Alternative Nutrition. Vegetalism And Vegetarianism

Another type of alternative diet is intermittent nutrition. It can be considered as a variant of reduced nutrition and includes eating once a day, most often in the evening or only 2-3 times a week.

From a physiological point of view, the application of long fasting, reduced or intermittent feeding is inappropriate. In all cases, the deficiency of nutrients or their irregular intake induces the activity of the relevant systems associated with their absorption.

Particularly ineffective for the body is that in this case usually significantly increases the absorption of energy components of food, at the expense of plastic, which is especially characteristic of the resumption of normal nutrition.

Vegetalism. Vegetalism is a diet of only plant products with the complete exclusion of animal products. These are the so-called strict vegetarians. The lack of animal products in the diet of such people is the reason for insufficient intake of essential nutrients, especially essential amino acids and lipotropic factors.

This is why they are more vulnerable to chemical environmental influences and with an increased risk of toxic liver damage. For vegetarians (vegans) there is a real risk to their health in several aspects:

• There is no complete animal protein, a carrier of essential amino acids. There is a significant deficiency of lysine, methionine, tryptophan, histidine. This affects the immune system, enzymes and hormonal functions and hematopoiesis. There is a risk of liver damage. Without complete protein, the body is vulnerable to harmful environmental factors, especially its chemical factors.
• Of the vitamins, the most serious is the deficiency of vitamin B12, the lack of which leads to megaloblastic anemia. Low levels of the vitamin lead to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and dementia.
• Deficiency of vitamin D is also significant, as well as the minerals calcium, iron and zinc.
• The absence of fish from the menu deprives the body of essential omega - 3 - fatty acids.
• In adolescents, this type of diet is extremely inappropriate.

There are also data on some positive effects of vegetalism: reduced risk of cardiovascular accidents, normal body weight and blood pressure, reduced kidney and gallbladder disease.

This is due to lower intake of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, reduced calorie intake, higher intake of fiber, antioxidants and protective phytonutrients and vitamins.

However, these positive effects are largely due to the fact that most vegetarians do not smoke, drink little alcohol and have optimal physical activity.

This type of diet includes the so-called. raw food . Followers of such a diet consume plant products only in raw form. The advantage is that they take the products in natural form, with preserved vitamin content, but the risk of bacterial or fungal infections is higher.

In the modern way of life - exposure to stress, toxic effects, etc. both forms of vegetalism are physiologically inappropriate.

Vegetarianism . This is another type of vegetarianism that does not consume meat, meat products and fish. This group also includes people who do not only eat meat from mammals, but also eat meat from birds and fish. Although they also consume mainly plant products, their diet includes milk, eggs and their products, and in the second group, poultry and fish, which is why they are also called moderate vegetarians.

This type of diet, according to most nutritionists, can be used for a long time without much risk to health. The lack of fish in the diet deprives the body of valuable fatty acids, and the absence of meat is the cause of a lack of essential amino acids in the body. Therefore, the permanent exclusion of meat and fish from the menu is also physiologically unjustified.