Weight Loss

In a study released by the Vegetarian Times, approximately 3.2 percent of the people in the United States, or roughly 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian diet. Of those people, approximately 1 million follow a vegan diet, where they consume no animal products whatsoever (Source: Vegetarian Times). For persons choosing to follow a vegetarian diet, it is a lifestyle choice where they abstain from all meat, but can still consume animal products such as milk, cheeses, and butter.

Osteoporosis is a general decrease in peak bone mass which may be a part of normal aging in most cases, however, the actual bone loss can lead to fragile and easily broken bones especially in the wrists and hips. It affects women more often than men with about of American women suffering from some level of osteoporosis to some degree. It only affects 1/8 of men.

There is often great debate over whether or not vegetarians and vegans get enough protein. There are different types of vegetarians, just as there are different types of proteins. For instance, a flexi-tarian is a vegetarian who may occasionally eat meat, typically fish. An ovo-lacto vegetarian is one that does not eat meat of any kind, at any time, but does eat dairy foods and eggs because they do not require killing the animal. A vegan is a person that does not eat or use any product made from or by any kind of animal. Many parents are bewildered when their teens come home and announce that they are going to become vegetarians and may worry that they are not getting enough nutrition with their newfound diet. As long as they are getting enough variety in the foods that they eat, their protein, calcium and other nutrient intakes are surprisingly healthy.

The body relies on three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates and fat, as well as many micronutrients. Unlike carbohydrates and fats, protein is not easily stored in the body, however, it will store protein just like the nutrients if there are too many calories consumed. Fat is the easiest to digest for the body. The body digests carbs based on what kind they are. Simple carbs are fast and easy to digest and lead to sugar spikes that can cause weight gain. Complex carbs, on the other hand, take longer for the body to digest and do not contribute to the sugar spike, insulin surge cycle.