By Jen Pfeifler APD
3 reasons why it may not be right for you
In recent years, there has been a big shift in eating more plant based. This shift in thinking can be contributed to a few reasons- health, animal rights, and environmental sustainability. These are reasonable reasons to decrease the amount of animal meats being consumed, however let's take a look at 3 reasons why you may not want to completely forgo animal based foods all together.
No. 1: MENTAL HEALTH
As a dietitian working in eating disorders across clinical diagnoses, subjective disordered eating, and amongst athletes of all levels, I see first hand what can develop when a simple new year's resolution diet starts, or a 2 week detox is underway, or trying to shed a few kg's to enhance performance in their sport.
The thing is, dieting is THE #1 RISK FACTOR for developing an eating disorder. You also don't get to choose whether you will develop one. In the past few months, new research has suggested the metabolism gene to be a huge factor in developing an eating disorder. You can read the article here. This is a huge movement to breaking stigma and is a step forward for health professionals in learning how to recover people quicker. If you are thinking about going vegetarian, ask yourself why? Removing food groups comes at a cost, and will always mean there will be an increased focus on food. If your 'why' is to lose weight, or become healthier, this may not be the answer. Talking to your dietitian can be a really great way to help you navigate through this.
No 2: SOCIAL ISOLATION
Becoming vegetarian, unfortunately will close some doors for you. Social situations will now become much more challenging. Christmases, birthdays, summer BBQ's, dinner parties now have a chance of becoming more stressful. Celebrations of all kinds, are meant to bring people together as food is part of our culture as human beings. Relationships, memories and emotions are all apart of these experiences. Being a vegetarian can hinder your relationship with food, and actually make you resist going to social gatherings due to the inflexibility it promotes. Human connection is vital for our health and well-being. If you find yourself becoming stressed with what foods will be at a party, or start to resent social gatherings, being vegetarian may not be for you.
No. 3: NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY
Ironically, while decreasing your intake of red meat has been headlined as being healthful due to the increased risk of developing some cancers, it can also cause some nutritional deficiencies which WILL NOT be healthful. These deficiencies are iron, B12 and the latest evidence now on choline. These nutrients each play an important role in the body. Iron is needed for binding oxygen to your red blood cells to be carried throughout the body, ultimately giving you energy, B12 is a co-factor for metabolising carbohydrates and is needed to produce these energy molecules and choline is vital for brain and liver function. The recent trend in going plant-based, now means these nutrients will be sacrificed to varying levels. I will state that it is not impossible to get these nutrients as a vegetarian, it just means you will have to pay more attention to the foods you eat and/or supplement. As easy as supplementing is, it isn't always the most healthful thing. Supplementing can be fairly expensive and more importantly, means you aren't meeting your nutritional requirements just on eating foods alone. If the reason for going vegetarian is to become healthier, this may not be the answer.
What do I recommend? The phrase that I like to keep reminding people is the old saying "Everything in moderation, including moderation." As boring as this lifestyle is, every fad diet that has popped up and trialed, is seen to fail time after time. Whether it's due to being unsustainable, results in nutrient deficiency, or just simply drives you crazy, eating a variety of food, at regular intervals, with the ability to be flexible and social is a really positive behaviour to adapt to encompass all baskets of health and well-being.
Lastly, I would like to say this article is written with an average, healthy adult in mind. If you have chronic conditions or have been told by a health professional to alter your diet for medical reasons, this article may not apply to you. As always, if you are unsure, please talk to your dietitian before altering food groups!