Health Related Discussions

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[uwitiusoj]

vegetarians please share how you include the following from food sources. i have mentioned how i do

Vitamin B12

Fermented foods like neer agaram, hope idli also has, curd.

milk and eggs (i eat eggs)

Zinc

Sunflower seeds, nuts like cashews , peanuts have little beans and lentils have only little

Iron

The type of iron vegetarians get is nonheme which is not absorbed readily. it does with the help of vitamin C which we get from fruits. all dark green leafs, raisins, dates, prunes, figs,quinoa have little. seasoning with iron vessels. after doing all this i will always be diagnosed as anemic. which means still these things are not enough.

Protein

Even though our dal, beans have protein in them its always combined with carbs so total calories shoot up also its not helping weight reduction. is it good to eat non fat milk? they say non fat milk are highly processed so that they cud remove fat molecules. tofu also has only 7 grams protein for a serving size. egg just 6 gms with all the fat.

I am vegetarian from child hood but my hubby turned vegetarian for 8 months. he is putting on weight with vegetarian food, hair started falling and getting gray hairs. also white dry patches in legs which one friend (Dr) told is lack of Zinc.

any vegetarians out there who have achieved muscle mass and fat reduction in body? please share your tips. my hubby is diabetic but from type 1 it became type 2 and a year back even without tablets it was normal due to healthy diet with lean meat fish and vege food. now he turned to vegetarian and putting on weight also blood sugar not as balanced as it was before.

comparatively i see a majority of non vegetarians have good hair though there are rare cases.

[Russellhaj]

Sangeetha, I have known you from kugan's kitchen. I wanted to answer your questions earlier, but I was tied up with too many things. Sorry about that ! First of all, all women in the reproductive age ( 14-50 ) are anemic.... whether they are veg or non veg. Because of their monthly period , they constantly loose blood, and will take 3-6 months to replace the lost blood, I mean the loss of Iron .....leads to anemia. You have to take an Iron supplement as Tablets (Ferrous sulfate 325 mg) every day in added to your regular diet. Don't take it on an empty stomach and take it with either orange or apple juice half hour before food.

Regarding your husband's complaints, "gaining weight and loosing hair".... I would think of some thing else ( when you say one complaint to a doctor , a good doctor would think of other possible causes too "differential diagnosis" ) before you talk about food, find out that whether he has any new life stressors like new job, travel, or loss of loved ones....stress can bring lots of changes in the body like gain/ loose weight, hair falling, dry skin etc. For dry skin and hair , heat olive oil or coconut oil ( long chain fatty acids really good for dry skin) apply to the hair and whole body then can take regular shower after few hours. I don't know where you live, If he eats fish, give him oily fish like Salmon, tuna, mackerel, if in India, get vanchiram , keluthi, ayirai.

I didn't understand what you are saying about his diabetes. He was type 1 diabetic and now he become type 2 ..... it cannot be because both has a different reason and has a different treatment. Type 1 cannot be treated with tablets, should be treated with Insulin only. Type 2 can be by both insulin, and tablets. If it is only type 2 then you can manage with diet, exercise, quitting smoking, avoid drinking alcohol ( life style modifications). When some one has diabetes, their cholesterol always would be high. When they control their glucose level , Cholesterol come down automatically. So just make sure, which one he has either type 1 or type 2 ....... if you have more questions, please feel free to ask, I will be very happy to answer any of your questions.

Oh, I forgot to mention that..... vitamin B12 deficiency also can cause anemia, so take multivitamin tablets for that with food. I am answering your questions in very detail because every one has one or the other problem. This one would help them too.

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[uwitiusoj]

thank poem for your detailed reply. he was living several yrs alone in Germany with all junk food habits like soda , chips etc etc was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. was in insulin for 2-3 yrs. his father also died in forties because of severe diabetes.

then after i joined him ,took 2-3 yrs to control all these habits .we moved to Houston, USA. when checked here they told its a type 2 and can be controlled with tablets. we were still weekly continuing the junk habits like fried food each week, restaurant food once in a while. maida ,white rice, maida noodles , white bread what not. last yr by replacing all these 5 servings of veges , salads, fruits,nuts and increasing the activity level by playing tennis , racquet ball, yoga swimming, weight training etc even without tablet his sugar was normal all day.

but now inspired by all these changes (he is a brahmin too ) for the past 6 months changed to vegetarian because of the born guilt. with veg diet sometimes his blood sugar level is 160 after meals. so i started worrying. may be its also because I am pregnant, so not accompanying always to gym and food habit also slightly changed due to my cravings.

yes as u said he had cholesterol too due to high triglyceride .

i am also detailing everything because it might help others too. i did not know non veg people too will have iron problem.

[uwitiusoj]

also another issue with vegetarian food is vitamin D deficiency which is not available in veg food. the only option is sun exposure. though weather is warm in houston, sun availability is less. cloudy mostly. but not as worse as many other states.

so to use the sun when ever it comes, i just stay in sun for 1-2 hrs. in the end turning so so black with all the tan.

[uwitiusoj]

successful vegetarians if they share some tips on protein without all carbs, vit D, B12, iron, zinc it will be so successful.

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