Vegetarian Diet Tips

by Terry Garret - Kindergarten Teacher
(Camden, New Jersey)

Vegetarian Diet Tips

This is my story about weight loss and my vegetarian diet tips. I hope it will inspire you. Actually, it is not about my weight loss but that of my 14 year old daughter. I realized that no matter how hard she tried to lose weight, she will never be able to do it unless we, her family supported her with our own eating habits. So I asked a dietitian for suggestions because I also had my younger kids to think about. So the dietitian suggested that the family should simply go on a vegetarian diet.

A vegetarian diet seemed like a difficult choice but then I guess there was no harm in trying. It is not something that is going to cost us money. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more appealing it became. I talked to my husband about it and he was not so happy with the idea, because he imagined himself getting weak without meat in his diet. As a compromise, I promised that there will be at least one meal in a week with meat. I consulted this with the dietitian beforehand and she said it was basically okay, because the body also needed the nutrients we get from eating meat.

Here are the vegetarian diets tips that helped me changed the eating habits of my family and eventually helped my 14-year old daughter to lose weight:

1. In a vegetarian diet my first concern was to find non-meat sources that were full of the nutrients we get from meat. For protein you can cook up some oil-less dishes using bean curds, tofu, soy, lentils; iron nutrients can be derived from dark leafy green vegetables, enriched cereals, whole grains, peas and dried fruits. We can get our calcium nutrients from low fat dairy, fortified soymilk and tofu while zinc will come from whole grain products, nuts, wheat germs and soy products,

2. According to our dietitian, it is important that we had as much Vitamin C nutrients as possible, in order to help us absorb these nutrients especially iron. This is important especially if we do not derive these nutrients directly from meat sources.

3. Spice it up; there is nothing about vegetarian diets that exclude spices and herbs. They will enhance the flavor of vegetables, throw in some nuts, add a little chili, use a little black beans but not too much because they could be too salty, add some mushrooms.

4. I was advised by the dietitian of the possibility that a vegetarian diet plan can be effective only as far as cutting off the fat in meat. There should also be focus in avoiding food preparations that add heavy sauces, creams, oil used for sautéing, peanut butter, cheese, and condiments.

5. Don't forget the 8 glasses of water as part of the daily regimen.

6. Have lots of fruit and vegetables. However, the vegetarian diet foods do not always have to be the main course; red meat can be served but only once a week and only in small portions. On some days it could be fish, on other days, the white meat of chicken.

7. During snack time, I give the younger ones foods that have higher calorie contents to give them energy like peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and other healthy snack foods and fruit juices. Children do not have to stay on low fat types of milk because they need lots of calcium and energy giving foods. From time to time, I treat them to some chewy fruit bars, fruit yogurt and occasionally, ice cream.

8. My husband and I still have coffee using low fat cream. It is important that everyone eats breakfast of cereals, mueslis, dried fruits, fruits in season. These days, it is not so hard to find substitutes in grocery stores, just to have a variety in the food that I serve.

Megan, my used to be "fat 14-year old daughter" is now 16. Not only was she able to lose weight but her complexion cleared as well. She has grown taller and her muscles are well toned because she went to jazz dancing lessons as her form of exercise. I like the fact that she is a happy and a contented teenager with a lot of plans for the future. Boys, as she said can wait; she had other things in her mind,

As for my husband and I, another year and we will be in our 40s. Modesty aside, people who do not know us well enough, think we are only in our early thirties.

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