4 Diet Dangers to Avoid This Summer

Planning on taking a vacation from healthy eating this summer? Not so fast! Long hot days used to mean more exercise, lighter eating, and pounds lost. But these days many people actually pile on pounds during the summer months, letting go of their normal routine and ending up heavier on Labor Day than they were on Memorial Day.

Here are four common ways that summer can sabotage your diet, and ways you can avoid them:

1.  High calorie sips

It’s important to stay hydrated in the summer heat, so drink plenty of liquids. But be aware that many beverages are calorie bombs in disguise. Shakes and smoothies, energy drinks, sweet iced coffee concoctions topped with whipped cream, and even sweetened iced tea and lemonade can add hundreds of calories a day to your diet – not to mention calorie-laden alcoholic beverages like frozen daiquiris, piña coladas, and margaritas.

Slim Solution: If you want a quick and (relatively) painless way to slash calories from your daily diet, opt for low and no calorie drinks like water (make it fun and fizzy by using sparkling water, fresh berries, and a twist of lime) or unsweetened iced tea, and keep alcohol to 1 drink or less per day.

2. Screaming for ice cream

Do you celebrate summer with cold, creamy ice cream? An occasional treat is fine, but don’t let trips to your favorite ice cream parlor become a daily habit. A double scoop of ice cream can cost you over 450 calories (cone not included!).

Slim Solution: You don’t have to avoid ice cream altogether, but limit frozen treats to no more than a couple times a week and keep your serving to 1/2 cup or 1 bar. Also try ice cream varieties that are “whipped” or “slow-churned” — they have fewer calories per serving. Frozen fruit bars (look for ones with 80 calories or less per serving) and sandwiches can also offer a satisfying fix for your cold treat cravings. Some of my favorite lighter frozen novelties include: Trader Joe’s Mango & Cream Bars (60 calories per serving), Tofutti Cuties (130 calories per (vanilla) bar), Edy’s Slow Churned French Silk (130 calories per ½ cup).

3. Beaches and ballparks

Days spent at the beach or ballgame can be some of the best ways to savor the summer – but they can also lead to diet disasters. Corn dogs, fried dough, nachos and cheese, burgers and fries may fill you up, but they’ll also pack on the pounds if they’re more than an occasional indulgence.

Slim Solution: Instead of typical high calorie beach and ballpark concessions, opt for easy, make-ahead meals and snacks that will travel well wherever you go. You’ll save money and your waistline. Some of my favorites are tofu lettuce wraps with peanut dipping sauce, sliced apples and pears with almond butter, and flatbread rollups with hummus and veggies. To cut calories and keep sandwiches from getting soggy, I use a wholesome flatbread like Flatout Light, with 9g protein and 8g filling fiber in just 90 calories. Keep nut butters and dips in small plastic containers for mess-free travel. Also, a small, insulated carryall is a great way to keep food and beverages cool on hot summer days.

4. Backyard BBQs

Grilling is one of the healthiest ways to cook food – it minimizes added fats, and the high-heat brings out the natural flavors of food. But grilling is only as healthy as what you are grilling. If it’s typical BBQ fare of burgers, brats and dogs, with a side of creamy potato salad, you can end up consuming more than 2,000 calories and more than two day’s worth of fat.

Slim Solution: Limit BBQ calories by using the leanest ground beef possible (for example ground sirloin), or grill skinless turkey breast, or even portabella mushrooms, instead. For hot dogs, go with a turkey or chicken frank. Watch the side dishes when you’re outdoor entertaining, too, because mayo-drenched sides like pasta salad or potato salad can have as many calories as a burger.

Resource: webmd.com

How to Make the Most of Your Fitness Tracker

Counting on your new fitness tracker to help you stick to your New Year’s resolution? Then you need to learn how to use it in the way that most benefits you. With all the features you face when you first turn it on – and all the promises marketers make about a healthier, fitter you – that can be a challenge. Here are a few tips from around the web to get you started:

1. Go your own way. Fitness goals are great, but you shouldn’t let your device set them for you, writes Shape.com’s Sara Angle. Instead of stressing over the preset goal of 10,000 steps per day – which may be too many or too few for you – see how many steps your current lifestyle reasonably allows you to achieve, then work toward a higher number. “Your goal should change with your fitness level,” Angle writes.

