Vegetarianism is prone to malnutrition, how to overcome it?

Experts recommend that those who want to be vegetarian should adopt a healthy vegetarian diet, which means prioritizing vegetables, fresh fruits, and fiber-rich whole grains and beans. Meanwhile, although they are also vegetarian, refined grains, dried fruits coated with sugar or fried potatoes are not good for health because they contain a lot of sugar and fat, according to the health website Medical News Today (UK).

Although a vegan diet has many health benefits, it can easily cause the body to lack nutrients.

Vegetarianism also helps prevent many types of cancer such as breast, prostate, digestive, colon, rectal and pancreatic cancer. Besides the advantages, vegetarianism also has some disadvantages.

The first disadvantage to mention is that long-time vegetarians, especially those who have been vegetarian since childhood, may have difficulty going to places where there are no vegetarian dishes and are forced to eat meat, fish, and seafood. Some vegetarians will feel uncomfortable with the taste of these dishes.

Another potential downside to a vegetarian diet is the risk of not getting enough protein and certain nutrients, such as vitamin B12, calcium, zinc, and iron. While plants still contain plenty of these nutrients, many foods will not contain as much as animal foods.

Meat and shrimp are very rich in protein. Vegetarians do not eat these foods, so to supplement the necessary amount of protein, they need to prioritize eating protein-rich plants such as mushrooms, soybeans, green beans, peas, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios and seeds such as chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds. Using plant-based protein supplements can also help provide enough protein every day.

Vegetarianism also makes the body susceptible to certain nutrients such as vitamin D, B12, iodine, calcium, zinc, iron and omega-3 fats. In particular, vitamin B12 is the only nutrient not found in plant foods but only in animals. Therefore, vegetarians can supplement vitamin B12 through milk or supplements.

Vegetarianism is suitable for all ages. However, children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women are encouraged to adopt a balanced diet, based on both plants and animals. This diet will be healthier, helping to avoid the risk of nutritional deficiencies, according to Medical News Today .

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/an-chay-de-bi-thieu-chat-lam-sao-de-khac-phuc-185240925150503194.htm