Category Archives: Diet And Food

Could eating a plant-based diet be the key to lower blood pressure, lower weight and a longer life?

It couldnt hurt, local experts say.

That was the prescription handed down at a recent lecture at Island Health And Fitness Club by Dr. Donna Sandidge, the Medical Director for the Cayuga Center for Healthy Living, and Natalie Pape, a registered dietician at the center. The topic, following a plant-based diet to better health, discussed not only the science behind the benefits of weaning off of a standard American diet, but the feasibility of it as well, slowly working toward a vegan diet or, at the least, one de-emphasizing consumption of meat and dairy products.

The main benefit, said Sandidge, was simply stated: a plant-based diet can help you live longer and in better health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the leading cause of death in the United States is still heart disease and cancer, of which colon cancer, which accounts for close to 50,000 deaths per year, pancreatic, prostate and breast cancer are all partly related to diet and/or obesity. Risk factors related to heart disease and some cancers can be addressed with a whole food, plant-based diet.

This knowledge could have a big impact. According to the CDC, 68 percent of diabetics over 65 years of age die from heart disease. Among those with Type 2 Diabetes, where obesity is a contributing factor, risk of death could be lowered 50-75 percent if they switched to a plant-based diet.

In regard to heart disease, the famed cardiologist and vegan Kim A. Williams said in a 2014 article in The New York Times that a vegan diet can not only lower bad cholesterol the type that causes heart disease but it also avoids the type of foods that can be considered the culprit for other unsavory conditions.

I recommend a plant-based diet because I know its going to lower their blood pressure, improve their insulin sensitivity and decrease their cholesterol, Williams told The New York Times. And so I recommend it in all those conditions. Some patients are able to do it and some are not.

Coronary artery disease develops when low-density lipoproteins, or LDL often referred to as bad cholesterol build up in the wall of the artery causing a narrowing or plaque that can block blood flow to the heart muscle. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot develops over one of these plaques. The dietary connection comes from the consumption of saturated fats, which is correlated directly with an increase in LDL cholesterol and risk for cardiovascular disease. A plant-based diet is naturally low in saturated fat, which is found primarily in meat, poultry and dairy.

According to a 1990 study by Dr. Dean Ornish (who has famously served as medical consultant to the Clintons since 1993) published by the prestigious medical journal Lancet, consumption of a plant-based diet as part of an overall lifestyle improvement approach was actually shown to reduce these risk factors tangibly greater than traditional medical methods. According to the study, patients with known coronary artery disease eating low-fat, plant-based diets who limited vices like smoking, took stress management courses and participated in moderate exercise had a nearly 3 percent improvement in narrowing present in their coronary arteries after five years. This improvement was in comparison to a control group following usual treatment, which saw a decline of narrowing by 11.77 percent over the same time.

But the evidence didnt stop there. In another example, Sandidge cited something called the Adventist Health Studies, which examined the lifestyle, diet, disease and mortality of Seventh Day Adventists over time. In the study, conducted over the course of several decades in California, the researchers examined the churchs population versus a matched control group of non-Adventists and found that, because of a plant-based, meatless diet, the group lived 10 years longer on average with a significantly lower risk of colon cancer than the rest of California. Specifically, death rates from all cancers were 40 percent lower for Adventist men and 24 percent lower for Adventist women, among other ailments including colorectal cancer, coronary heart disease and breast cancer. In other Adventist studies, those following a plant-based, meatless diet had much lower rates of diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

The primary difference between the two groups? Their diets.

Going Vegan

Where Sandidge covered the science of a plant-based diet, Pape herself a vegan for several years discussed the logistics of actually making the jump to a diet light on meats, dairy and processed sugars and fats, if they are consumed at all.

While the diet she suggested was technically a vegan diet, she said she didnt want people to get caught up in the V word: Pape told the audience to eat the rainbow, and eat a diet that could be delicious and filled with a number of naturally sweet and savory foods that are not only effective for fighting disease but improving ones likelihood to be and stay healthy.

Pape said that the more colorful foods were filled with immune system-boosting phytonutrients, a blanket term for the thousands of naturally occurring chemicals in plants that can interact with your body chemistry in positive ways. She also talked about a concept called nutrient density versus calorie density, where lower-calorie foods can be consumed in greater quantities than a similar caloric amount of something like oils, cheese or meat. Foods that contain 300 calories per pound or less, theoretically, could be eaten freely without guilt or worry of weight loss while a pound of food totaling more than 800 calories should be consumed with portions controlled.