2. Adjust accordingly. Time.com’s Anita Hamilton warns users that most fitness trackers overestimate the number of calories you burn by at least 10-15%; for some exercises, such as cycling, trackers without a built in heart rate monitor may be off by more than half. The solution? Calculate your workout’s calorie burn totals yourself (MyFitnessPal can help with that) and enter them into your tracker’s app manually.

3. Be patient. It will take time for your device to gather useful data, so don’t pay too much attention to the numbers in the first week or so. “The point of collecting your data is to find the averages over time and create a baseline,” writes PCMag’s Jill Duffy. “The data on day one won’t necessarily create an accurate picture of your life. Over time, however, the averages will more accurately reflect your true fitness level, and those are the numbers that matter.”

4. Stay balanced. Fitness trackers can be good motivators, but don’t let yours rule your life. If you obsess over the daily goals you have set for yourself, you may lose sight of other things that matter (remember friends and family?). That’s the lesson that Redbook.com contributor Susan Dominus learned from her experience with a tracker: “The key, I realized, is finding some happy balance between reevaluating old habits (sitting, driving) and a mindless devotion to counting and competing.”

5. Find a friend. While your fitness tracker may help move you towards a healthier, more active lifestyle, think about adding a buddy to your new-you team. Friends can help each other stay accountable to goals and are much more pleasant to be around than a device that can only beep its encouragement. As wareable.com’s Kieran Alger writes, “You’re going to need something to keep that fitness band interesting. By far the best way is to dive head first into the social and community that comes with most devices, or get friends and family involved.” But Time.com’s Hamilton warns users to focus on your own goals rather than turning exercise into a competition: “The motivating effect from being part of a group only works when you’re winning. As an alternative, consider setting short-term goals that build on your own baseline activity level instead.”
Resource: webmd.com

Digging a Vegetarian Diet

Vegetarians miss out on lots of foods. No grilled burgers or franks at picnics. No holiday turkey or fries cooked in animal fat. Strict vegetarians may even forego honey made by bees. But vegetarians also tend to miss out on major health problems that plague many Americans. They generally live longer than the rest of us, and they’re more likely to bypass heart-related and other ailments.

The fact is, eating a more plant-based diet can boost your health, whether you’re a vegetarian or not.

What is it about the vegetarian lifestyle that can protect your health? And are there risks to being vegetarian? NIH-funded researchers are looking for answers. They’re exploring the many ways that diet and other factors affect our health.

Vegetarian meals focus on fruits and vegetables, dried beans, whole grains, seeds and nuts. By some estimates, about 2% of the U.S. adult population follows this type of diet.

People have many reasons for becoming vegetarians. Some want to eat more healthy foods. Others have religious or economic reasons or are concerned about animal welfare. “Vegetarian diets are also more sustainable and environmentally sound than diets that rely heavily on meat, poultry and fish,” says NIH nutritionist Dr. Susan Krebs-Smith, who monitors trends in cancer risk factors.

Most people think of vegetarian diets as simply eating plant foods and not eating meat, poultry and fish. “But in fact, there are many different types of vegetarian diets,” Krebs-Smith explains. “Some are more restrictive than others.”

Strict vegetarians, or vegans, eat plant foods and reject all animal products—meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and sometimes honey. Those who also eat dairy products are called lacto vegetarians. Vegetarians who eat both dairy and eggs are called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Some vegetarians eat fish but not meat or poultry. They’re called pescatarians (pesce is Italian for fish).

“Then there are the so-called flexitarians, or semi-vegetarians. These are people who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but they occasionally eat meat,” says Jody Engel, a nutritionist and registered dietitian at NIH. “They might say ‘I’m a vegetarian, but I need to eat my burgers every Sunday.’  People tend to follow their own rules, which is one reason why it’s hard for researchers to study vegetarians. There’s so much variance.”

Despite the different definitions, “there’s tremendous agreement among nutrition experts and health organizations that a more plant-based diet is beneficial, whether you’re a true vegetarian or not,” says Krebs-Smith. “Most Americans don’t eat enough fruit, vegetables, legumes or whole grains. There’s a huge consensus that eating more of these foods would be a good idea for everyone.” 

Vegetarian diets tend to have fewer calories, lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol, and more fiber, potassium and vitamin C than other eating patterns. Vegetarians tend to weigh less than meat-eaters, and to have lower cancer rates. “Evidence also suggests that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from certain heart diseases, and that those who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have lower LDL [“bad”] cholesterol levels,” says Engel. 

