Health and Fitness Oasis

People of all ages, including teens, have adopted a vegetarian lifestyle. If sounds like your teenager, you may wonder how to keep your vegetarian teenager healthy when you feel they’re missing vital nutrients.

It is possible to meet all your body’s nutritional needs by eating only fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and legumes. Because there is no meat in the diet, vegetarian diets usually have less fats and cholesterol, although there will be some. It will, however, take some planning to ensure your teenager includes a variety of foods to get all of the vitamins and nutrients they need. By learning more about the vegetarian lifestyle, you will be able to guide your teen into making wise food choices.

Standard diets are based upon a food pyramid and it is possible to find a vegetarian food pyramid as well. If you’re concerned your teen may be missing vital nutrients, you may want to speak with a registered dietician to learn how your teen can compensate by eating other foods rich in those nutrients. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many people who turn to a vegetarian diet and stop eating meat, hoping it will help them to lose weight. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, while this statement may raise the brows of most vegetarians, the truth of this matter is that weight loss requires a negative calorie balance. Meaning that anyone who wishes to lose weight must take in less calories than they burn.

For a healthy adult, with no other underlying medical conditions, who receives a moderate amount of exercise daily, a calorie is a calorie. Research has shown that individuals who follow a typical vegetarian diet will consume approximately 500 fewer calories daily than those individuals who eat meat. And, that individuals who eat a vegetarian diet will actually consume more food than nonvegetarians. Read the rest of this entry »