Thoughts on Vegetarianism

Welcome to another

Energy Bulletin

Howdy do everybody… If you read my last bulletin you would know that
among other things I had been overseas for a while. Yep, spent a good
long week in Tasmania where I attended my baby sisters wedding on a
beautiful island beach just outside of Hobart, a very beautiful part
of the world. Damn cold though!

One of the many great things about getting away of course, is getting
to meet new people and engage in new and interesting conversations.
Being a trainer I am often asked questions regarding nutrition and
exercise and if I'm not careful I can find myself in the middle of a
nutrition or fitness consultation and if they're not careful they
might ask me something about nutrition after I've had a couple beers…
Lol.

It does help if I have family around as they don't really let me talk
too much shop when on vacation and certainly not after beer.

Anyway, on this occasion I was chatting with a few of my sisters'
friends about the differences and difficulties that come along with
being vegetarian. It was an interesting conversation in that although
some of these young ladies knew a little bit about being vegetarian
they were just a little off the mark on a few things. To start with they
didn't quite know how to categorize themselves as to what type of
vegetarian they were.

So should you be at a dinner party or gathering and the subject of
vegetarianism comes up, here area few things that you should know.

Vegan
A vegan does not eat any fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products or
foods that contain any of these products. If they are true vegan then
they also do not use any non-food items that contain products from
animals, including wool from sheep, leather and silk. Vegans often do
not eat honey for example because bees may be killed while harvesting
it.

Duncan's 2 cents- Nutritionally speaking this is obviously the hardest
form of vegetarianism. As a vegan you have to check, double check and
then re-check most everything you eat and that's just at home, let's
not even consider the hassles of going out to a restaurant or a dinner
party.

True vegans also find it difficult to acquire the right amount of protein
throughout the day, especially if they are training at a moderate to
intense level.

I know, I know, a lot of vegans would, of course, disagree with
this but then they don't have a $2,500 body composition analysis
machine that they use to measure the rate at which we burn or
synthesis protein and well… I do!

In my 15 years of using this body composition computer I have probably
met less than a dozen vegetarians that seem to get enough protein from
their diets to support an active lifestyle.

The problem lies with the fact that we need 22 amino acids in our
diets to complete our protein profile. Any less and we will not have
the building blocks necessary to synthesis protein for muscle
recovery, repair and building. The problem with plant based protein
is that they are incomplete protein sources, meaning that you have to
combine plant based foods properly to complete the profile.

Although this isn't too difficult to do, it does take a reasonable amount
of time and diligence to do it properly and it has been my experience
that most people have a hard enough time trying to get in 3 meals and
2 snacks per day let alone making sure the foods are combined properly
to ensure that the 8 essential amino acids are present within the meal.

So the long and short of it is that it can be done but it's often far
too challenging for any but the truly dedicated.

Lacto Ovo Vegetarian
A lacto ovo vegetarian does not eat meat, fish or poultry, but will
eat eggs and milk. This of course includes products made with eggs and
dairy including; yogurt, cheese, milk and ice cream… Hmmm, ice cream
;o).

One could also separate this into those who eat eggs and not milk and
vice versa. For example a Lacto Vegetarian does not eat meat, fish,
poultry or eggs, but includes dairy products in their diet. They can
consume milk, ice cream (that does not include eggs), yogurt and
cheese. They would naturally avoid things like ice creams, baked goods,
pancakes and veggie burgers that contain eggs.

Duncan's 2 cents- This is a much easier method to work with as a
trainer. Eggs especially are a great source of protein because they
fulfill the complete amino acid profile. They are also full of other
healthy nutrients. (See March 08 E.B. The Truth About Eggs).

The down side of this, is that personally, I am not all that keen on too
much dairy. For starters, we are the only mammal that drinks the stuff
after we have been weaned off our mothers' milk let alone drinking the
milk of a completely different species. Secondly and I think more
importantly, I have read a reasonable amount of research showing how
milk, especially from cows treated with synthetic hormones, can and
do create all sorts of health issues. (I will talk more about the problems
with milk in another bulletin.)

My choice here would be as an Ovo Vegetarian. (Eggs but no dairy)

*Note- A small amount of milk probably won't hurt you, so a little
cheese and yogurt can be a good way to lift your protein profile
throughout the day, although it shouldn't be used as a sole source of
protein.

Pescatarian
A Pescatarian is a vegetarian who doesn't eat meat except for fish.
True vegetarians would say that this means that this isn't true
vegetarianism but I say it's pretty darn close. Of course this
individual may or may not eat eggs and or milk products.

Duncan's 2 cents- Some of the perceived health benefits of a
pescatarian diet lies in research that has been done over the years
showing that red meat may be detrimental to your health. An example
of this would be the link drawn between the consumption of red meat
and osteoporosis. The idea being that the phosphorous in red meat can
cause calcium to leech from our bones. (I have yet to see some really
conclusive evidence to this however).

*Note- A more likely reason for people who eat a lot of meat getting
certain illnesses is that a lot of 'meat eaters' tend to fill
themselves up on meat and empty calories such as pasta, bread, rice
and don't tend to eat enough fruit and veggies.

One of the big advantages of pescatarianism is that the fats from
fish, being mostly omega 3's, are generally viewed as much healthier
than the saturated fats found in red meat. Again, I feel that
moderation of these saturated fats is a better alternative than
abstinence. In fact, if one looks at a Mediterranean diet, which has
been shown to be one of the best diets in the world, you would quickly
see a lot of similarities to pescatarianism with a small amount of red
meat generally consumed.

In my experience, a lot of vegetarians don't eat meat because they
believe they are making a healthy choice and yet having read many
hundreds of food diary's over the years, I have found similarities to
our 'meat eating comrades' in that a majority of their nutrition ends
up coming from pasta's, bread, rice and cereal. No good at all.

Other vegetarians have a more philosophical reason for not eating
meat, such as the treatment of animals. I believe there is some
validity to this when one looks at the practice of giving growth
hormone treatments to animals to improve growth rates and indeed some
living conditions could certainly be improved especially with caged
hens.

For this reason, I simply choose to eat free range/grain fed
organic eggs and chicken while attempting to do the same with my meat
and fish while eating as much fruit and raw vegetables as I can.

duncan