In some cases, though, it’s unclear if certain health benefits come from plant-based eating or from the healthy lifestyle of most vegetarians. “Vegetarians are generally more physically active and have healthier habits than non-vegetarians. They also typically have a higher socioeconomic status, at least in the United States,” says Krebs-Smith.

To tease out the effects of diet, scientists have to conduct large, carefully controlled studies that account for other factors. One of the world’s largest studies of plant-based diets is now underway at Loma Linda University in California. Cardiologist Dr. Gary Fraser is leading an NIH-funded team of scientists to analyze data on 96,000 Seventh-day Adventists in all 50 states and in Canada. Members of this religious group have unique dietary habits and a generally healthy lifestyle.

Adventists are encouraged to follow a vegetarian diet, but about half the population sometimes eats meat. These variable eating patterns allow scientists to compare a wide range of dietary habits and look for links between diet and disease.

To date, the researchers have found that the closer people are to being vegetarian, the lower their risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome (a condition that raises your risk for heart disease and stroke). “The trend is almost like a stepladder, with the lowest risks for the strict vegetarians, then moving up for the lacto vegetarians and then the pescatarians and then the non-vegetarians,” Fraser explains. Earlier studies found that vegetarian Adventists also tend to live longer than both meat-eating Adventists and non-Adventists. The vegetarians also have less coronary heart disease and lower rates of some cancers.

Because vegetarians by definition don’t eat meat, some people jump to the conclusion that simply cutting meat from your diet will lead to health benefits. “But it’s actually more complicated than that,” says Fraser. “Differences in life expectancy and other health matters might be related to the extra fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes—including soy—that vegetarians tend to eat. You can’t necessarily conclude it’s based on the absence of meat,” he says.

Experts generally agree that vegetarians who eat a wide variety of foods can readily meet all their body’s needs for nutrients. “At any stage of life, you should be able to eat a healthy diet by consuming vegetarian foods. But it does take a little planning,” says Rachel Fisher, a registered dietitian involved in nutrition research at NIH.

Vegetarians need to be sure they take in enough iron, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12. Studies show that most vegetarians do get enough, in part because so many cereals, breads and other foods are fortified with these nutrients. “Vegans in particular need to be certain to get enough vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids,” says Fisher. Omega-3—found in fish, flax seed, walnuts and canola oil—is important for heart health and vision.

Some vegetarians take dietary supplements to make sure they’re getting everything they need. It’s a good idea to talk to a registered dietitian or other health professional if you’re a vegetarian or thinking of becoming one.

Whether you’re a vegetarian or not, Fisher says, you can benefit from the high fiber, low fat and rich nutrients of a vegetarian diet. “Vegetarian foods can be so delicious, and they’re so good for you,” she says. 

Try using a variety of spices and herbs to make things interesting. And make sure not to overcook your vegetables, or they might lose some of their valuable nutrients. 

Resource: newsinhealth.nih.gov

The health benefits of strong relationships

Good connections can improve health and increase longevity.

For many of us, the holidays mean family gatherings, getting together with friends, and participating in special religious, community, and workplace activities. Such occasions are an opportunity to check in with each other, exchange ideas, and perhaps lend a supportive ear or shoulder.

Social connections like these not only give us pleasure, they also influence our long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking. Dozens of studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.

Conversely, a relative lack of social ties is associated with depression and later-life cognitive decline, as well as with increased mortality. One study, which examined data from more than 309,000 people, found that lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50% — an effect on mortality risk roughly comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and greater than obesity and physical inactivity.

What makes social connections healthful

Scientists are investigating the biological and behavioral factors that account for the health benefits of connecting with others. For example, they've found that it helps relieve harmful levels of stress, which can adversely affect coronary arteries, gut function, insulin regulation, and the immune system. Another line of research suggests that caring behaviors trigger the release of stress-reducing hormones.

Research has also identified a range of activities that qualify as social support, from offers of help or advice to expressions of affection. In addition, evidence suggests that the life-enhancing effects of social support extend to giver as well as to receiver.

All of this is encouraging news because caring involvement with others may be one of the easiest health strategies to access. It's inexpensive, it requires no special equipment or regimen, and we can engage in it in many ways.

