The choice to become a vegetarian is one that most people don't make lightly.

Lila Donovan, right, serves a vegetarian Shepherd’s pie to her husband Jeff Kelly, son Kieran, and family friend Erin Bursey.

For some, it's a lifetime commitment but, for others, it might become a lifestyle that they modify to suit their needs.

"I became a vegetarian for health reasons and I followed a strict vegetarian diet with my second pregnancy," says Lila Donovan, a registered holistic nutritionist who graduated from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition in 2000.

According to the Dietitians of Canada, approximately 4 per cent of adults in Canada follow vegetarian diets, which is described a diet that does not include meat, fish or fowl. The organization states that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.

For nine years, Lila was a practising vegan, which means that she avoided all animal products. She then became an ovo-lacto vegetarian, which means she began including dairy products and eggs into her diet.

"I know from experience that being a vegan mom is a lot of work," she says. "Being an ovo-lacto vegetarian is much easier."

Lila has two children, 16 and 22, who have never been on antibiotics. Lila attributes this to the largely vegetarian diet that she and her family have been following for years.

Toronto's respected Hospital for Sick Children endorses a vegetarian diet. On its website, the hospital states, "If well planned, a vegetarian diet is safe for children, teens, and adults. If a vegetarian is too restricted, it may be unhealthy. Certain essential nutrients are harder for vegetarians to find in plant foods. Vegetarians, especially those who eat no animal products, may need to make a special effort to get enough calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B-12."

Lila says ensuring vegetarian children get all their proper nutrients can be difficult once they enter the school system.

"The parents of vegetarian children have to make sure they are getting all the proper nutrients," Lila says. "You can make healthy meals with nuts, seeds, tofu, chickpeas and legumes. But once peanut butter and nuts -- excellent sources of protein and good fats -- were eliminated as food options for school children, it added to the challenge of providing children with vegetarian food choices."

In addition to the nutritional challenges, there can be unexpected social issues for vegetarians.

"It can be difficult for vegetarian children, socially," says Lila. "Because they bring their own lunches to school and are eating different types of foods, it can affect how their peers regard them."

She says that when it comes to raising vegetarian children, it's really important to talk to kids and make food as much fun as possible.

"Maybe grow a garden and get your kids involved, and explain to them how nutrients help them to grow," Lila suggests. "We have the power to help our kids, to stop them from being manipulated into eating so much sugar, to make sure they get enough of the good fats that are needed for brain development, and to avoid food with additives."

Lila believes that the current proliferation of juvenile diabetes is related to poor food choices.

"People need to learn to make better food choices. They don't have to be vegetarian, but they should definitely eat more fruit, vegetables, and good protein sources -- both animal and plant-based."

There are many resources available to people who are interested in following a vegetarian diet. Health Canada, the agency responsible for producing the Canada Food Guide, endorses a vegetarian diet, as does the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Lila says she did a lot of research on vegetarianism when she first decided to adhere to a vegetarian diet and later, when she taught classes. Some of the resources she utilized included: Physicians for Responsible Medicine; the Vegetarian Resource Group; and the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada.

"It's amazing how many resources there are today," says Lila. "And so many more vegetarian products are available in stores, too."

The vegetarian restaurant, Calactus, has operated in the Moncton area approximately 20 years, offering a diverse vegetarian menu.

It is ironic that the health issues that prompted Lila to become a vegetarian are the very concerns that resulted in her re-introducing animal products into her diet.

"Although I was following a vegetarian diet to a 'T', I was missing minerals; my body wasn't properly absorbing them. My desire to better understand nutrients and how they worked led me to pursue my career."

Lila has a natural medicine practice that offers services including nutritional counselling, homeopathy, reiki, acupuncture, and Qigong. In addition to her nutritional concerns, Lila also experienced her own social challenges with being a vegetarian.

"I found that at family gatherings and socializing with friends that not everyone is familiar with vegetarian choice, so I began introducing some animal products, such as light dairy, into my diet every now and then. It was interesting; I began to gain weight because a diet containing animal products generally will add more weight."

Lila says that once she resolved her health issues, she was able to eat just about everything.

"I can now make choices about what I want to eat or not."

Daily nutrients

Amount of some essential nutrients needed each day for children.

* Calcium

• 1-3 years................500 mg

• 4-8 years................800 mg

• 9-18 years............1300 mg

* Iron......................6-10 mg

* Zinc....................10-15 mg

* Vitamin D.................7 mcg

* Vitamin B-12.........1.2 mcg (Information courtesy of aboutkidshealth)

Types of vegetarians

* Pescatarian: This is sometimes used to describe those who abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish.

It is often seens as a steppinfully vegetarian diet.

* Flexitarian/Semi-vegetarian: this term was coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.

* Lacto-ovo vegetarian: do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products.

* Vegan: do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin.

* Macrobiotic: the diet includes unprocessed vegan foods, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and allows the occasional consumption of fish.

Sugar and refined oils are avoided.

There is also an emphasis on the consumption of Asian vegetables, such as daikon, and sea vegetables, such as seaweed.

Fonte : timestranscript.canadaeast

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