So how do you adapt to something like this? Pape had a four-part series of steps to makeover your recipes, substituting the meat in a meat sauce for beans or tofu instead of eggs. You could replace your soups with vegetable stocks and broths, skip the cheese on sandwiches and pizza and swap to almond or (this writers preference) cashew milk. Its also an easy fix to reduce your use of salts or oils, letting vinegar, lemon juice, or herbs and spices to boost the flavor. And for those worried about losing protein in their diet from lack of meat, never fear, Pape said: in fact, legumes like beans have a) more protein per calorie than meat and b) the average American already consumes, on average, twice as much protein as they actually need. You could either go cold Tofurkey, she said, or to implement small changes in your meals or diet each week until, after a month, youve grown accustomed to eating a mostly plant-based diet. It takes three weeks to make or break a habit, she said, and this was a way to make that happen most feasibly. There are even websites out there to help kick start your new vegan lifestyle.

Your options are truly endless, Pape said. This is a diet of variety and plenty, not one of deprivation As long as you follow the rules, there are so many delicious options you can try.

To close, she emphasized this doesnt have to be an all or nothing approach: you could always just try to eat more plants.

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Following a plant-based diet to better health - ithaca.com

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Late night veteran John Oliver opened up Last Week Tonight on Sunday going after Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The comedian skewered the former Alabama Senator for his Russia ties and the self-inflicted wound of failing to disclose his meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Oliver took issue with Sessions seemingly bringing up his non-involvement with Russia unasked.

There is an obvious problem there, noted Oliver. He just implicated himself out of the blue, which should have been immediately suspicious. The comedian suggested that Sessions immediate reaction after the claim suggested he knew he had erred.

it looks like hes about to loosen his collar and audibly say the word gulp.'

Oliver then linked Sessions to Trumps growing web of contacts and officials with undisclosed ties to Russia, playing interviews with Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page and former campaign chief Paul Manafort.

I may have met [Sergey Kislyak] possibly in what might have been in Cleveland, said Page in an excruciating recent interview on MSNBCs All In with Chris Hayes.

Oliver also took President Donald Trump to task for his unsubstantiated claimed this week that his predecessor,Barack Obama, has wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign. The claim, which originated from right-wing talk radio and Breitbart, has faced bipartisan criticism.

Trump has a, worse media diet than the Son of Sam killer, and he got all his news from a talking dog that told him to murder, quipped Oliver

watch the full clip above.

[image via screengrab]

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'Worse Media Diet Than The Son of Sam Killer': John Oliver Rips Trump and Sessions Controversies - Mediaite

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In the wellness world, the Mediterranean diet is as acclaimed as it gets, with research touting itscardiovascularand longevity-boosting benefits. The diets bursting with omega-3s and healthy fats (from fish, eggs, nuts, and olive oil), probiotics (hello, Greek yogurt), and lots of grains, legumes, fruits, and veggies.

But in recent years, the Mediterranean way of eating has been eclipsed by sexier nutrition trends, like the gluten-free craze and countless buzzy celebrity diets(hello, Adele). But the pendulum is swinging back to the sun-dappled side.

It pulls a lot of people in because there arent many parts of the diet that people are going to object to.

Why? Partly its because so many people are quitting sugar and getting wise to the idea that unsaturated fatsare a very a good thing, explainsLauren Slayton, MS, RD. Not to mention the fact thatthe eating regimenis so full of flavorits always going to find new fans. It pulls a lot of people in because there arent many parts of the diet that people are going to object to, Slayton says.

But the biggest proofthat whats old is new again just might be supermarket shelves. Beyond the piles of tomatoes and peppers in the produce aisle are an influx of products elevating some of the diets core foods (think olives, fennel, and theaforementionedyogurt).

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The number-oneitem that must (must!) be in every Mediterranean-inspired pantry? Olive oil, obviously. It has tremendous cardiovascular benefits and also helps with digestion, Slayton says. It does have a low smoke point, so you dont want to cook it at super-high heats, but its perfect for, say, drizzling on saladsand the more flavorful it is, the less you have to use. Inside each Gaea bottle is the juice from about 2,300 olives, all of which have been harvested by handwhich makes this fresh-pressed, extra virgin variety extra tasty.

