Going Vegetarian?

I think we all know (or at least, assume) that eating more fruits and vegetables is a healthy choice. I have yet to find the person who thinks eating vegetables is BAD for you, although I do have many patients who are afraid that eating fruits will worsen their diabetes. With the recent media focus on the risks of eating red meat (and the link to increased risk of developing diabetes), many people are taking a critical look at their diet and wondering what to do.

My honest recommendation for the majority of us is to simply increase the color in our diet- focus on increasing all the fruit and vegetable servings you eat throughout the day. In addition to that, I encourage patients to try and eat at least one vegetarian meal per week- that's one out of 21- not too much to ask! More is not a problem, mind you, but getting Texans to restrict their red meat can be a challenge, especially in BBQ season...

For those of you considering jumping in full force and becoming vegetarian, there are a few things to remember.

Number one: vegetarian does not equal healthy.

Please remember that eating poptarts and chocolate chip cookies may be vegetarian, but that does not mean you are getting all the nutrients your body needs!

Number two: pay attention to PROTEIN.

When you give up meat, you need to be sure you are getting adequate protein from other sources. Some vegetarians add in seafood (pesco-vegetarians), others add in dairy and egg (lacto-ovo-vegetarians), while vegans consume absolutely no animal products. Protein is found in fish, dairy (cheese/milk) and eggs, but also in nuts, seeds, legumes (dry beans and peas) and some grains. Your daily protein needs are weight and age dependent, but women over 19 need roughly 46g of protein daily, and men >19 need roughly 56g. To give you a frame of reference, a cup of milk has 8 grams of protein, and a cup of dry beans has 21g.

If you are radically changing your diet, I highly recommend you book an appointment with a local registered dietitian to be certain your new food choices will meet all your body's needs.

BOTTOM LINE: Up those vegetables and fruits, and if you are going all-out vegetarian, pay extra attention to your protein!

Diabetes from Hamburgers?

Last week, the media was abuzz with a recent study: Changes in Red Meat Consumption and Subsequent Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, published in JAMA. Since my last post was addressing knowing your diabetes risk, this is a nice follow up, so I will jump on the bandwagon.

The study involved several separate groups: over 26,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow Up Study, nearly 50,000 women in the Nurses Health Study and around 74,000 women in the Nurses' Health Study II. Dietary choices were tracked with validated food records updated every four years.

What did they find? People who increased their red meat intake during a four year interval had a significantly higher risk of developing diabetes in the next four years. In fact, adding only a half serving of meat per day was associated with a 48% elevated risk, and on the flip side- DECREASING your red meat intake by more than a half serving per day was associated with a 14% DECREASE risk of developing diabetes over the next four years.

Did eating those extra steaks and burgers (and maybe the baked potato and fries on the side) just make people gain weight, and because of the weight gain, then develop diabetes? Researches agree that this theory played a role, but only partly explained the significant changes.

BOTTOM LINE: Significantly lowering your average daily red meat consumption appears to decrease your risk of developing diabetes. Take it a step further, and REPLACE that red meat with some colorful vegetables, and you will really give yourself a healthy push!

Just One Meal...

January is a great time to focus on your health, as we all feel that sense of renewal and a "clean slate" start-over. Rather than jumping into a strict diet that consists only of twigs & berries, why not start with JUST ONE MEAL? We eat (in theory) twenty one meals per week, right? (As an aside, if you are skipping breakfast, please start with adding IN that meal before anything else.)

I would like to suggest that you commit to having ONE vegetarian meal per week, and ONE meal that includes FISH as an entree. Vegetarian meals do not need to be bland, by the way. Picture a delicious taco salad, but with beans instead of beef or chicken. I often have the do-it-yourself version of this at home by making nachos loaded up with beans, onions, lettuce & tomatoes. Or you might try a colorful collection of veggies sautéed in olive oil and serve them over a bed of pasta or rice. I find that keeping bags of chopped onions, shredded carrots and bite-sized tomatoes minimizes my prep time and therefore makes it far more likely that I will include them in my lunch when I only have ten or fifteen minutes to prepare & eat it.

BOTTOM LINE: Make permanent changes in your diet by starting with ONE MEAL per week...and then feel free to increase that frequency as you enjoy these healthy, delicious meals!

Unhealthy Vegetarian?

How can you be a vegetarian and NOT have a healthy diet? Take a look at this 24-hour dietary recall:
Breakfast: Chocolate Cheerios (yes, they exist!) with milk, coffee
Snack: Poptart
Lunch: Lean Cuisine Manicotti & Diet Coke
Snack: Microwave popcorn & tea
Dinner: Cheese quesadilla, refried beans and chips with a margarita & water
Dessert: Vanilla ice cream

Okay, we don't need to break out our calculators to add up the daily servings of fruits and veggies! This is a very typical example of an unhealthy vegetarian diet. What did I ask this person to do?
Primarily to ADD IN fruits and vegetables. Add some berries or slice a banana on those Cheerios; skip the poptart and substitute an apple; add a salad or carrot sticks to the lean cuisine entree; consider a taco salad; make it a banana split (use more banana and less ice cream!) ANY of those suggestions would improve the quality of this day's nutrition.

BOTTOM LINE: Remember that VEGETARIAN does NOT automatically = Healthy!

VEGETARIAN does NOT equal HEALTHY!

How can eating "vegetarian" not be healthy? Is this a trick question? Absolutely NOT. When I see patients in the office, I frequently do a 24-hour dietary recall, which means I ask them to tell me every item (food and drink) that they put in their mouth the day before our visit. You'd be amazed at how often people are embarrassed (but honest!) with their replies.
What I have found is that many people who don't eat meats believe by default that their diet is healthy. However, chips, queso (cheese dip), sodas, french fries, pop tarts, and almost every dessert you can name are ALL "vegetarian"! You easily can go an entire day as a vegetarian withOUT eating a single fruit or vegetable.
BOTTOM LINE: Don't kid yourself that giving up meat makes you healthy- focus on eating FRUITS and VEGGIES to improve the quality of your diet!
PS. It's a new month, so CHANGE YOUR AIR FILTERS (See 2/1/10 blog entry)!