What counts

The quality of our relationships matters. For example, one study found that midlife women who were in highly satisfying marriages and marital-type relationships had a lower risk for cardiovascular disease compared with those in less satisfying marriages. Other studies have linked disappointing or negative interactions with family and friends with poorer health. One intriguing line of research has found signs of reduced immunity in couples during especially hostile marital spats.

Having a network of important relationships can also make a difference. A large Swedish study of people ages 75 and over concluded that dementia risk was lowest in those with a variety of satisfying contacts with friends and relatives.

Strengthening ties this holiday season

Around the holidays, it's easy to get caught up in the whirl of social activities and perhaps lose track of their deeper purpose: providing an opportunity for people to come together. Of course, not all forms of holiday conviviality are health-promoting — eating or drinking excessively, for example. Likewise, social contacts don't uniformly enhance our well-being. So, during this busy season, take time to foster your most meaningful relationships. Choose activities that are most likely to bring joy to you and the people you care about. Delegate or discard tasks that eat into your time, or do them together with family or friends. And if you can't get together with everyone you'd like, make plans to see them post-holiday.

Resource: health.harvard.edu

21 Benefits of Healthy Living

I recently came across a quote that read, "Healthy living is a life sentence, you will never be pararoled or pardoned."  What I love about this quote is that healthy living is a way of living. It is not something that can be measured by a number on the scale. It is the actions we take every day that allow us to leave the diet mentality behind.

Having worked for SparkPeople for over three years now, I have seen many common concerns on the message boards. One of the most common themes is the fear that when a member starts integrating healththy habits into his/her life and the the results aren't as quick as they should be, the member is convinced something is wrong. The member is either eating too much, not exercising enough or for many, they are convinced the program does not work. For many long term dieters, like myself, we are convinced that we may have even permanently destroyed our metabolsim (which is not the case).

I am here to put the record straight that with time and patience the changes will happen, but you must utilize the tools in order to see the success. These changes can take as long as six to eight weeks to show up on the scale, but when a member doesn't get theresults he/she expects to see on the scale, the fear is that they must be doing something wrong.

This journey isn't a sprint to see how quickly you can get the weight off only to go back to your unhealthy ways. I view this healthy living journey much like I do my training for an event. I can't slack on my training if I expect to reach my goal. I can't expect to go from the couch to a marathon without going through days, weeks and months of training. Just like adaptation to exercise takes time, so does weight loss.

Midway through my weight loss journey, I went through a very long nine month plateauwhere no matter how hard I felt I was doing everything right, that doggone number on the scale would not move. At the time I was working with a running coach/trainer who insisted that I throw the scale away. I reluctantly gave my scale away. Now I am not saying that is what YOU should do, but my coach could tell I was putting too much emphasis on the scale and not on all the changes that were happening within my body.

One of my assignments was to compile a list of changes that were happening to my body that had nothing to do with the scale. Almost five years later I still have that list and add to it as I come across the new research as to how healthy living can impact our life, even if the scale is not moving. 
Resource: sparkpeople.com

5 Potential Problems With Vegan Diets

There is no one right way to eat for everyone.

We are all different and what works for one person may not work for the next.

I personally advocate consumption of both animals and plants and I think there is plenty of evidence that this is a reasonable way to eat.

However, I often get comments from vegans who think that people should eliminate all animal foods.

I’m tired of having to constantly defend my position regarding animal foods, so I decided to summarize what I think are some potential problems with vegan diets.

Here are 5 reasons why I think vegan diets may be bad idea from a nutrition perspective.

1. Vegans Are Deficient in Some Nutrients

Humans are omnivores. We function best eating both animals and plants.

There are some nutrients that can only be gotten from plants (like Vitamin C) and others that can only be gotten from animals.

Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin that is involved in the function of every cell in the body.

It is particularly important in the formation of blood and the function of the brain.

Because B12 is critical for life and isn’t found in any amount in plants (except some types of algae), it is by far the most important nutrient that vegans must be concerned with.

In fact, B12 deficiency is very common in vegans, one study showing that 92% of vegans are deficient in this critical nutrient (1).

But B12 is just the tip of the iceberg… there are other lesser known nutrients that are only found in animal foods and are critical for optimal function of the body.

