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How To Cook For A Vegetarian This Holiday Season

Are you worried about cooking for a vegetarian in your
family this upcoming holiday season? Well, worry no more.
This article will tell you exactly what you need to do
and know before you start cooking this holiday season.

You can start off by finding out what type of vegetarian
your guest is. For instance, if she is a strict
vegan, then there?s a chance she will not eat food
that contains honey or yeast; however, if on the other
hand, she is a “semi” or “pseudo” vegetarian, there is a
chance she will actually eat the meal as it is prepared,
including the meat. And if she?s a lacto-ovo-vegetarian,
she might eat anything with eggs and milk, but will
probably avoid meat dishes.

If you talk to the vegetarian in your family before you
prepare your holiday meal, you should consider asking the
following five questions:

1. Do you eat certain types of meat or none at all?

If the vegetarian in your family will eat certain meats
(generally fish, chicken, and turkey), then you should
consider preparing that as a side dish or asking them if
they would like to bring a small dish of it for their
own meal.

2. Will you use serving utensils that have been placed in dishes
containing meat?

Some vegetarians experience severe gastrointestinal stress when they
consume meat and grease from meat, so it is a good idea to find
out whether or not they can do so ahead of time. If they can?t,
you can simply put out one utensil for all non-meat dishes and
ask that guests do not cross-contaminate.

3. Do you eat foods that contain milk and eggs?

As I mentioned above, lacto-ovo vegetarians will eat milk
and eggs, but other sub-categories of vegetarian will not.
Some wont do it for health reasons; others wont for
ethical reasons. Whatever the case, you can get around this
problem by either creating more dishes that do not contain
milk and eggs or by using egg replacer, which you can find
at most supermarkets, and milk replacements, such as soy
milk.

4. Do you eat honey and yeast?

Some vegetarians do not eat honey and yeast for ethical
reasons. If you find out that the vegetarian in your family
does not eat honey and yeast ahead of time, you can either
prepare alternate dishes or ask if they are willing to
bring an alternate dish.

5. Would you like to bring your own main dish (to replace
the turkey, ham, etc.)?

Many vegetarians eat popular meat-replacement dishes,
such as “tofurkey” and “veggie burgers.” Your guest will
probably be more than willing to bring her own meat-
replacement dish if you ask.

To reiterate, there are a number of things you should take
into consideration when you cook for a vegetarian
this holiday season; however, the single most important
thing you can do is actually approach the vegetarian
and ask how you can accommodate her and if she would
like to cook with you or bring her own dish.

If you keep this in mind, your holiday meal will be a
success with everyone - even the vegetarian in your family!

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Eating A Healthful Vegetarian Diet

Many people start vegetarian and vegan diets without
devoting an adequate amount of time to nutritional
research and meal planning. As a result, a considerable
amount of people who start vegetarian diets do not last
for more than 1-2 months.

Many dieters who fail to carefully research and plan
complain that they lack energy - and often experience
a significant loss in muscle mass. Others observe a
number of other more peripheral problems that come with a
poorly-planned vegetarian diet.

The first group–the group that most failed dieters fall
into–is actually experiencing a form of protein-energy
malnutrition (PEM). PEM emerges when a person fails to
consume enough protein, leading to muscle loss - and
subsequently feelings of weakness that are often
accompanied by head and muscle aches.

This problem can be circumvented by dietary alterations.
A vegetarian who is experiencing PEM should either a) find
out what foods contain what amino chains, so they can
combine them to form proteins; or b) start consuming
larger amounts and more diversified sources of protein,
such as nuts, soy milk, and yogurt.

The first group is often iron-deficient as well. Because
vegetarians can only consume nonheme iron, which
is more sensitive to iron inhibitors, they often do
not consume enough to maintain healthy blood-iron
levels. This can cause pervasive weakness and
even anemia.

Most nutritionists suggest that vegetarian and vegan
dieters consume roughly twice the recommended amount
of iron while greatly reducing their consumption of iron
inhibitors.

People in the second group–the smaller one–who suffer
from a range of other peripheral, diet-related problems are
often not consuming enough of the nutrients that they would
normally take in unknowingly on a diet that includes meat
and dairy products. These nutrients include, for example,
zinc, calcium, vitamin b, and riboflavin.

Some recent studies have suggested that vegetarians
also process certain types of foods with less
efficiency because they consume different amounts
and varieties of absorption inhibitors and enhancers.

Recent studies also suggest, however, that
a vegetarian or vegan diet, when done right, is
not only as healthful as a non-vegetarian diet, but it
is also much more heart-healthy - and usually
contains higher amounts of antioxidants.

What does this all mean for you as a prospective
vegetarian? It means that eating a healthful vegetarian
diet is not only a good alternative to your current diet,
but it can also lower your chances of getting heart
disease and cancer.

However, in order to eat a HEALTHFUL vegetarian diet,
you must actually put in the time to research and plan;
if you don?t, you most certainly will end up in one of the
two groups discussed above.

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