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Olive trees have been beloved for centuries for their medicinal benefits, and these teas tap into that time-honored tradition. The leaves have the compoundoleuropeinitsalso in the olives themselveswhich wards off infection, says Steep Echo founder Kimberly Branum. They have double the antioxidants as green tea, and also a good dose of vitamin C. Plus, the tea incorporates spices like rosemary (which has been linked to circulatory and nervoussystem benefits), making it a true Mediterranean powerhouse.

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Artichokes, a Mediterranean diet staple, are awesome sources of the antioxidants silymarin and cynarin, which are said tofight free radicals, aid in detoxification, and improve cardiovascular health. (If you havent caught on yet, the Med dietalways comes back to the heart.) The idea of gulping this new drink down may not sound all that appealing, but its surprisingly light and sweetand way easier than wrangling the real thing.

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Most people get their fix of Greek yogurt in the morning, maybe with a little healthy granola and a few berries sprinkled on top. But Chobani found a savory way (with just one gram of sugar per serving) for people to get their daily probiotics in, with a line of spicy Mez Dips released earlier this year. The flavors all contain live bacteria strains, the details of which are listed right on the label next to the other all-natural ingredientsyummy and transparent.

This new-to-the-marketline of water-soluble powder formulas (from Israeli supplement makerFrutarom Health) was specifically created to tap into the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, incorporating ingredients like olives, antioxidant-rich artichokes, and lemon balm (which is said to be calming and helps with digestion).

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Yep, you can even get your Mediterranean fix between meals with this gum made with fennel and fennel oil. Sure, the nutritional value isnt going to be as high as chowing down on fennel directly, but its still got vitamin Cmaking it a way-healthier breath freshener than a stick of Extra.

Beyond the Mediterranean diet, nutritionists wish everyone ate more of these 10 foods. And have you studied up onthe new fruit pyramid? Its key for cutting back on sugar.

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Why Mediterranean-based eating is trendyagain - Well+Good

AS BLACK belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, Reid Reale knows more than most about stepping into the ring to fight.

It was a perfect background for the University of the Sunshine Coast PhD student to undertake research into how elite combat sport athletes can reach their "fighting weight without resorting to extreme dieting and dehydration.

Reid spent three years studying hundreds of top-level athletes in Olympic combat sports - boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling - to determine how to maximise performance and minimise the health impacts of rapid weight loss before a weigh-in.

His study found that eating light, calorie-dense foods like protein bars or confectionary provided athletes with enough calories for peak performance while enabling them to get into lower weight categories.

Mr Reale, now based in Melbourne, said body mass manipulation through crash dieting and dehydration was widespread across combat sports and current health guidelines of "just say no were unrealistic.

"If fighters have a certain amount of weight to strip off, they're still going to do it in some fashion, he said.

"We wanted to work out the safest way for them to do that and maximise their performance in the ring.

"Severe dehydration can be very unsafe and obviously if you have a major energy deficit for a long period of time, particularly before a competition, you're not going to perform well.

"Someone without any education in this area might try to achieve their entire weight loss target through restricting water and sweating. My research was about introducing other strategies.

Mr Reale's study, conducted in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport, involved conducting full-body scans of almost 100 elite athletes, including national teams from Japan, Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines.

The USC study found that in the two to three days prior to a weigh-in, athletes aiming for rapid or acute weight loss should manage water intake and avoid eating fruit, vegetables and grains - instead opting for low weight, high-energy foods.

"Someone trying to chronically reduce body mass and body fat over time will be looking at low-calorie, bulky foods like salads, Mr Reale said.

"But this does not work for rapid weight loss, as these foods leave undigested fibre in their gastrointestinal tract.

"So instead of having one to two kilograms of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains or meat over a day, a fighter might have a few protein bars, a handful of lollies or some chocolate.

"They will still get the energy they need, but it's not going to sit heavily in the stomach. And mere grams can make the difference.

Mr Reale has been excelling as both a high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter and as a researcher while doing his PhD.

Last year, he won the black belt heavyweight title at the 2016 UAEJJF World Championship Sydney Trials and took first place in the Mini-Oral Presentations section of the 2016 Congress of the European College of Sport Science in Vienna.

USC Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics Gary Slater congratulated Mr Reale on his achievements and said his research findings had already made an impact internationally.

"It's been extremely well received, both within peer-reviewed journals and international scientific congresses, he said.