Here are a few examples:

• Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids in the right ratios. It is important for muscle mass and bone health, to name a few. Vegans don’t get any animal protein, which can have negative effects on body composition (2, 3, 4, 5).
• Creatine helps form an energy reservoir in cells. Studies show that vegetarians are deficient in creatine, which has harmful effects on muscle and brain function (6, 7, 8).
• Carnosine is protective against various degenerative processes in the body and may protect against aging. It is found only in animal foods (9, 10, 11).
• Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) is the most active form of Omega-3 fatty acids in the body and primarily found in animal foods. The plant form of Omega-3s, ALA, is inefficiently converted to DHA in the body (12, 13, 14).

Two other nutrients that have been demonized by vegan proponents are saturated fatand cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a crucial molecule in the body and is part of every cell membrane. It is also used to make steroid hormones like testosterone. Studies show that saturated fat intake correlates with increased testosterone levels 

2. There Are No Studies Showing That They’re Better Than Other Healthy Diets

Despite what vegan proponents often claim, there are no controlled trials showing that these diets are any better than other diets.

They often claim that low-carb, high-fat diets (the opposite of vegan diets) are dangerous and that the evidence clearly shows vegan diets to be superior.

I disagree.

This has actually been studied in a high quality randomized controlled trial (the gold standard of science).

The A to Z study compared the Atkins (low-carb, high-fat) diet to the Ornish (low-fat, near-vegan) diet (20).

This study clearly shows that the Atkins diet causes greater improvements in pretty much all health markers, although not all of them were statistically significant:

• The Atkins group lost more weight, 10.4 lbs, while the Ornish group lost only 5.6 lbs.
• The Atkins group had greater decreases in blood pressure.
• The Atkins group had greater increases in HDL (the “good”) cholesterol.
• The Atkins group had greater decreases in Triglycerides. They went down by 29.3 mg/dL on Atkins, only 14.9 mg/dL on Ornish.
• Then the Atkins dieters were about twice as likely to make it to the end of the study, indicating that the Atkins diet was easier to follow.

Put simply, the Atkins diet had several important advantages while the Ornish diet performed poorly for all health markers measured.

Now, there are some studies showing health benefits and lower mortality in vegetarians and vegans, such as the Seventh-Day Adventist Studies (21, 22).

The problem with these studies is that they are so-called observational studies. These types of studies can only demonstrate correlation, not causation.

The vegetarians are probably healthier because they are more health conscious overall, eat more vegetables, are less likely to smoke, more likely to exercise, etc. It has nothing to do with avoiding animal foods.

In another study of 10,000 individuals, where both the vegetarians and non-vegetarians were health conscious, there was no difference in mortality between groups (23).

One controlled trial showed that a vegan diet was more effective against diabetes than the official diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association (24).

However, a low-carb diet has also been studied for this purpose and led to much more powerful beneficial effects (25).

A vegan diet may be better than the typical low-fat diet recommended by themainstream nutrition organizations, but pretty much any diet fits that description.

3. Proponents of Vegan Diets Often Make False Claims

Some vegan proponents aren’t very honest when they try to convince others of the virtues of the vegan diet.

They actively use lies and fear mongering to scare people away from fat and animal foods.

Despite all the propaganda, there really isn’t any evidence that meat, eggs, or animal-derived nutrients like saturated fat and cholesterol cause harm.

People who promote vegan diets should be more honest and not use scare tactics and lies to make people feel guilty about eating animal foods, which are perfectly healthy (if unprocessed and naturally fed).

I’d also like to briefly mention The China Study… which is the holy bible of veganism and apparently proves that vegan diets are the way to go.

This was an observational study performed by a scientist who was in love with his theories. He cherry picked the data from the study to support his conclusions and ignored the data that didn’t fit.

The main findings of the China study have been debunked.

I recommend you look at these two critiques:

• Denise Minger: The China Study – Fact or Fallacy
• Chris Masterjohn: What Dr. Campbell Won’t Tell You About The China Study

Also… a new study from China came out very recently, directly contradicting the findings of the China study.

According to this study, men eating red meat had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and women eating red meat had a lower risk of cancer (26).

Bottom Line: Vegan proponents often use fear mongering and scare tactics in order to convince people not to eat animal foods. They frequently cite The China Study as evidence, which has been thoroughly debunked.

4. Vegan Diets Work For Many People, But Not Others

If you look at vegan message boards, you will quickly find stories of people who have seen amazing health benefits on a vegan diet.

I’ve got no reason to believe that these people are lying.

But it’s important to keep in mind that this is anecdotal evidence, which isn’t science.

