Falling into the trap of ?junk food vegetarianism? is easy for many of America?s 23 million vegetarians, and those seeking a healthier diet. (A vegetarian does not eat meat, fish, or fowl, but may consume eggs and dairy products. A vegan is a vegetarian that consumes no animal products.)
?Simply because a food is vegetarian does not mean it?s healthy. After all, a person can eat donuts, bagels, potato chips, candy, and French fries and be a vegetarian, but obviously this is not a healthy diet,? says Suzanne Dixon, MPH, MS, RD.
She says the best way to make sure you get all the nutrition you need on a vegetarian diet is to eat simple foods. The less processing a food has undergone, the more nutritious it is.
Processing strips away many of the essential nutrients found in food naturally, so your best bet is to base your diet around foods that look as close to how they appeared when they came off the tree, out of the grown, or off the vine. Choose corn on the cob instead of corn chips; try apples instead of apple muffins; and enjoy whole grain bread instead of white bread.
If you?re intrigued by vegetarianism, but want to avoid the junk food route, follow Dixon?s simple steps:
1. No combining needed: You don?t need to ?combine? foods such as grains and beans at every meal to get ?complete? protein. Eat plenty of beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and vegetables, on a regular basis, and you?re covered.
2. Super soy: Soybean and soy foods, including tofu, offer all of the amino acids ? the building blocks of protein ? that are needed for good health.
3. Start slow: by introducing one vegetarian meal per week to your personal menu or to your family. For example, make Wednesdays ?veggie night? for dinner.
4. Travel the globe: Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, and other ethnic foods have many vegetarian options naturally. Be adventurous and try recipes from other cultures to ?stretch? yourself in terms of flavor and cooking without meat from time to time. (Going out to a restaurant that serves ethnic food can also be a relaxing ?visit? to a foreign land.)
Suzanne W. Dixon, MPH, MS, RD, studies the important connections between what we eat, and our risk for cancer. An internationally recognized expert and author on cancer nutrition, she has taught her science to both healthcare professionals and patients. While counseling patients at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, she learned firsthand how to help patients get the information they need to help themselves heal. She is best-known as the creator and author of www.cancernutritioninfo.com, an award-winning Website that earned critical acclaim by the New York Times, and was named one of Time Magazine?s 50 Coolest Websites. As residents of Oregon, Suzanne and her husband Matt enjoy the serenity of the outdoors?hiking, climbing and scuba diving, and one of their primary passions is, no surprise, good food.
Even Vegetarians Get the Junk-Food Blues:? An Interview with Suzanne W. Dixon for Living Green Magazine
Living Green:? Thanks so much for taking time to discuss this important topic.? We wanted to learn more after you whetted our appetite with your article for our magazine, about avoiding ?junk-food vegetarianism.?
Suzanne:? I?m so excited that you?ll be sharing this information with your readers.? I?m a vegetarian myself and it?s pretty much an everyday project for me to limit my intake of junk food too!? I think that in our current, ?toxic? food environment, it?s a challenge to consistently make good choices, but it is possible.? As with most things nutrition, the key is moderation.
Is junk-food vegetarianism an issue that most vegetarians and vegans face?
I think that junk-food vegetarianism can be more common in people who have recently moved to a vegetarian or vegan diet, but I do know plenty of long-time vegetarians and vegans who still find junk food hard to resist. No matter what you know about the health consequences of eating junk food, for many people, junk food simply tastes good. It?s designed specifically to make us want to eat it, and to eat more of it once we have a small taste.
One of the main problems for new vegetarians is not the obvious junk food, such as vegan desserts or vegetarian chips and dip. Instead, the overall quality of their diet may be lower, because they are still learning how to cook without animal products. They may rely more on refined grains, such as white pasta, and find they get into a ?rut?, eating the same few foods and recipes over and over. In these cases, if the total diet quality is lower, and you eat the obvious junk food on top of that, you?re really short-changing your body on nutrition.
