My friends and I sometimes discuss how hard it is for vegetarians to lose weight when compared to meat eaters. Omnivores, if they are careful how their meat is cooked and what kind of animal food they choose over others, have it working for them. For vegetarians like me, when you're working out and trying to watch what you eat, you're getting burnt from both sides. Without some chicken to add bulk to your salad, without fish and egg, we certainly don't have it easy contending with lentils, beans grains and dairy along with our dear pals from the plant kingdom - vegetables and fruits.
I discovered the problem of vegetarians extends beyond the human race. Today,while watching TV, I learnt that meat eating animals like cats and lions sleep many hours of the day compared to plant eaters like giraffes, zebras and deers who have to graze and eat for many more hours of a day to satisfy their nutritional requirements. And even the few hours that they do sleep, they have to be vigilant of predators. This sleep pattern was true even for plant-eating dinosaurs versus carnivores like T-Rexs.
Especially if you are a vegetarian, working mother of a toddler, you can kiss sleep goodbye! She sleeps less and I am sleepless. No matter what, I am not going to cross that line , I was always a vegetarian and will forever be - with all its little supposed flaws!
I have thought about this a lot too.. but look at it another way (positive) - when we vegetarians go to restaurants , unless it's an indian/italian/thai etc place, we usually have only a few menu items to choose from - unlike the omnivores who can eat anything on the menu. Unfortunately those few items are often cheesy and fatty.. but I digress. I am working on weight loss & toning, and I agree - you get very hungry when you work out, and you have to work hard to be diverse in your protein sources. Have you tried tofu / soy products, Sujatha?
ReplyDeleteYeah Sree, I know - I agree too that it'd be a much more difficult battle if I could eat anything from a menu. I've thought about that many times too. I don't love tofu, but I eat edamame. Vegitarianism or non- it's a few vices I have that are doing me in! Unless I can kick those habits,....
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