The time has come for us to share the last piece of the unveiling the “trend diets” saga. We decided we should include this last type of diet because even though vegetarians choose this diet for ethical reasons, the industry tries to creates some confusion in peoples’ heads. For example, that being strictly vegetarian is healthier than being an omnivore.

What does being vegetarian imply?

A vegetarian doesn’t eat animals, period.

Some vegetarians eat animal products like dairy, eggs and honey, contrary to vegans, for whom eating anything animal or animal related is strictly out of the question.

There are other times of vegetarianism beyond this one, but this is all we’ll talk about.

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What can you eat?

Fruit and vegetables are a good starting point!

All things like grains, legumes, dairy products like cottage cheese, milk, yogurt and some meat substitutes, such as tofu and soy are accepted.

Meat, fish and seafood is out of the question.

Meal Examples:

Breakfast – Oat flakes with milk, peanut butter and vegetarian (pea, soy, rice…) protein powder.

Lunch – Salad with 4-6 different types of vegetables, cottage cheese, onions and pieces of fruit.

Dinner – Sautéed vegetables with brown rice or noodles, along with tofu or soy.

Snacks – Fruit, vegetarian protein shakes, protein bars, nuts, peanut butter, veggies…

So, as always, let’s take a look at the pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Vegetarian people have been proven to be healthier or to have a greater life expectancy than carnivores in many studies. But, this is because of the fact that they pay more attention to fruit, seeing as they ingest more vegetables, fruit and fiber, hardly eating any fast food.
2. Once more, this has to do with their lifestyle and the fact that they don’t include meat in their diet.
3. In addition to all this, the fact that they don’t succumb to the luxury of stopping at a few places for some bites of a hamburger, makes them find delicious ways to cook food that normally people don’t even eat. So, cooking wise it can develop some skills.

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Cons:

1. As you were probably expecting, lack of protein. By cutting our all meat and fish, they are seriously limiting their protein sources.
2. Of course they can obtain protein from several vegetable sources or even tofu and soy, but most often than not, these sources don’t offer a very rich amino acid profile.Not to mention the lack of protein concentration in relation to carbs and fats, which will be quite predominant in this diet.
3. It becomes very hard to hit micro nutrient goals with such high concentrations of carbs and fats as a pose to protein.

With that being said…

Here is where the superiority of flexible dieting is revealed, since it allows a customization to each person’s needs. By having control/goals regarding macro nutrients, we are able to understand what our body requires to achieve a certain result or goal. It’s like preparing a formula 1 racing car for a specific race. Each person is an independent and unique body, so it makes perfect sense that their diet should be so as well.

Have the best of both world with no diabolical sacrifices.