Vegetarian Vs. Gluten Free
The vegetarian diet and gluten free diet are two very
different lifestyles. As a vegetarian, a
person with this diet plan will not eat any sort of meat. A gluten free diet is void of foods like
wheat, barley, oats, and other gluten containing grains. With these basic guidelines for a vegetarian
and gluten free diet established, each individual usually caters their diet to
their own special needs.
Vegetarian Diets and How to Balance
Vegetarian diets
are void of meat, but generally still contain dairy and eggs. Many vegetarians find that meat does not sit
well with them. Some people experience bloating, slow digestion, or heavy
feelings in their gut as a result of eating meat. This could be because the human body is not
designed to eat meat every day. It is a food that provides the body with
protein that will store for longer periods of time and moves through digestion
more slowly than plant material. Meat was
used by our ancestors to sustain them when they did not eat every day, which occurred
often and all throughout the history of human evolution. Plants vary in the types of proteins and
carbohydrates used for energy in the body. How long the energy source is stored
or how quickly it is used depends on what type of plant food is consumed and its
individual properties. For example, coconuts
(such as coconut meat) provide nutrients to be stored for sustained energy
sourcing.
A vegetarian doesn’t
have to follow a whole foods diet plan to call themselves vegetarian. Processed foods and gluten are still choices
for those eating a normal American diet, but who are vegetarian. This
can be a problem for vegetarian people if they do not eat many whole fruits,
vegetables, and grains and just processed foods or vegetarian TV dinners which
are low nutrient, most of the time toxic and anti-nutrient containing foods.
Vegetarians and Tofu/ Complete Proteins
Some vegetarians eat a lot of tofu, because
they believe they need to intake a lot of protein since they do not eat meat
protein. This poses two problems. The first is that tofu is a poor source of protein
because it is heavily sprayed with pesticides, processed, and from GMO soy
beans. On top of this, unfermented soy
beans are very hard for the body to digest and cause health problems. Second, soy has a large amount of
phytoestrogens but a small amount of fiber. If a person is not eliminating well
and their body is not detoxifying all the types of excess estrogens from their
body, they can contract estrogen dominant diseases, hormone imbalances, and
cancers. The solution for a vegetarian
who does not want to eat soy is to get complete proteins by the whole plant-based
foods that they eat. Complete proteins can
be found with food combinations of seeds and nuts and things like beans and
rice. Together, foods like this provide the body with essential fatty acids that
make a complete protein. Complete protein food combinations should be eaten
within 48 hours of each other. Eggs
provide a complete protein, as well and are friendly for a vegetarian diet.
Gluten Free Nutrition Plans
Those who follow
a gluten free diet have their individual specific reasons for cutting gluten
from their nutrition plan. Many people
find they are sensitive to just wheat, which causes inflammation, autoimmune
responses, and glue-like substance in the intestines causing impaction of food
particles to the colon walls and can lead to re-absorption of toxins that the
body is trying to eliminate, diarrhea and constipation. Some people are
hyper-sensitive to gluten. One reason for this could be because of gut
permeability caused by genetically modified foods, pesticides, pain killers
like Asprin, inflammation, poor diet, and poor gut bacteria. With the issue of gut permeability, food
molecules that are not fully processed leak in to the blood stream. The body
attacks the foreign particles and causes auto-immune responses and often leads
to hyper-sensitivity or auto-immune diseases such as Celiac Disease. These people who are hyper-sensitive to
gluten cannot eat other foods that contain gluten like oats, barley, and other
grains. Many of them have to stay away
from hairsprays that contain gluten, water that has gluten, bulk bins at the
store that have been contaminated with gluten, and other gluten
antagonists.
People following a gluten free diet, whether
they see sensitivity to it or it is life threatening, have varied diets beyond
that. Some of them eat an average American
diet, but try to find foods that don’t contain gluten. This means that they are
still ingesting pesticides, hormones, genetically modified foods, and processed
ingredients that cause a whole slew of imbalances to the body and increase gut
permeability, never resolving the base problem of their gluten
sensitivity. Some people following a
gluten free diet eat whole foods like nuts, seeds, gluten free grains, vegetables,
fruits, legumes, and healthy oils.
These people find their inflammation is lowered, gut issues lessened,
and relief from the negative effects of gluten.
Every Individual Needs Something Different
All individuals
are different and are in need of special diet plans for their personal
needs. For those following a vegetarian
diet it may be because of their personal beliefs or body’s disagreement with
meat in the digestive system. For people
who are gluten free, each individual’s rules vary as they cater their diet to
their personal needs. As more
information is required, people are able to empower themselves to healthier
living and thus find the diet plan that is right for them.