On the other hand, if you eat a varied, high-quality vegetarian or vegan diet that is based around whole, unprocessed plant foods, the occasional piece of chocolate vegan cake or chips and dip are not a problem. The key to healthful vegetarian eating is to base the diet on vegetables, fruit, legumes (beans, peas, lentils) whole grains, and nuts and seeds. And you should fix these foods yourself, from scratch, for the most part.
Additionally, you should vary the types, preparation methods, and amounts of the various plant foods you eat.? This will ensure that you get the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients your body needs to function well.
It?s when the total diet is based around processed foods, vegetarian or otherwise, that you put your health in jeopardy.
What are the common vegetarian junk foods to watch out for?
Anything labeled ?organic? is a real problem for many vegetarians, vegans, and otherwise health-conscious eaters. The organic designation seems to have this magical ability to blind us to the overall quality of the food.
Certainly, organic sweet potato chips that are made with olive oil, natural flavors, and brown rice syrup are a better choice than potato chips cooked in hydrogenated soy or corn oil (trans fats) and loaded with artificial flavors, synthetic dyes, and high fructose corn syrup.
But an organic potato chip is still a potato chip. It mainly adds calories and fat to the diet without the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that you get from eating a sweet potato or another whole plant food.
So my advice is that it?s OK to eat organic ?junk food?, but just know that it?s still junk food and it cannot replace the whole, nutritious plant foods that are the base of any healthy eating plan.
Which snacks do you recommend when we get an urge for something sweet, salty, crunchy, comforting, etc.?
There are a lot of choices for snack foods and what appeals to one person may not sound good to another person at all. For this reason, it?s important to be flexible, try new things, and keep searching until you find an array of healthy snack foods that work for you.
A few of the things I like and recommend include:
??raw vegetables or whole grain crackers with hummus or bean dip
??home made popcorn with nutritional yeast and a bit of salt sprinkled on top
??nuts and dried fruit
??soy nuts and dried fruit
??an apple or banana with a spoonful of almond butter
??a piece of whole grain toast with nut butter
??yogurt (dairy or non-dairy) with granola stirred in
Try a fruit smoothie with soy or rice milk, berries (fresh or frozen), a spoonful of flaxseeds, and a scoop of vanilla or chocolate protein powder (soy, brown rice, or whey protein are good options).
Another healthy treat is orange juice whipped up in a blender with ice and a scoop of vanilla protein powder.? It tastes like the ?orange push-up? you remember from your childhood?s ice cream truck.
For kids, you can try celery sticks with almond butter and raisins?often called ?ants on a log.?
Another trick I use with myself is to commit to eating the healthy thing first. I tell myself I can have the junk food if I really want it, but only AFTER I eat the ?good stuff?. When you do this, you may end up eating some junk food after you finish your carrots, red peppers, and hummus, but most of the time you?ll either not eat the junk food at all, or you?ll eat a lot less of it.
Over time, you can train yourself to always reach for the healthy food first. And those couple of times per week when you do eat the junk food, it won?t be a big problem.
Will eating 4-5 smaller meals each day help us avoid the unhealthy munchies?
How many meals and snacks you eat each day is a personal choice. There is no one right answer. The most important thing is that you PLAN those meals and snacks in advance. When you plan what you?re going to eat, you can make sure you have the right foods on hand and pack the right things in your bag, purse, or briefcase. This way, you aren?t caught starving with nothing but unhealthy choices available, such as what you?d find in the vending machine.
I do think that for many people, planning and eating 4 or 5 smaller meals and snacks works well. It means that you won?t ever go more than about 3 hours without eating, which can help keep your blood sugar levels on an even keel, manage cravings, and gives you something to look forward to. People often laugh at this last point, but let?s face it, eating is a very powerful biological urge and most of us look forward to our meals and snacks!
What can people do to make the healthy choice easier?
Everyone has heard this advice before, but it?s true that ?out of sight means out of mind?. Ideally, you should keep junk food in your house to a minimum. But if you can?t do that, at least separate out the junk food and store it in a less-convenient, out-out-of-the way cabinet. You want to make sure you don?t see the junk food every time you go for a snack or meal.