"Reid has received several invitations to work with major combat centres, including in Japan and Brazil.

"The amount of work he's had published in a period where he wasn't just a PhD student, but also a competitor, is very impressive.

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Reid's fighting for truth on sports diets - The Sunshine Coast Daily

Many celebrities go all-out when it comes to their eating habits.Gisele BndchenandTom Bradyare famously restrictive with their diet. Celebs are knownfor going on fad diets. ButRihannaspersonal chef, who servesbreakfast, lunch, dinner, and plenty of late-night snacks to the music icon, according to a new interview inBon Apptit, is anything but boring with her daily menus. As usual, Rihanna is awesome.

First of all, RiRi isa moody eater, Debbie Solomon toldBon Apptit.Rather than planning a meal schedule a week in advance, she follows Rihannas lead and flies by the seat of her pants, day to day.[With previous clients] I would send in a menu on a Sunday or Monday and they would pick for the week, and then Id be able to shop and prep, but this is nothing like that. We dont know what were gonna want to eat tomorrow, so why even pick today?

That said, she always has certain things on hand, which includes every protein that you can think of that [Rihanna] eats, along with veggies, pasta, and rice.Her suitcase is packed with spices, including maggi cubes (similar to bouillon), curry, jeera (a.k.a. cumin seeds), Old Bay seasoning, adobo, five-spice, garlic, and onion granules.

The general philosophy behind Solomans cooking is pleasure.There shouldnt be shame in eating food, she said. I wont waste my calories on bullshit. If I take a bite of something and its shitty to me, Im not just going to eat it because Im hungry. Im going to stop eating that shitty thing. Preach.

And Soloman is careful onsocial media, focusing on whats actually in front of her as opposed to posting for the likes.Theres a platform for me, being a black woman, and working for who I work for, she said. But I always think, its not gonna be worth it for me to jeopardize something for just a like on social media. Im getting paid. I dont need the likes. OK, we adore herand we would love to try her cooking someday. Lucky RiRi!

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Here's Rihanna's Exact Diet, According to Her Personal Chef - StyleCaster

In the United States alone, 108 million people are on a diet. That number comes from The U.S. Weight Loss and Diet Control Market which only measures people actively spending money on diet-related products and services. It doesnt count all the people trying to eat less or get healthier on their own.

But heres the statistic that I want to focus on: among the obese who try to lose weight, the failure rate is 99 percent. Literally, 99 percent do not succeed at getting slim.[i] And for that precious one percent who do succeed, the triumph is temporary. The vast majority regain the weight over the next few years.

Yet the research is very clearpeople are genuinely motivated to lose weight.[ii] Theyre spending enormous sums of money to do it-over $60.9 billion in 2010.[iii] Few things are more desirable in our Western culture than being trim. So why cant we succeed? And why doesnt anybody seem to wonder why smart, capable, educated, motivated people who really want to get slender just cant do it?

What we need to focus on is that the problem itself doesnt make any sense. Theres no other field of endeavor that Im aware of where intelligence, determination, and capability have so little bearing on the outcome.

The reality is that our common understanding of the problem is flawed. And our common understanding of the solution is flawed. Theyre flawed because theyre not rooted in brain science.

The real problem is that our brains are blocking us from losing weight.

Our brains have been hijacked by diets high in sugar and flour to block every attempt at dieting. The science is clear: someone who has had the pleasure receptors in their nucleus accumbens down-regulated by sugar cannot just quit because an article tells them to, any more than a smoker stops once someone points out its bad for him. The addiction is stronger than that.

And the two most common proffered solutions, calorie restriction and exercise, dont work because, first: exercise drains the cognitive mechanism of self-regulation known as willpower, that thing overweight people are told to just get more of. The brain doesnt work that way. Willpower is a finite daily resource, not a dimension of character. And if you drain yours by pushing yourself to the gym you are more likely to succumb to a high-calorie food choice later. That food choice will be more harmful than the workout was beneficial.

Second: calorie restriction without a daily framework to help us resist our cultures endless cues to eat will fail.

Again, the hijacked brain demands what it thinks it needs, and it will win.

Heres what does work: lowering insulin levels permanently to allow the brain to recognize the hormone leptin. Leptin cues us to feel full and get moving, but high baseline insulin blocks it out, leaving us feeling insatiably hungry.

