1. Vegetarian

2. Is A Vegetarian Diet Right for You? What, why, who Health benefits How to go vegetarian Focus on these nutrients Getting started Take home tips Google now has over 41,300,000 results for the word “vegetarian” and there are many variants of this diet!

3. What Is A Vegetarian? Different types: Semi or flexitarian Pesco Lacto, Ovo, Lacto-Ovo Vegan A Pythagorian was a term for being vegetarian in the 1800s

4. Why Vegetarian? Health Economic Ethics: –Environment –Animal philanthropy –World hunger Religious

5. Who? 6-8 million American adults Over 50% of people polled by the Vegetarian Resource Group said they sometimes, often or always order a dish without meat. -- vrg.org

6. It’s Popular and Growing Because It’s… Healthier Cheaper Ethical Available

7. Health Benefits Vegetarian diet is usually: –Low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein –High in carbohydrates, fiber, certain vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants

8. Health Benefits Decreased risk/rate: Obesity Heart disease Hypertension Type 2 diabetes Certain cancers And more…

9. Obesity Lower body mass index (BMI)

10. Heart disease Heart disease death rates are lower in vegetarian men (31 percent) and vegetarian women (20 percent).

11. Hypertension Vegetarians have lower rates of blood pressure and hypertension (about half) Mostly due to lower BMI

12. Type 2 diabetes A plant-based, vegetarian diet decreases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes Vegans had the lowest BMI and incidence of type 2 diabetes -- Diabetes Care May 2009

13. Vegetarians have decreased risk for certain cancers, especially prostate and colorectal cancers

14. Lower risk for: Kidney disease Dementia Diverticular disease Gallstones Rheumatoid Arthritis

15. What Should I Eat? Grains Vegetables Fruits Legumes, nuts, seeds, soy Calcium-rich foods

16. Grains 5- 6 ounces per day – at least half from whole grains Whole wheat breads, cereals Cooked whole grains – rice, oats, wheat, barley, couscous, quinoa

17. Whoa! Fried potatoes are the most popular vegetable in the U.S. –Cannot be the basis of a healthy vegetarian diet! Get a variety of colorful veggies

18. Vegetables At least 2.5 cups per day Cooked or raw Calcium-connection: –Bok choy –Broccoli –Collards –Chinese cabbage –Kale –Mustard greens –Okra –Fortified vegetable juice How many calories?

19. Fruits At least 2 cups per day Fresh, dried, cooked, or juices Calcium connection: –Calcium-fortified juice –Figs

20. Heart-Healthy Protein Ideas Legumes Soy (tofu, tempeh)* Nuts and nut butters Seeds and seed butters Egg whites/eggs Calcium connection – fortified soymilk, tofu made with calcium *Beware of high-sodium soy foods

21. Which Legumes Do You Eat?

22. Calcium-Rich Foods 3 cups of milk/yogurt/fortified soymilk or equivalent Look for foods that provide 10-15 percent of the Daily Value for calcium per serving (100-150 mg)

23. Calcium Sources Heart Healthy Calcium: –Skim milk, fat-free yogurt –Fortified soymilk and orange juice –Calcium-set tofu, tempeh –Almonds, almond butter –Sesame tahini –Cooked soybeans, soynuts –Kale, broccoli

24. Fats No more than 2 servings a day – easy to get in foods you eat Nuts, seeds, avocado Omega-3’s: –Fish –Flaxseed oil –Canola/soybean oil –Ground flaxseed –Walnuts

25. Nutrient Focus for Vegetarians Protein, Iron, B12, Calcium, Vitamin D (Most Americans have a list bigger than this)

26. Iron: It’s A Matter of Beans! Legumes and some veggie meats are good sources of iron Serve vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables to better absorb iron Older Americans need less iron – extra iron stores may promote cancer

27. Good Sources of Vitamin B-12 3 servings/day: –Milk/yogurt –Eggs –Fortified soymilk –Fortified breakfast cereal –Fortified soy products –Nutritional yeast Vitamin B12 50%

28. Good Sources of Zinc –Whole grains –Wheat germ –Tofu –Tempeh –Legumes –Nuts, seeds –Eggs –Dairy products –Fortified cereals and veggie meats

29. Sources of Vitamin D Exposure to sunlight Fortified foods: –Cow’s milk –Fortified soymilk and rice milk –Fortified breakfast cereals –Fortified margarine Vitamin D 30%

30. How Do I Get Started? Which vegetarian meals do you already eat? Which favorite meals can you easily change to be meatless?

34. Buy More Produce Bring home something new! –Mangoes, melons, apples –Spinach, kale, sweet potatoes

35. Lots of Protein Choices Try new items – beans are the easiest –Beans, legumes, nuts, tofu, soymilk –1.5 ounces nuts + 2/3 cups cooked beans/legumes = 5.5 ounces meat

36. Quinoa Oatmeal Barley Brown Rice Pasta Breads Cereals Experiment With Grains

37. Where to Shop? Supermarket Discount stores Farmer’s markets Ethnic grocery stores Natural food stores Online EVERYWHERE!

38. Eating away from home Restaurants: –Mexican, Asian, Italian, Indian have meatless choices –Vrg.org has list of best/easiest –Beware of sodium, fat Brown bag lunches Plan ahead!

39. Take Home Tips A balanced vegetarian diet has many health benefits Keep it healthy! –Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains –Beware of sodium, saturated fat from cheese, processed foods

42. For More Information vrg.org dietandcancerreport.org aicr.org thechinastudy.com vegetariannutrition.net vegnews.com

43. Health.govChooseMyPlate.gov