www.wikipedia.org