Meat is our everything. Love for him is irrational. And it did not start yesterday. Yes, that’s the trouble: the world is shaking the fever of an attack of love for living things and slogans is not what was running.
A vegetarian is fashionable and useful. Wherever you look – the star train is all entirely of travoes. But the stars are far away, and we are in cold Siberia. Is it really useful to deny yourself one of the main food pleasures? The correspondent of SE figured out what pros and cons are.
Vegetarianism (from the Latin “vegetus” – strong, healthy) is a type of food culture that permits the use of only plant foods. It is also part of the ancient Ayurvedic doctrine of harmonious coexistence with nature and an important component of many religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism.
Famous personalities of different times abandoned the use of animal products, in their company was Pythagoras, Newton, Tolstoy, Einstein.
The church encouraged the rejection of meat during the fast. This is now one of the moral postulates of vegetarianism: refusing to eat the killed animals, a person rises spiritually.
What are the main arguments of voluntary meat refuseniks?
Vegetarians are not exposed to cardiovascular diseases.
Fatty varieties of meat contain a lot of cholesterol, the excess of which in the diet often leads to the development of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. By eliminating the external inputs of heavy vegetable fats, vegetarians make life easier for the heart and blood vessels, thus preventing disease number one in the modern world.
Vegetarians are not fat
Vegetarian food contains a large amount of fiber, which contributes to the normal functioning of the intestines. According to the latest research, natural plant fibers are the only way to prevent appendicitis, colon cancer and excess weight.
“But if a vegetarian consumes a lot of refined carbohydrates and likes to eat at night, he can be overweight. It’s not a matter of vegetarianism, but the issue of food hygiene in general, “comments Mikhail Subotyalov, PhD in biology, associate professor, Ayurvedic physician.
Abandonment of meat improves metabolism and helps prevent a variety of diseases, including cancer
Meat requires a lot of energy for digestion. It is a fact. Vegetarians do not recognize energetically unfavorable processes. But this is not the worst thing. Meat lingers in the way of the digestive tract, and substances released when decaying proteins poison the body, some even have carcinogenic properties.
Indeed, oncologists with dangerous symptoms strongly recommend that patients limit their intake of meat with a high content of saturated fats: pork, lamb, beef. Dietitians agree with them: if there are problems with metabolism, such meat is not the best option. Meat restrictions trigger the processes of body cleansing, it is useful in kidney diseases, salt deposition and allergies.
Arguments are not groundless. But official medicine has some claims to vegetarians.
Few Proteins
Opponents of eating only plant foods have one very significant “but”: full proteins, which contain eight essential amino acids, are found only in animal food. These proteins are the main building material for all tissues of the body, the plant they supplement, but they do not replace it.
This is recognized by vegetarians themselves, saying that the most healthy food is the so-called lactovegianism, when dairy products are allowed. They contain the necessary amino acids and proteins. Doctors of traditional medicine also call for nonviolence: “If a person does not want to eat pork and beef, then it’s okay that he will replace these products with eggs, fish,” admits the chief expert of the Research Institute of Nutrition of the RAMS, doctor Yakov Novoselov, adding that it was eggs – the most valuable product in the food industry.
Low Fat
Vegetarians, excluding meat, sharply restrict fats and cholesterol, which is good for vessels. However, here it is a delicate matter: “While the mechanisms for processing cholesterol normally work, no matter how much it is received – it will be processed. If the system fails, then even a complete rejection of them will not yield results, “explains Yakov Novoselov.
“With a decrease in the level of fats in women, there may be problems with the menstrual cycle and pregnancy,
– says the endocrinologist of the clinic of the Research Institute of Physiology Margarita Kurbatskaya. In addition, by eliminating fatty fish, vegetarians deprive themselves of fatty omega-3 acids necessary for the heart and blood vessels. So you have to take care of this additionally: look for different types of beans and various vegetable oils, for example, flaxseed oil. They, I must say, are not the cheapest. Although the vegetarian Mikhail Subotyalov argues that the costs are the same. “Some products are excluded, but others are bought through this. Believe me on the floor, for economic reasons, it turns out roughly the same, “- says his personal experience, Mikhail Albertovich.
Few vitamins
Some vitamins are not found in plant foods. For example, B12: a lack of it can lead to irritability, depression and anemia.
Still variants of the hurts accompanying vegetarianism: an anemia, colds, fragility of bones, depression of sexual function, immunity.
The above is applicable, of course, to a greater extent to vegan vegetarians. They have no place in Siberia.
“We have a predominant protein-fatty type of metabolic processes – this is due to the need for rapid adaptation to rapidly changing conditions,”
Yakov Novoselov summed up, explaining disapproving words about vegetarianism in Siberia. According to him, if it is harmless in the west of Russia, then it is already useful in Europe and the US, just like in India, where the carbohydrate type of metabolism prevails there.
To level out all the negative “buts” you can, with some effort, namely to master the rich culinary vegetarian tradition. “The person who has come today to vegetarianism, must consume vegetable products in all their diversity. In Soviet times, they even judged vegetarianism, qualifying it as a deliberate harm to health, “Mikhail Subotyalov said. “If during a fast, for example, a person sits on a cabbage, of course, he will not say anything good about vegetarianism. It is necessary to distinguish between scarcity and vegetarianism, “he adds afterward.
An important advice is also the active use of spices and spices: they serve as a natural source of vitamins and minerals. Nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, turmeric will not only add spice to the dish, but will also constitute an alternative to a jar of synthetic vitamins.
And remember the seasonality: “In the cold season, of course, there are differences in nutrition,” said Mikhail Subotyalov.
According to eastern medicine, food is divided into warming and cooling. In winter, you need to eat more warming food.
It includes spicy food (it’s more spices), salty, sour (for example, dairy products, homemade preparations). ”
With a competent approach, squander your laziness, you can literally take the best of nature for yourself. True vegetarians are first of all distinguished by attentive attitude towards themselves, as well as useful habits: after all, proper nutrition is exactly half the contribution to health.