What else works? Moving food choices out of the prefrontal cortex, where they can be debated, and into the more primitive basal ganglia, where they become automatic. Automatic like brushing your teeth. Popular diets right now have people eating six small meals a day. That is too many opportunities for the saboteur in our brains to run the conversation and it undermines automating healthy choices so they take zero willpower. Three meals a day are automatizable. Snacks arent.

And finally, it works to have a program that expects you will run out of willpower dailybecause you willand still allows you to be successful[NW1] . Im not talking about a diet. Im talking about a food plan that heals the brain, coupled with daily, ongoing support and systems that make weight-loss permanent.

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Can't Lose Weight? It's Not You, It's Your Brain - eMaxHealth

However the FSA said that the number of alerts it issued to consumers to let them know there may be an undisclosed allergen in food increased from 73 in 2014 to 92 in 2015. The main reasons for this, it said, weredue to the wrong product being placed in the wrong packaging, or the labeling not being in English.

The FSA is also concerned that "may contain" allergy labels are used so widely that people with allergies "indulging in risk-taking behaviour" and choosing to ignore the claim, risking an allergic reaction.

The NHS does not hold data on specific food allergies but figures show that overall allergies, which include food allergies, are rising sharply.

According to NHS Digital data there were25,093 hospital admissions for allergies in England in 2015/16, up by 36pc from2011/12 when there were 18,471 admissions.

Over the period there was also a rise in hospital admissions for anaphylactic shocks, a serious type of allergic reaction which can cause swelling of the tongue, heart failure, and death.In 2011/12 there were 3735 hospital admissions, rising by 19pc to 4451 in 2015/16.

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More adults suffering from food allergies because of 'exotic' middle-class diets - Telegraph.co.uk

This Women's Day, as you gear up to receive a surprise breakfast fit for a queen or a hastily ordered bouquet of flowers, spend some time on your horoscope. Not on issues that are personal or professional but on those that are nutritional. Although I'm not a soothsayer or savant, I can quite comfortably predict your nutritional future this year. Without knowing you or meeting you, I can safely predict that this year most of you will...

Feel the need to clean plates Of course, I don't mean getting down and dirty or is it clean? with soap and water but eating leftovers. Beware of this obsessive need to "prevent waste" as you eat that last half-roti or those few spoonfuls of rice just so that you're satisfied that all the food is finished. If you continue to do so, you may be looking at a possible 4-5 kilos of weight gain in a year. The math is simple: let's assume that the extra intake of leftover dinner and/or dessert adds up to about 100 extra calories per day, if you are not able to burn it off. If you do this everyday, it totals up to 36,500 unburned calories a year. It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound of weight, which is about 10 pounds or about 4-5 kilos of weight gained in a year. Quite simply, waste makes waist. Eating to prevent wastage doesn't always guarantee weight gain. But if you are struggling to lose those last few kilos, and not realising where things are going wrong, now you do. Maybe it's time to let the leftovers be. If you cannot finish what's on your plate, it's not your problem - it's the dustbin's or the fridge's.

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Your nutritional horoscope - Times of India

A new wave of ingestible electronics is poised to transform health care from the inside out. Researchers are experimenting with sensors that can wirelessly monitor vital signs like heart rate, respiratory rateand body temperature from the squishy interior of our gastrointestinal tract.

But for the devices to work longer than just a few hours after we swallow them, they need batteries that can safely be used inside our bodies. Now, researchers at MIT and Brigham and Womens Hospital have a solution: Theyve developed an ingestible battery that runs on stomach acid.

Its modeled on the lemon battery, the time-honored science fair project that uses the acid of a lemon to react with connected metal electrodes, generating electricity.

We started exploring a couple of ideas and thinking back to the high school days, one of the concepts was applying the lessons from the lemon battery, says Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist and biomedical engineer at Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He was a lead author on the earlier sensor research and co-authored this new study.

In the study, the battery powered a wireless temperature sensor in pigs for an average of 6 days.

Before this worked, the longest that had been achieved through systems was more on the order of minutes to about an hour, Traverso says.

Whats more, the battery worked while pigs were eating and drinking going about their daily business, he adds. And as the battery passed out of the stomach and into the small intestine, it kept harvesting small amounts of energy, even though the intestine isnt an acidic environment. Traverso calls it an encouraging observation for other body systems.

