Plants - They've Got It All

PLANTS - THEY'VE GOT IT ALL!

My goal in this paper is not to convince anyone to quit their non-vegetarian diet and start with a purely vegetarian one. My intention here is to prove that a vegetarian diet contains all essential nutrients, like proteins and iron, that are necessary for a healthy lifestyle and it is not required to supplement it with any meat products to fulfill our daily nutritional requirements. A well planned vegetarian diet has the right combinations as well as the right amounts of proteins and iron in it. My other concern is regarding the healthier side of a vegetarian diet; a vegetarian diet can be considered healthier than a non-vegetarian one because of the lower risk of food borne illnesses. Being a vegetarian myself, I have constantly been pressurized by my family and friends to start eating meat because I need the proteins and the vitamins that meat provides. This article is for all those who believe that plants are not capable of providing us with a complete healthy diet.

A vegetarian diet is considered to be mainly lacking proteins and iron. This deficiency of nutrients is then considered to make a vegetarian less resistant to diseases, but I have evidence to prove that a balanced vegetarian meal does not lack any of the essential nutrients. But before I do that, let's take a look at the different kinds of vegetarians that exist.

The Medical Encyclopedia, a service provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, describes a pure vegetarian as one who eats only foods of plant origin; a lacto-vegetarian eats plant foods plus some or all dairy products. A lacto-ovovegetarian consumes eggs in addition to plant foods and dairy products, while a partial vegetarian may eat chicken or fish with other plant foods but does not eat red meat (Vegetarianism). I believe that the partial vegetarians should not be included among the vegetarians because their diet does include meat products, and hence, when I talk about a vegetarian diet I would be referring to the first three categories.

It is a common notion that a vegetarian diet lacks proteins, but a well planned vegan diet can provide one with sufficient amount of proteins. One of my managers at work, Lori, happened to mention to me two weeks back that she would prefer to be a pure vegetarian. Despite this she does eat chicken at least once during the day to derive proteins from it. When I informed her about the following research that I had done, she seemed surprised and ecstatic thinking about the possibility of never having to eat something that she dislikes.

As described in the Medical Encyclopedia proteins are of two types, complete and incomplete, and they both contain smaller chemicals called amino acids, which are essential for good health. Complete proteins contain adequate amounts of the essential amino acids needed for health and are found in animal products such as meats, milk, fish, and eggs. Incomplete proteins contain all of the essential amino acids, but not in adequate amounts. These proteins generally have one amino acid in insufficient quantity, referred to as the "limiting amino acid" (Protein in Diet). Grains and beans are sources of incomplete proteins. But it is not necessary to eat animal products to get complete proteins in your diet. Plant proteins contain all of the amino acids required to make up a complete protein, according to a 1990 report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. You can mix two incomplete proteins to get all the essential amino acids in adequate amounts. Some combinations are milk and cereal, peanut butter and bread, beans and rice, beans and corn tortillas, and macaroni and cheese. Thus, vegetarians are able to get enough proteins if they eat the proper combinations of plant proteins.

According to the Medical Encyclopedia iron is abundant in meat products but can also be found in whole grains, legumes, dried fruits, and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and asparagus (Iron in Diet). Iron is needed by the body for blood formation, and hence is one of the most essential elements of any healthy diet. Dietary iron comes in two different forms, heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron exists only in animal tissues, while plant foods contain only non-heme iron. Non-heme iron is less easily absorbed by the body than heme iron, but when combined with any source of vitamin C, like orange juice, cauliflower or citrus juice, the rate of absorption increases. Hence, by eating a variety of vegetarian foods throughout the day it is possible to get all essential nutrients in the right amounts.

Now that I have established that a vegetarian diet is sufficient to provide us with a healthy diet, here is some more evidence that proves my claim. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarian diets satisfy the needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth. According to the late Dr. Benjamin Spock, in the latest edition of his book Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, "Children who grow up getting their nutrition from plant foods rather than meats ... are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer " (333).

It is extremely important for every nation to take good care of its younger generation, as the future lies in the hands of these young kids. A healthy diet is the means for producing a healthy generation, and a vegetarian diet is one sure way of doing that. A diet based on animal products contains a lot of things that kids can do without including steroids, hormones, and antibiotics (Dworkin 74). The number of obese adolescents has tripled since 1990. Pediatricians are reporting an alarming increase in the number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (a typically adult disease), and 85 percent of those cases involve overweight kids (Pediatric Obesity).

In his article 'Into the Mouth of Babes' Dr. Spock sees youngsters as the ones who are most influenced to change their diet to a vegetarian one because of their "love for animals, and also because of the greater awareness that they have towards their environment" (69). The consensus is that 12 to 14 million Americans call themselves vegetarian, and of these about 5 percent are children, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit educational organization based in Baltimore. The report by them also says that "adolescents are considered the fastest-growing segment of the vegetarian community" (Into the Mouth of Babes, 74). Some people might argue that a purely vegetarian diet makes children weak or anemic. In that case we should consider examples from nature such as elephants. Who would stay that they are not strong? They have a plant based diet, and nevertheless there won't be anyone to question their