With the large number of vegetarians in the United States (nearly 12 million), it is very likely you or someone you know excludes meat from their diet. The reasons why people adopt a vegetarian diet are varied, but may include health benefits, religious beliefs, ethical reasons, or environmental concerns. After some time, it isn't uncommon to find even the strictest of vegetarians questioning their meat-free lifestyle.
Personally, my day has come. After a recent trip to Peru, I felt I was missing something. Peruvian cuisine, for example, is world re-knowned for its delicious seafood appetizers, spicy ceviche, and intricate full-course meals. My taste buds desired a sampling of these delicacies, in turn probing me to take a closer look at my vegetarian diet, one that I have faithfully upheld for four years. Could I go back to eating meat, poultry, and seafood? At this time, no decision has been made to change my animal-free diet, although I am beginning to explore returning to a non-vegetarian diet.
Completing several years as a practicing vegetarian may be the turning point for many. You don't feel compelled to give reasons to every person you know why you abstain from meat eating. Your family and friends no longer swap vegetarian jokes at Christmas dinner, nor do they attempt to pass the turkey roast to your plate. And you have even mastered what to order at even the toughest restaurants.
But this is also the time you may start to feel energy-less, or you forget that you need to combine proteins with complex carbohydrates and not with chocolate cake. You start to experience headaches more frequently and you take a second glance at what is on a friend's non-vegetarian plate. Basically, you have become lazy about fulfilling your dietary needs.
It must first be explained that even the American Dietetic Association promotes that a well-planned vegetarian diet can be consistent with good nutritional intake. Studies verify that vegetarians eat more vegetables and fruits than the average non-vegetarian, and have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. New research comparing the health of vegetarians and non-vegetarians verifies that 30 percent of vegetarians have less heart disease and 40 percent less cancer cases.
But other research describes a little-discussed phenomenon called FTT or "Failure to Thrive." FTT is a term applied where vegetarianism is concerned, to people who do not experience the best health or well-being. Symptoms may include: feeling hungry all day, poor-quality sleep or sex drive, emotional effects such as a vague, nonspecific loss of zest for life, and actual nutritional deficiencies.
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