But this does not mean that turning vegetarian overnight will make you slimmer. There are a number of vegetarian food items which include higher amount of calories like nuts, peanut butter, salad dressings, sweets etc. which can make you fatter. Not only that, vegetarians must make sure that their diet provides all the necessary nutrients, especially proteins.

Advantages of vegetarian diet

Experts say that calories from plant based foods are being used more as fuel for the body than stored as fat. One reason for this is the fact that vegetarian food increases insulin sensitivity. As a result, nutrients enter the cells more rapidly to be converted as heat, rather than to be stored as fat. Vegetarian food is also low in saturated fat.

The number of obese among vegetarians is comparatively lesser. Vegetarianism also keeps obesity-related health problems like heart diseases, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes at bay.

Nutrients-rich vegetarian food

It is not fair to compromise health for weight loss. So plan your vegetarian diet in such a way that you are not deprived of any essential nutrients. You can get enough proteins from nuts, seeds, legumes and soy products like tofu and tempeh. Whole grains and rice can keep you satisfied for longer duration. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables that can provide you enough vitamins and minerals. If you are not using dairy products, you can have soy-based alternatives for milk, yoghurt and cheese fortified with calcium, vitamin D and riboflavin. You can also take daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplements to fill nutritional gaps, if there is any.

Things to avoid

While sticking on to vegetarian diet, it is important to avoid items which contain high calories like cheese, butter, salad dressing and fried food. Snacks, crackers and candy are also in the ‘to avoid’ list. Not only do they add unwanted calories but also has zero nutritional value.

Can everybody follow a vegetarian diet?

Some experts do not agree with the argument that anybody can follow a vegetarian diet. It is advisable for children, teenagers, pregnant and breast-feeding mothers to consult the doctor to make sure that they do not miss the much needed nutrients like proteins and minerals while following vegetarian diet.

For better results

You must plan what you are going to eat and must avoid last minute choices, which will not always be the right choice. You can add variety to your daily menu by including different fruits and vegetables, instead of following a monotonous diet every day.

As bones are in a constant state of rebuilding, when it become porous they would lose its strength in supporting our body structures. And hence the danger here is facing bones fracture incident.

A young person with strong resilient bones, who experiences a simple broken or fractured bone will heal fairly quickly. However, an older person who experiences a Hip fracture ( which is a common occurrence among seniors with osteoporosis ), could find that he has crossed the threshold into disability and worse.

More often than not, many people have the wrong idea thinking that osteoporosis is a woman’s disease. While it could be true that women can be at higher risk of bone loss during ( and after ) menopause, men also are commonly afflicted.

While genetics could plays a role in the development of osteoporosis, there’s a lot that you can actually do now to improve your chances of having a strong, flexible bones when moving into old age. More commonly, these are :-

1. Boost your calcium and vitamin D intake.

Calcium is a mineral used in a wide variety in our body functions. If you’re not getting sufficient calcium from your diet, your body will begin to break down the calcium in your bones to use it elsewhere.

Vitamin D helps your body both absorb calcium and deposit it into the bones. Many medical studies have demonstrated that adequate amounts of both calcium mineral and vitamin D will improve bone mineral density. Adequate vitamin D in daily dietary intake is important to preserve bone strength.

Our skin actually makes vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet rays of the sun. Unfortunately, many of us do not get sufficient vitamin D from either sunlight or dietary sources, so it may be important to consider adding a supplement to your diet.

Some of the best sources of calcium are low-fat and non fat dairy products like yogurt, sardines, broccoli, fortified soymilk and soy foods, cereals and much more.

2. Resistance exercise to preserve bone strength.

Resistance training and weight-bearing exercise like walking would certainly helps to stimulate new bone formation. It also helps preserves lean body mass , which also helps to keep your weight scale in-check. Exercise in general and soft type, example “Tai Chi” , could helps to enhances flexibility.

3. Don’t forget your Vitamin K

Vitamin K, is being recognized as an important player in the promotion of bone strength. There has been research showing that when a person who took vitamin K supplements, along with vitamin D, zinc, calcium, and magnesium, had significantly less bone loss after three years compared with others who took either a placebo or the same supplements minus the vitamin K.

Currently, common recommended dose for vitamin K is 9o mcg (micrograms) a day for women, and 120 mcg a day for men. Vitamin K is particularly abundant in spinach, other sources include cabbage too.

4. Potassium – Bone Booster.

Research has shown that people who get a good supply of potassium experience less bone loss than others who do not. As potassium is readily available in many fruits and vegetables, we should have no problem to reach daily healthy intake of potassium of 8,000 mg . For knowledge, a single potato has 940 mg of potassium, and a banana contains 490 mg !

5. Watch Your Caffeine Consumption.

It is well known that excessive amounts of caffeine can affect bone strength, as it increases the amount of calcium excreted in the urine. Limit your daily coffee consumption ! Don’t forget that soda contain caffeine as well as phosphates, which tend to pull calcium from the bones.

While many people love coffee, and some consider it a must for daily intake, you should consider adding some non fat milk, or low-fat milk, or calcium-fortified soymilk to your coffee. This could helps to counteract adverse effects of the caffeine.

Strawberry, being one of the best source in cancer prevention fruit, contain kind of special acidic substances, that act as anti-toxic material and preventing cancer cells from being developed. Further, strawberry also has an enzyme that helps in preventing leukemia.

