Being a vegetarian you should choose a balanced variety of food items such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, seeds and nuts.
Here are some important tips to help you ensure consuming the right kind of diet and correctly meet the nutritional demand of your body.
Calcium:
Vegan should eat foods rich in calcium in order to keep bones strong and viable. Scientists are of the opinion that vegetarians retain calcium better from foods than non-vegetarians.
Calcium is found in high amount in dairy products such as curd, cheese, etc.
Calcium sources for vegans are:
•Low-fat or fat-free milk, cheese and yogurt.
•Fortified ready-to-eat cereals
•Fortified rice milk or soya milk.
•Leafy green vegetables
•Calcium-fortified juice
•Calcium set tofu
•Calcium-fortified juice
•Beans
•Broccoli
•Almonds and almond butter
•Soybean nuts
Iron:
Vegans should take sufficient amount of iron and enhance the intake of vitamin C as it promotes iron absorption. Tomatoes, oranges, grapes, etc. are rich sources of natural vitamin C.
Rich sources of iron include:
•Fortified breakfast cereals
•Dark green, leafy greens
•Beans
•Soybean nuts
•Eggs
•Peanut butter
•Enriched breads, rice and pasta
Protein:
Proteins are the building blocks of our body and are needed for daily wear and tear.
Vegetarian sources rich in protein are:
•Whole grains
•Soy products
•Beans
•Eggs
•Nuts and nut butters
•Dairy products
Vitamin B12:
Vitamin B12 or cyanocobalamine is present in animal fat and dairy products. Strict vegans can obtain their daily B12 requirements from eggs and dairy products. A fortified breakfast is also useful in fulfilling ones vitamin B 12 requirements.
Sources rich in B12 include:
•Dairy products
•Vitamin B12-fortified foods containing nutritional yeast, meat analogs, soymilk and ‘ready-to-eat cereals’.
•Eggs
Vitamin D:
Dairy products are rich in vitamin D and it is seen that people who do not consume dairy products and do not get enough sufficient sunlight exposure are deficient in Vitamin D. They have feeble bones.
Sources rich of vitamin D include:
•Eggs
•Vitamin D-fortified soy-milk, orange juice, cow’s milk, and ready-to-eat cereals
