Vegetarianism has moved out of the category of food fad to find itself in our mainstream food culture. Big Food has already capitalized on the culture and there are now a host of processed foods marketed to the vegetarian crowd.
Even though there are more options available, once you begin removing certain aspects of food from your diet you begin losing out on essential nutrients and minerals. In the case of vegetarianism, getting a sufficient amount of protein is the biggest concern.
There are many proteins found in different types of food other than meat, such as beans, grains, certain vegetables, acai berries and even processed vegetarian foods. However the proteins found in meat are the only proteins that contain specific amino acids not found anywhere else.
So why is protein so important anyway?
Proteins are essentially the building blocks for all the cells of our body. Without a sufficient amount of protein our bodies could not properly repair, build and nourish our cells.
When we ingest a protein our body begin to break the protein down to its base parts, called amino acids. There are two types of amino acids, nonessential and essential. Nonessential amino acids can be produced by our body on it's own, while essential amino acids, such as the ever popular Omega 3 amino acid, cannot be produced by our body and therefore has to be taken in from the foods we eat.
A food source that contains high levels of proteins, as well as essential amino acids, is considered a complete protein. Some food sources include fatty fish, like salmon, shellfish and many types of meat. For the vegetarian, these mentioned food sources are not a viable option. Vegetarians can include many types of grains, beans, nuts and soy products in their diet to make up for the protein deficiency from lack of meat.
Some high level protein vegetarian food options include:
· Many soy products, most are even considered a complete protein
· Seitan, which is a faux meat like product made from wheat gluten
· Beans and lentils
· Some types of nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and brazil nuts
As a vegetarian, you should not just have to limit yourself to consuming high-level protein foods to ensure that you are getting all of your proper nutrients. You can also combine mid to low level protein foods to get just as much, and sometimes even more, nutrients from your food. The best example is when corn and beans are eaten together. When combined they create a dish that merges some of the most complete amino acids that you can find in almost any other food source.
So whether you are an omnivore, vegetarian or even a vegan, the only true way to ensure that you are getting all the proper nutrients from your diet is to eat a wide variety of foods, and never too much of any one thing, especially when it comes to packaged or processed foods. By eating a wide varieties of foods, not only will you ensure that you are getting the proper amount of proteins and amino acids, but you will inevitably be ensuring that your diet also include all the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy.
Author Resource:-
Corey Rozon is a freelance writer from Ottawa, Canada. Alternative Protein Sources For Vegetarians was written with the help of the good people of Gogiberries.us, the producers of liquid vitamins and acai juice, which is another good source of protein.
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