For example, if your junk food is mixed in with your oatmeal, cereal, and other breakfast foods, then you will see it first thing in the morning. This just sets you up to think about, and eventually give in to the urge to eat the less healthy food choices.
Another trick is to portion out single servings of the junk food into little containers or baggies (you can reuse the baggies multiple times to cut down on plastic use). That way, when you eat it, you will be forced to confront what a single serving really looks like. Even if you end up eating two, or even three, servings, at least you are aware of the fact that you?ve eaten 2-3 servings.? Half the battle for many people is getting a handle on what a single serving is.
Also, make sure you have good-quality, healthy fruit and vegetables on hand. If your only ?healthy? choice is a 2 week old, mealy apple, or a nearly, black, over-ripe banana, of course you?re going to eat the pretzels instead! Preparation is the key to making better food choices. If you aren?t prepared, you will always make the wrong choice.
Another thing to keep in mind is that you want your junk food ?to count?. Write out the sentence, ?I simply cannot live without___________.? Fill in the blank. If a food you are confronted with isn?t your ?can?t live without food?, skip it. For me, that?s good quality, organic, dark chocolate. For someone else it might be potato chips, fries, or something salty.
Give yourself permission to splurge on your absolute favorites and walk away from the rest.
With winter coming, how can vegetarians avoid the calories that cause weight gain despite ?healthy? eating habits?
I do think that overeating organic, simple carbohydrates can be a problem for some vegans and vegetarians. In addition to the desire to overeat ?sweets? when the days get short, a lot of people become more sedentary, so it?s doubly difficult to avoid weight gain.
To address this, I again come back to this idea of knowing, intimately, what a serving size looks like. Nearly all Americans, even nutrition professionals and dietitians, grossly underestimate how much they are eating and how many calories are found in various foods. It?s OK to have some crusty white bread and pasta from time to time, but if you eat two servings of each, you?ll run into trouble with weight gain.
It seems annoying and elementary, almost like homework, but if you don?t know what serving sizes look like on your plates and in your bowls, try measuring them out for a few days so you learn how to eyeball what you should be eating. And to avoid ?portion creep?, pull out the measuring cups from time to time to refresh your memory. It?s very easy to serve yourself a little more, a little more, and a little more over time, until your brain doesn?t register what a serving really is.
In addition to this, slow down! Most of us eat very quickly, barely chewing each bite before taking the next. Take a smaller portion and do your best to make it last. Chew slowly, enjoy the food, savor each bite. This gives your body time to register that it?s full. If you finish your plate and you are still hungry, you can always get more.
But if you stuff yourself quickly and end up overly full before you feel it, it?s too late.
And finally, don?t give into the desire to hibernate. Curling up with a good book or a great rental movie is fun and feels good when it?s dark and cold, but make sure you don?t completely skip the physical activity. Even if you have to move it indoors, keep your routine going. A small amount of physical activity is better than none. Don?t buy into the idea that if you can only fit in 15 or 20 minutes, it?s not worth it. Anything that gets you off the couch and gets your blood pumping is helpful during the short days of winter.
Finally, Suzanne, what?s the best way to eat healthy vegetarian when ?fast food? is the only option?
In general, places where you can ?build your own sandwich? are good options for fast food. You can control what is in your meal, stick to vegetables, and avoid sauces and other high-fat add-ons. Even wilted, less-than-appealing vegetables are better than fries or chips. And make sure you don?t waste calories and sugar on drinks such as soda pop, juice, or sweetened tea.
Ethnic fare can also offer reasonable fast food options.? For example, a plain bean burrito can be a very good choice if a fast food ?Tex-Mex? restaurant is the only thing around.? Most fast food, and refried beans, are not made with lard anymore, although you should ask to make absolutely certain if you are concerned about this.
Another option is to hit the convenience store or gas station and go for dried fruit and nuts, yogurt, or cereal. Even cheerios are a reasonable option on occasion. Don?t get caught up in the idea that you have to stop at a restaurant. While I generally do not advise eating in your car, the occasional ?snack/meal? is OK when there?s nothing else on hand. Just don?t drive while you?re eating.
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