I've read many studies that show high carbohydrate diets raise cholesterol so if you are dealing with this disease you should eat a low carbohydrate diet. I have also read many studies that say vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels so it would be beneficial for people with high cholesterol or borderline high cholesterol to begin a vegetarian diet. Yet most vegetarian diets are high in carbohydrates. Interesting!
First let's look at exactly what is a vegetarian diet. There are different kinds of vegetarian diets and what differentiates them is the amount of animal products allowed.
The Vegan eliminates ALL animal products including animal products found in processed foods.
The Lacto-ovo-vegetarian abstains from meat, fish or any animal flesh, but does enjoy eggs and other dairy products.
The vegetarian who consumes dairy products while abstaining from animal flesh and eggs is considered a Lacto-vegetarian.
The vegetarian that includes eggs in their diet but eliminates all animal flesh and dairy products is an Ovo-vegetarian.
A study conducted in 2007 that involved 67 vegetarians and 134 meat consuming participants found that as a whole, the cholesterol levels of vegetarians were lower than the meat eating participants. Ovo-vegetarians made up 73% of the vegetarians involved in this study. Per the results of this study, 79% of the vegetarians had healthy total cholesterol levels, while 71% of the meat eating participants suffered with borderline high risk total cholesterol levels. Only 3% of vegetarians had borderline high risk cholesterol. The vegans, however, had significantly lower cholesterol levels than the ovo-vegetarians who consumed eggs.
Vegetarian diets usually include fruits, vegetables, dairy substitutes, beans, nuts and grains. A diet that is rich in carbohydrates, yet vegetarians have lower incidents of high cholesterol or borderline high cholesterol than meat eating people. So how do vegetarians remain so healthy while consuming a high carbohydrate diet? It all boils down to the quality of the carbohydrates consumed.
I'm not going to get into this 'good' carbs vs 'bad' carbs debate, but I am going to tell you that obviously quality counts. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains provide high quality carbohydrates, filling fiber, vitamins and phytochemicals. If you get your carbohydrate fix from white flour products like: donuts, cookies, white or enriched breads and crackers, potato chips, French fries then you are defeating the purpose of eating a vegetarian diet to improve health. Those types of foods are processed, fried and filled with low quality carbohydrates and in some case fat and cholesterol.
Eating a clean vegetarian diet provides endless variety and many health benefits such as:
1. A diet high in vitamin rich foods. 2. Decrease your risk of high cholesterol, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. 3. Maintaining a healthy weight. 4. Less fat, cholesterol and trans fat in your diet. 5. More fresh fruits and vegetables supplying us with more phytochemicals. 6. More fiber in your diet. 7. Healthy hair, skin and nails.
And so much more!
I know going from consuming meat to a vegetarian life style can be difficult, no one is saying to make a radical change. How about having just one vegetarian day a week for starters? Then once you begin to see how easy and tasty vegetarianism really is how about adding a few more vegetarian days to the week. At the very least, you may want to try to add more clean fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains to you diet and decrease the amount of meat eaten at each meal.
Try it, you may enjoy it! There is an endless variety of foods to eat on a vegetarian diet and you just may be surprised at how delicious these foods can be. If you already suffer from high cholesterol, your physician has probably already suggested that you lower you consumption of high cholesterol and fatty foods and increase the amount of plant and grain based foods to your diet.
Eliminate high cholesterol foods and foods that contain saturated fats, listen to your physician and follow through with the advice given and watch those cholesterol numbers improve!
First let's look at exactly what is a vegetarian diet. There are different kinds of vegetarian diets and what differentiates them is the amount of animal products allowed.
The Vegan eliminates ALL animal products including animal products found in processed foods.
The Lacto-ovo-vegetarian abstains from meat, fish or any animal flesh, but does enjoy eggs and other dairy products.
The vegetarian who consumes dairy products while abstaining from animal flesh and eggs is considered a Lacto-vegetarian.
The vegetarian that includes eggs in their diet but eliminates all animal flesh and dairy products is an Ovo-vegetarian.
A study conducted in 2007 that involved 67 vegetarians and 134 meat consuming participants found that as a whole, the cholesterol levels of vegetarians were lower than the meat eating participants. Ovo-vegetarians made up 73% of the vegetarians involved in this study. Per the results of this study, 79% of the vegetarians had healthy total cholesterol levels, while 71% of the meat eating participants suffered with borderline high risk total cholesterol levels. Only 3% of vegetarians had borderline high risk cholesterol. The vegans, however, had significantly lower cholesterol levels than the ovo-vegetarians who consumed eggs.
Vegetarian diets usually include fruits, vegetables, dairy substitutes, beans, nuts and grains. A diet that is rich in carbohydrates, yet vegetarians have lower incidents of high cholesterol or borderline high cholesterol than meat eating people. So how do vegetarians remain so healthy while consuming a high carbohydrate diet? It all boils down to the quality of the carbohydrates consumed.
I'm not going to get into this 'good' carbs vs 'bad' carbs debate, but I am going to tell you that obviously quality counts. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains provide high quality carbohydrates, filling fiber, vitamins and phytochemicals. If you get your carbohydrate fix from white flour products like: donuts, cookies, white or enriched breads and crackers, potato chips, French fries then you are defeating the purpose of eating a vegetarian diet to improve health. Those types of foods are processed, fried and filled with low quality carbohydrates and in some case fat and cholesterol.
Eating a clean vegetarian diet provides endless variety and many health benefits such as:
1. A diet high in vitamin rich foods. 2. Decrease your risk of high cholesterol, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. 3. Maintaining a healthy weight. 4. Less fat, cholesterol and trans fat in your diet. 5. More fresh fruits and vegetables supplying us with more phytochemicals. 6. More fiber in your diet. 7. Healthy hair, skin and nails.
And so much more!
I know going from consuming meat to a vegetarian life style can be difficult, no one is saying to make a radical change. How about having just one vegetarian day a week for starters? Then once you begin to see how easy and tasty vegetarianism really is how about adding a few more vegetarian days to the week. At the very least, you may want to try to add more clean fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains to you diet and decrease the amount of meat eaten at each meal.
Try it, you may enjoy it! There is an endless variety of foods to eat on a vegetarian diet and you just may be surprised at how delicious these foods can be. If you already suffer from high cholesterol, your physician has probably already suggested that you lower you consumption of high cholesterol and fatty foods and increase the amount of plant and grain based foods to your diet.
Eliminate high cholesterol foods and foods that contain saturated fats, listen to your physician and follow through with the advice given and watch those cholesterol numbers improve!
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If you are interested in learning more about the delicious foods to lower cholesterol please visit my site where you will find many useful articles.. Also published at Cholesterol And The Vegetarian Diet.
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