Citrus fruits class fruits( like orange, lemon, grapefruit ) , with its rich Vitamin C, helps in strengthening our body, skin, lung, intestinal, and liver . By transforming water-soluble toxic into fat soluble substances, it helps discharges those toxic substances out of our body, keep us healthy.

As well known, Vitamin C helps in strengthening our body immunity, researches indicated that for those who eat citrus class fruits in their daily dietary, has show positive reduction in cancer risk prevention of about 30% for , for pancreas cancer risk.  For those who often eat citrus class fruits, the possibilities of contracting mouth related deseases such as oral cavity, pharynx and larynx, stomach cancer, the risk level could be reduced as much as 50%  !

In recent laboratory researches, it is discover that Kiwi ( which Vitamin C content is often recognized as high as 4 to 12 times compare to orange, about 30 times more than apple. is apple 30 times, grape’s 60 times ),  contain active substance that help in preventing cancer. Also, according to researches, apricot is the one of the best fruit that contain highest level of Vitamin B17 content. This particular Vitamin is highly effective in anti cancer treatment, as it eliminates the cancer infected cells. There are even research reports showing that cancer patients whom undergo treatment with Vitamin B17, more than 90% are treated successfully. Till now, there has been whooping number of about 4000 terminally illed cancer patient’s being saved by using Vitamin B17 in their treatments.

Nevertheless, although it is well known that the positive effects of these fruits in fighting cancer is highly recommended, people still need to eat accordingly when consuming these fruits. Depending to individual dietary habits, some may develop allergy or body/organ disorder if not careful especially consuming the fruits in raw form. Example would be patients with kidney illness are not advisable to consume much of strawberry as the fruit contain higher level of calcium, which may aggregate the kidney illness or worsen the condition.

Like what we often said – An Apple a day keeps the doctor away. But well, just like everything else,  having too much of it could sometimes brings trouble too ! So, proper consumption is still advisable.

Especially during time of transition, depression are particularly vulnerable in elderly, of which could be few time higher at risk. Apart from this, hormones could also be part of the cause. This is why depression is such common during premenstrual and postpartum period.

Although there isn’t clear indication or proof that depression is result of nutritional deficiency, a healthy nutritional dietary could be beneficially ; while it is still much crucial to consult professional advises. On the nutrients factor, a healthy intake of Vitamins B-Complex could prove to be good. In particular, Folic Acid , Thiamin , and Riboflavin . There has be studies showing that these deficient in vitamin group could lead to depression o whole body function.

Some symptoms of thiamin deficiency include confusion, uneasiness, feeling fear, and of course, mood changes. These are actually could be sign of depression in early stage. B6, is also needed in you body to produce the hormone serotonin, which ply a role in ‘mood control’ ! It is also helpful for those with premenstrual depression.

Since there are quite a number of  class in Vitamin B, it would be of both convenience and effective too, if taken as a group in whole. Go for Vitamin B Complex supplement in your daily nutritional plan, before it’s too late.

Fish – the Omega 3

Already, there are much studies that suggest omega-3 fatty acid from fish ( such as salmon, sardines ) could help in lowering some cancer risks. In some studies, men who ate moderate to large amount of fish are reported to having lower risk level of prostate cancer, compare to men who didn’t eat fish !

Soybeans

In both animal and human cell studies, it shows that soybeans contain several chemicals that proven to be anti-cancer substance. For instance, studies in large population show that soy may actual help in preventing several common cancers like colon cancer , breast cancer , prostate cancer . Another chemical, Genistein , by inhibiting the growth of cancerous risk blood vessel and eliminating cancer cells, Genistein might protect against cancer.

So, next time, try to include more soy food in your dietary, like cheese, tofu, miso, and of course soy milk !

Go Green with Fruits and Vegetables

Well, one of the easiest route to lower you risk of getting cancer ( and all other diseases ), is to consume more serving of fruits and vegetables on daily basis. Well, don’t get the wrong idea and start chewing off with just bowl full of salads without any other food. Mostly, a mid-size bowl salad daily should be sufficient.

Another point to take note is that, the more variety of the fruits and vegetables, the wider the range of cancer fighting compounds. Such compound is called as ‘flavonoid‘ . So, eat up those red grapes, leeks, red apples, cabbages ( red ), yellow onions too !

Love the Apples !

As the norm saying -> An apple a day keeps doctor away. While it may not be 100% practical, researches do found that one of the best sources of cancer-fighting compound, phenolics , is within apple skin. Apple skin could possibly be the main contributing factor as to why apple is such an healthy fruit .

Reduce the Sugar

It is known that high sugar diet is almost likely to be of high in fat content, and low in fiber and other nutrients. Such high sugar diet could actually increase your risk of getting cancer. So – cut it down !

Reduce Red Meat intake

Red meat is already well-known to be one main contributing factor of increase cancer risk. It is found that higher intake of red meat might be the culprit behind higher risk level for common type of breast cancer.

Reduce Coffee Intake – Go for Tea

Coffee, a known phytoestrogen, already widely known to be causing fibrocystic breast disease worse. Although it is not thought to be the caffeine, but coffee itself actually mimics estrogen much. Thus, decaffinated coffee still may be estrogenic.

Tea, on the other hand, contains antioxidants called ‘catechins‘ , which in laboratory studies show to be having the ability of preventing cancer. Both green and black tea are rich in antioxidants. Nevertheless, green tea actually contain higher level of antioxidants, probably due to less being processed.