You will find the same kinds of success stories for pretty much any diet.

Then you’ll also find tons of people saying they got terrible results on a vegan diet.

Personally, I think that vegan diets can have health benefits for a lot of people… at least in the short term, before the nutrient deficiencies kick in (which can be partly circumvented by supplementation).

However, I don’t think this has anything to do with avoiding animal foods!

Vegan diets don’t just recommend that people avoid animal foods. They also recommend that people avoid added sugars, refined carbohydrates, processed vegetable oils and trans fats.

Then they suggest that people stop smoking and start exercising. There are so many confounders here that can easily explain all the beneficial effects.

These are extremely unhealthy foods, that’s something the vegans and I agree on. I personally think that avoiding these foods is what is causing the apparent benefits.

I am 100% certain that a plant-based diet that includes at least a little bit of animals (the occasional whole egg or fatty fish, for example) will be much healthier in the long-term than a diet that eliminates animal foods completely.

5. There is No Health Reason to Completely Avoid Unprocessed Animal Foods

Humans have been eating meat for hundreds of thousands (or millions) of years.

We evolved this way.

Our bodies are perfectly capable of digesting, absorbing and making full use of the many beneficial nutrients found in animal foods.

It is true that processed meat causes harm and that it’s disgusting the way “conventionally raised” animals are treated these days.

However, animals that are fed natural diets (like grass-fed cows) and given access to the outdoors are completely different.

Even though processed meat causes harm, which is supported by many studies, the same does NOT apply to natural, unprocessed meat.

Unprocessed red meat, which has been demonized in the past, really doesn’t have any association with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or the risk of death (27, 28).

It has only a very weak link with an increased risk of cancer and this is probably caused by excessive cooking, not the meat itself (29, 30, 31).

Saturated fat has also never been proven to lead to heart disease. A study of almost 350 thousand individuals found literally no association between saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease (32, 33, 34).

Studies on eggs show no effect either. Multiple long-term studies have been conducted on egg consumption, which are very rich in cholesterol, and found no negative effects (35, 36).

The thing is that animal foods… meat, fish, eggs and dairy products for those who can tolerate them, are extremely nutritious.

They are loaded with high quality protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and various lesser known nutrients that have important effects on health.

There are some ethical and environmental reasons not to eat animals… I get it. But there is no scientifically valid health reason to completely eliminate animal foods.

Take Home Message

At the end of the day, the optimal diet for any one person depends on a lot of things.

This includes age, gender, activity levels, current metabolic health, food culture and personal preference.

Vegan diets may be appropriate for some people, not others. Different strokes for different folks.

If you want to eat a vegan diet, then make sure to be prudent about your diet. Take the necessary supplements and read some of the books by the vegan docs, I’m sure they at least know how to safely apply a vegan diet.

If you’re getting results, feeling good and are managing to stick to your healthy lifestyle, then that’s great. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

Resource: authoritynutrition.com

Healthy eating for vegetarians and vegans

To ensure you have a balanced and varied diet, read our advice on healthy eating for vegetarians and vegans.

To have a healthy, balanced diet which includes all the nutrients your body needs, make sure you eat a wide variety of foods.

Vegetarians and vegans eat a diet of:

• grains
• pulses
• nuts and seeds
• fruit and vegetables

Vegetarians (but not vegans) also eat:

• dairy products
• eggs

Vegetarians and vegans don't eat:

• meat
• poultry
• game
• fish or shellfish (such as crab or lobster)
• animal by-products (such as gelatine)

In addition, vegans don't eat eggs and dairy products.

Some people who call themselves vegetarians may eat different combinations of these foods. For example, some may consume milk but not eggs, while some may eat fish but not meat.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians

Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat both dairy products and eggs. This is the most common type of vegetarian diet.

Lacto vegetarians

Lacto vegetarians eat dairy products, but not eggs.

Ovo vegetarians

Ovo vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy products.

Vegans

Vegans don't eat dairy products, eggs or any other animal product.

More information

It's estimated that around 2% of the UK population is vegetarian, which is more than 1.2 million people. Teenagers make up the highest proportion. Vegans are thought to make up less than 1% of the population, according to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. 

A vegetarian or vegan diet can be suitable for everyone, regardless of their age. However, you may need to consider specific needs at different stages of life – for example, if you're pregnant.

Resource:nhs.uk