Tips for becoming a vegetarian

You may have heard of all the wonderful benefits of changing your diet to include more vegetables and less meat. If you’re really planning on doing this, you’ll need help early on to make sure you’re getting adequate nutrition. This is where I can help you.

Your first lesson in becoming a vegetarian is about the different types of nutrients and what foods they are found in.

types of nutrients

There are six main classes of nutrients that you will find in food. Some foods only provide one main class, while others have overlapping classes.

The six classes are:

carbohydrates
fats
minerals
protein
vitamins
Water

Carbohydrates are found in foods that should be the majority of your diet. These include rice, bread, noodles, pasta, and other grain-based food products. This group also includes foods that are high in sugar, fiber, and starch.

Fats are another of the six and they come in two broad subcategories; unsaturated and saturated fats. Unsaturated fats are those found in plants and are generally liquid at room temperature. Saturated fats are of animal origin and are solid or semi-solid at room temperature.

Proteins: can be found in foods such as vegetables, tofu, soy products, dairy, and eggs.

Minerals are example iron, calcium, iodine, potassium, etc.

Vitamins are considered essential for various bodily processes and for the general maintenance of good health. The only vitamin that is not needed in the diet is vitamin D, which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight.

Water is the sixth class and constitutes 2/3 of the human body. We get 20 percent of our daily water intake from the food we eat, and the rest must come from the water we drink, as well as other beverages.

Nutrition Basics

Your body can get all the nutrients it needs to function properly from food.

Having a balanced diet means eating a combination of foods from the different food groups in the right proportions.

There is no food that can provide the body with all the nutrients necessary for growth and good health.

Different nutrients have different and specific uses in the body.

Most of the nutrients that are necessary for good health cannot work on their own, but work together with other nutrients in the body.

No matter your age, we all need the same nutrients just in different amounts at different stages of life.

The amount of nutrients your body needs depends on your level of physical activity, your age, your gender, and your general health.