Love Us, Not Eat Us!

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I know it's impossible to become a vegan or vegetarian overnight, start by reducing the consumption of meat, esp red meat. I'm a semi-veg now, or to be precise, I only take fish (Pesco-Vegetarian). My main reason is first of all, health, secondly, to save the earth's resources of rearing animals (eg, it takes 10kg of grain to produce merely 1kg of beef), and thirdly, compassion and humaritarian. It just happens naturally, not because of religion.

Here are some common questions about vegetarianism. Hope it can help to clear your doubts.

1. What are the different types of vegetarians?
Strict vegetarians, called vegans, eat no animal products at all. The staples of their diets are fruits, vegetables, legumes (beans and peas), grains, seeds, and nuts.
Lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products in addition to plant foods.
Lacto-ovo vegetarians include dairy products and eggs as well as plant foods in their diets.
People who eat animal flesh (meat, fish, chicken) are not considered to be vegetarians. However, as the health benefits of a vegetarian diet become more widely known, many people reduce or eliminate animal products. For example, they may eat fish and chicken but no red meat, or they may eat meat in small portions only a few times a week. These people can most accurately be described as following a semi-vegetarian diet.

2. What are the health benefits of a vegetarian diet?
Vegetarian diets are lower in saturated fats, cholesterol, and animal protein. They’re also high in folate, anti-oxidant vitamins like C and E, carotenoids, and phytochemicals. Overall, vegetarians have substantially reduced risks for obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, and some forms of cancer - particularly lung cancer and colon cancer. Vegetarian diets that are low in saturated fats have been successfully used to reverse severe coronary artery disease.

3. Is it possible to get enough protein on a vegetarian diet?
Absolutely, it’s actually difficult to become protein deficient unless you quit eating all together. Just about all unrefined foods contain significant amounts of protein. Potatoes are 11% protein, oranges 8%, beans 26%, and tofu 34%. In fact, people have been known to grow at astounding rates (doubling their body size in only six months) on a diet of only 5% protein. These people are infants and they do it during the first 6 months of life, fueled by breast milk, which contains just 5% protein.

4. How much protein do I need, anyway?
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (R.D.A.) for protein is 0.8 grams a day per kilogram of bodyweight. (Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to get kilograms.) Athletes may require more protein, but the amount is small (1.0 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of bodyweight), an amount easily obtainable from a vegetarian diet.
Excess protein consumption can cause a variety of problems including bone mineral loss, kidney damage, and dehydration. Your body can only use so much protein, the excess is either broken down through oxidization, placing an enormous strain on the kidneys, or it is stored as body fat. Neither option is particularly desirable.

5. What’s the difference between complete and incomplete proteins?
Animal protein contains all nine of the essential amino acids, so it has been referred to as a "complete" protein. The nine essential amino acids can also be found in plant proteins, however no single plant source contains all nine of them. Therefore, plant protein has been referred to as "incomplete."
It was once widely believed that vegetarians had to carefully combine plant protein sources in each meal in order to obtain all nine essential amino acids. However, scientific studies have shown that the human body can store essential amino acids and combine them as necessary. So, while combining beans and rice, or peanut butter and bread produces a complete protein, it’s not necessary to consciously do this at every meal. If you eat a varied diet and adequate calories, combining proteins is not an issue.

6. Why do people become vegetarians?
There are a variety of reasons. Many people switch to a vegetarian diet for weight loss and improved health. Some are concerned about the safety of meat following recent outbreaks of salmonella and e. coli bacteria. Others feel that it is moral or spiritual issue. Some individuals deplore the suffering of animals in modern factory farms. Still others are concerned about the environment and world hunger. A few just don’t like meat. For many vegetarians it is a combination of issues.