Eventually, Traverso and his team hope to develop a battery that can power sensors for weeks, and even months, after ingestion. He says that in the next phase of research, the team will likely dig deeper into how diet affects the batterys energy harvest. Specifically, you know, how much energy is available to be harvested during those times of feeding versus ones during a fasting time.

The pill housing the battery and sensor will see some changes, too. This was a prototype, he adds. And it was on the larger side.

In the future, Traverso thinks the pill could be designed to remain in the stomach for a prolonged period of time, and then change shape to trigger movement through the body. It could also be made out of materials that dissolve after a certain amount of time, delivering medications more effectively.

From there, Traverso sees a plethora of possibilities for the pill. The first thing we showed here in this study was temperature, Traverso says. But we've done some other work in the past looking at measuring heart rate, respiratory rate. And we're doing some other work looking at movement of the actual [gastrointestinal] tract, and then sensing different proteins and toxins.

This article is based on aninterviewthat aired on PRI'sScience Friday.

2016 Science Friday

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Scientists make a battery that runs on stomach acid - WUNC

I'd be lying if I told you I didn't want you to go vegetarian or vegan. Compassion and love for animals was a big part of my reason for doing so. I've put together some interesting facts in this week's column for you to read over.

>> Studies show that a plant based diet increases the body's metabolism, causing the body to burn calories up to 16 percent faster than the body would on a meat-based diet for at least the first three hours after meals.

>> A number of researchers argue that while the human body is capable of digesting meat, our bodies are actually designed to be herbivores. For example, the human molars are similar to those of an herbivore, flat and blunt, which make them good for grinding, not tearing.

>> The first Vegetarian Society was formed in England in 1847. The society's goal was to teach people that it is possible to be healthy without eating meat.

>> In 2012, the Los Angeles city council unanimously approved a resolution that all Mondays will be meatless. The measure is part of an international campaign to reduce the consumption of meat for health and environmental reason.

>> There are several types of vegetarians. The strictest type is vegans. Vegans avoid not only meat but also all animal products. There is a debate within the vegan community about whether honey is appropriate for a vegan diet. For example, the Vegan Society and the American Vegan Society do not consider honey appropriate because it comes from an animal.

>> Several researchers argue that a vegetarian diet can feed more people than a meat-based diet. For example, approximately 20,000 pounds of potatoes can be grown on one acre of land. Comparatively, only around 165 pounds of beef can be produced on 1 acre of land.

>> A fruitarian is a type of vegetarian in which a person eats just fruits, nuts, seeds and other plant material that can be harvested without killing the plant.

>> Approximately 25 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of wheat. Around 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce 1 pound of meat. Many vegetarians argue that more people eating a meat-free diet would lower the strain that meat production puts on the environment.

>> A British study revealed that a child's IQ could help predict his or her chance for becoming a vegetarian. The higher the IQ, the more likely the child will become a vegetarian.

>> The American Dietetic Association concludes that a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthier than one that includes meat. The association notes vegetarians have lower body mass index, lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and less prostate and colon cancer.

>> Vegetarians have only slightly lower protein intake than those with a meat diet. Various studies around the world confirm that vegetarian diets provide enough protein if they include a variety of plant sources.

>> People become vegetarians for several reasons, including ethical, health, political, environmental, cultural, aesthetic and economic concerns.

>> An ovo-vegetarian will eat eggs but not other dairy products.

>> A lacto-vegetarian will eat dairy products but not eggs.

>> An ovo-lacto vegetarian diet includes both eggs and diary products.

>> The only vegetables with all eight types of essential amino acids in sufficient amounts are lupin beans, soy, hemp seed, chia seed, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. However, the essential amino acids can be achieved by eating other vegetables if they are in a variety.

>> Vegetarianism is still required for yogis in Hatha Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Eating meat is said to lead to ignorance, sloth and an undesirable mental state known as tamas. A vegetarian diet, on the other hand, leads to sattvic qualities that are associated with spiritual progress.

>> Benjamin Franklin was an early American vegetarian (though he later became a meat-eater again). He introduced tofu to America in 1770.

>> While vegetarian diets tend to be lower in calories and higher in fiber (which makes a person feel more full), some vegetarian diets can cause higher caloric intake than a meat diet if they include a lot of cheese and nuts.

Kellie McKinney, MS, is an exercise physiologist and the co-founder of Two Nutrition Nuts.

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Kellie McKinney: Vegan, vegetarian diets linked to many benefits - Huntington Herald Dispatch