Does Vegetarian = Healthy?
Restaurants often market foods as “vegetarian” and consumers normally assume that food labeled vegetarian must be a healthier alternative to other menu choices.
This week, I had a patient who was on a business trip and received quite a surprise when he ordered a Vegi Muffaletta for lunch from a COSI restaurant.
He thought he was making a healthy choice, until he got home and looked up the nutritional information on the COSI restaurant website.
Shockingly, a Vegi Muffaletta has over 800 calories and 51 grams of fat! He was dismayed to say the least, but he learned a valuable lesson about being “cautious” of vegetarian options at restaurants.
Here is a list of a few other restaurants that offer some vegetarian choices you might want to be aware of:
BK Veggie Burger
- Burger King Veggie Burger w/Cheese - 470 calories and 20 grams of fat. (A whopper junior has 410 calories & 24 grams of fat)
- Chilis Bar and Grill - Baked Potato bowl of Soup - 440 calories and 33 grams of fat.
- Uno’s Chicago Grill - Roasted Toasted Veggie Panini - 590 calories and 26 grams of fat.
- Ninety-Nine Restaurant Veggie Burger - 910 calories and 41 grams of fat.
And last but not least:
- Ruby Tuesday Veggie Burger- a whopping 943 calories and 52 grams of fat!
And remember, most restaurants normally serve an order of French Fries with their burger entrees (Ruby Tuesday French Fries: 369 calories and 13 grams of fat). So a person could almost eat a days calories in one meal.
Better make sure to hold the dessert! : )
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Most of the posts seem to say that as long as you don't eat junk and processed food and eat plenty of fresh vegetables, legumes, nuts and fruits, and eliminate meats, that this would be a healthy diet (can I assume that these same folks believe that to add meat to the above stated diet would make it unhealthy?). I think that the No Meat issue should be a personal (ethical-moral-religion based) decision, and to eliminate meat for these reasons would be acceptable, but knowing that this decision will require you to sacrifice (to a certain extent) your health. And regarding meat subsitutes, (probably some soy based manufactured crap-) IT'S A SUSTITUTE, it's not the real thing, which would be optimum. Unless it's for the above names reasons, why on earth would you ingest a substitute anything when the real thing, not manufactured and marketed as a subsititute, has been around forever and is proven over millenia to be digestible and assimilated by our bodies!
ReplyPaul,
I basically eat a vegan diet. I do add fish to this. Can one be 'mostly' vegan? Anyway, I eat what you listed plus some whole grains and I find it has worked well for me. Mrs.J told me today that I was in the 'toned' category. That'll work :-)
ReplyMost anything purchased made a restaurant for the sole purpose of making money versus making it with love to nourish those that eat it is going to be food fare that is detrimental to health, in my opinion.
It pays to eat wisely, I feel, and keep flour and sugar products to a minimum as well as any refined processed foods.
A vegetarian that eats alot of sugary, flour, processed, refined and/or restaurant foods whether vegetarian or not, is definitely not beneficial to their health from my experiences so far.
On the other hand, a whole foods approach to being vegetarian can be a healthy rewarding approach to eating as a way of life, among many other benefits.
Whole foods in this respect does not mean processed foods from a "whole foods" store still in a box, pre-prepared.
My suggestion to anyone who does desire to eat vegetarian is to stick to whole foods the majority of the time with minimum restaurant foods and processed refined foods from any source.
Just some food for thought! Thanks to everyone else who has shared their thoughts too in this blog.
Joy
ReplySalem Oregon
I've been semi vegetarian for nine years. I do eat eggs, fish, and dairy products. I know it's probably terrible for me, but I do like Boca and Morningstar Farms products, mostly the veggie burgers and dogs. Those are both low fat and high protein. A lot of their other foods are high in fat and they're all pretty high in sodium, not to mention expensive. Does anyone else eat these brands? Or is someone going to scare me with how bad they are :-) I'm just wondering if anyone has any feedback on these meat substitutes.
Replyhi,
Replyi am born in a vegetarian indian family.though food at indian restaurants may not be prepared that healthy,since they try to make it tasty by adding a lot of cream,clarified butter and other fats.But authentic indian vegetarian diet is very healthy,reduces the risk of cholestorol and obesity.so if you are really interested in making good healthy vegetarian food,try making it at home!
I can see your point; but you're talking about restaurant choices--and that's entirely different than eating at home. Most people know that. I don't trust anything from fast food restaurants anyway.
ReplyThis article is bullcrap.
1) C'mon people! u can't expect food to be absolutley free of calories and fat.
2) The article never mentioned how much calories a fast food meat product can have also (alot more than the veggie burgers the article is attacking).
3) article never mentioned all the nutrition that comes with all that "fat" in vegetarian products such as protein, fiber, vitamin c, vitamin a, calcium, etc. (bet ya'll didnt know that!)
4) most vegetarians don't eat deep-fried foods, dressings, and such. Being a vegetarian is about "EATING" vegetables and other healthy choices to balance ur diet. Its not about "NOT EATING" meat. thats why its called a diet, because u eat something. duh!
5) U cant just lable unhealty food and call it "vegetarian", i think we all know that. If i eat a whole jar of mayo than does that make me a vegetarian? think about it!
GO VEGETARIANS WHO ARE SO HEALTHY!
Reply(And for all you people who disagree, go get an education!)
Hello!?!? Since when does one assume that being a vegetarian automatically means being healthy? It simply means that you eat all foods without meat. Yes, piling on cheese can be a problem among vegetarians. It's about lifestyle and diet choices BEYOND simply saying that you are not going to eat meat. These comments about eating crisps and soda for lunch are absurd.
ReplyI recently decided that I want to lose weight seriously and I am going to do whatever it takes. I started a vegetarian diet and shop at health food stores that carry alot of organic items. But you HAVE to read the labels. Just because it is low fat or all organic doesn't mean there isn't alot of sugar and you have to watch the serving sizes. Sometimes something looks healthy until you realize that you are getting almost no food for the serving size and you are very likely to overeat these products. Organic is great, but it doesn't mean completely healthy. It just means no pesticide. Read labels carefully and decide if the serving size matches the amount of food you plan on eating. Also, if you are going to eat wheat, stick to whole wheat. Because organic pasta sauce isn't bad for you necessarily but if you are eating it with hoardes of white pasta it's not going to be as healthy. Stick to veggies and fruits and everything else in moderation and watch portions and serving sizes, that is what will really get you in trouble. Just pay attention to the labels. :)
Reply