The FastDay Forum

We are covering this topic in my nutrition course this week and I am particularly interested in its connection with the health benefits of 5:2 fasting

https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/l ... slides.pdf

Potential Benefits of Vegetarianism…
Lower Body Mass Index (BMI)
Lower blood cholesterol and LDL levels
Lower blood pressure
Lower risk of chronic disease including:
– obesity
– heart disease
– stroke
– hypertension
– type 2 diabetes
– some types of cancer
– chronic bronchitis
– gallstones
– kidney stones

Navwoman - I'd be interested to know how many of those are from vegetarianism rather than just from a lower BMI? And how do they measure the difference?

Interesting list of potential benefits. I work with a very obese mid twenties woman who is half my age but I expect to outlive her, so I'm a bit sceptical.

Her vegetarian diet includes full sugar soda, breakfast biscuits, cake, chocolate, etc. She might eat vegetables, but I haven't seen her.

There are a lot of claims made for the vegetarian diet but it is quite difficult as many vegetarians are generally health conscious anyway, so it is hard to get a good control group.
Vegetarianism is no guarantee of a good diet obviously!!
Plant Based Nutrition by Stephen Walsh, published by the Vegan Society, also Why You Don't Need Meat by Peter Cox have quite a lot of stuff about vegetarianism and health. The second is easier to read but rather older.

I agree with PhilT. Vegetarianism, in and of itself, will not bring the health benefits mentioned. Eating "industrial food" with trans-fats and all kinds of additives is what many vegetarians do, at least in my experience. The same thing happens with many vegans. My daughter roomed with some vegetarians, and the freezer was stuffed with all manner of tofurkey-type stuff. No real vegetables in sight!

I personally think a flexitarian-type eating has a lot to recommend it, lots of fish, vegetables, beans, omega 3 fats, fruit and poultry and meat used as a condiment along with limited whole grains seems to me to be pretty doggone healthy and doable.

I have been a vegetarian since I was 12 and love all kinds of junk food (thats why I am doing this FAST diet lol). My weight has been quite high for the last 15 years or so since my son was diagnosed with autism and I am a big time emotional eater.
Even being very heavy, not exercising, and eating junk, my blood work and health have always been good (DR is amazed, haha). I come from a family with lots of heart disease and high blood pressure, including mom and sister, so it isn't good genes. I think the only reason I dodged the bullet is because I do not eat animal carcasses. Besides the saturated fat and antibiotics/nitrates in meat, it is also very hard on the body to digest it.
So that is my experience being a junk food lovin' veggie.

We are a vegetarian family. My husband is overweight but doesn't like many vegetables. He exists on breakfast cereals, milk, cheese, potatoes, salad,fruit, some nuts and chocolate. The rest of us eat a fairly good variety of vegetables, pulses, fruit, a bit of cheese and milk. Husband has IBS and high blood pressure but the last time his cholesterol was checked the doctor said it was excellent.

I've been a vegetarian for 33 years and I've always eaten healthy foods - fruit, vegetables, wholefoods etc., but due to a stressful situation at home during the last fifteen years I've been 'comfort eating' (that's why I'm here). I've got into the binging habit and I've bought and consumed tons of junk food in that time while still eating the healthy stuff. Since starting 5:2 I've been more food conscious and changed my eating habits veering towards the vegan way of eating. I still have problems with overeating but never on fast days.

From the list above, my blood pressure has always been OK, I'm not sure about the blood cholesterol and LDL levels as I haven't had them checked and I've never had any of the chronic diseases on the list.

Most of the vegetarians I know gave up eating meat because they don't want to eat animals and any health benefits that they experience are an unplanned welcome bonus.

"Most of the vegetarians I know gave up eating meat because they don't want to eat animals and any health benefits that they experience are an unplanned welcome bonus."

Coffeetime I agree completely with this. That is how I am and my kids too.

I have been a vegetarian for more years than I can remember - and love vegetables!
So why am I doing 5:2? First to encourage my daughter who is over weight. Second, for the health benefits. Lastly, I had trouble shifting a bit of weight due to having to take steroids regularly for three years.
Clearly vegetarians are as diverse as any other group and maybe the ones on this forum are no more typical. The ones I know tend to be lean and fit - but that proves nothing. It's a bit like the proverbial "my grandfather's 103 and smokes 40 fags a day"!. So as I was saying earlier any control group in a survey has to be enormous.
Unfortunately people trying out vegetarianism think "cheese and eggs" for their protein and start putting on weight unless they are careful. A lot of the more unusual stuff like tofu takes a bit of getting used to. I won't tell you what I thought it was like when I first had it . Totally yuk - now I enjoy it.
Maybe there should be another term - for people who don't eat flesh, including fish, but hate vegetables! Seems common on this forum!
Anyway, whatever, good eating and success with 5:2 - we all need to encourage one another which this forum does so well. Whatever one's way of eating

My view is that we all know what food is junk and it will catch up with us as we are not designed to eat artificial foods
I was taking kibble wheat sandwiches with healthy fillings to primary school and enviously watching my school mates eating white bread and plastic cheese. Though now I am wiser i am grateful my parents were decades ahead of their time and followed Adele Davis "Lets Eat Right" and instilled into me healthy eating habits as a child.
I'd be a vegetarian in a snap but I miss that quick protein hit you can get from animal protein. I am trying to take this opportunity to really overhaul my way of eating once I am at my goal weight and most of the food I eat will be vegetarian as well

I have been substantially vegetarian for 25 years to match my girlfriend/wife and have had few problems so doing. We have always eaten fish once a week to make sure there was some 'proper' protein in our diet but have been happy to use soya & Quorn products as well. Now I am not so sure about these, especially soya, and am on the verge of going back to some meat - probably liver - as a good source of iron and protein and because I really fancy it!
Need a new word to encompass veggies who eat fish and offal...

That's interesting, what did you learn Navwoman??

I've been a vegetarian since I was 3 and have done a bit of everything - I started out eating healthily thanks to my mum and a lack of any fake meat products in the 80s, then when I was a teenager I ate a lot of rubbish like cakes and sweets to rebel from the healthy food my parents put on the table. At uni I ate too much cheese and vegeburgers etc, and then on arriving in France I went right back to basics and had to cook everything from scratch as there were no vege products (plus in general I don't actually like fake meat products). Now I have kids of my own I try to put healthy whole foods on the table so we eat mostly food I have prepared from scratch which naturally contains lean protein and lots of vegetables.
I agree with the others, a lot of vegetarians are vegetarian for ethical reasons and any health benefits are incidental, and well you can eat a very healthy vegetarian diet as well as a very unhealthy one, being a vegetarian does not make you magically eat better. That said I do think that you are more likely to eat a healthy diet because even the ready made 'junk' vegetarian products I know of are mostly organic and relatively healthy, but that might not be the case in other countries??

[janeg]

offal pescatarians!

The word is omnivores CreakyPete!