If somebody wants to transform their food choices from meat to vegetarian food, the decision must be taken with proper understanding. It should not be done as a fad, but to shift into a favourable lifestyle for yourself and mankind. More importantly, it should not be a temporary change. As in the case of Deshmukh, he consumed meat after leaving it, and he faced serious indigestion issues, which led to dysentery. Tambe says, “It is only after some generations of meat eating that the body has learnt how to digest it. If you decide to stop and start every few months, it creates more health disturbances. The decision should be final for reasons of health.”
Non-vegetarian food has excess sweet content. Not in taste, but in terms of the post digestive juice that it is converted into. “This contains all the nutrition that goes on to get converted into the various materials required by the body – blood, fat, bone, marrow and the seminal fluids. This post-digestive juice from nonvegetarian food is what has a sweet quality,” explains Tambe.
Studies have shown that the kind of foods you eat affect your mind. Meat eating will have effects on both psychological and physical levels. The mechanisms of the human body such as the teeth and digestive system are not ideally suited to non-vegetarian food. “The nature of non-vegetarian food is difficult to digest. It is not a necessary food. Unless one works very hard physically, non-veg food is more of a problem,” says Tambe.
Steps for the switch
– The changeover must happen gradually (see box for replacement plan). Switch to one light meat at first, either chicken or fish.
– Reduce the intake of this chosen meat from solid form to soup form. Slowly, avoid all meat, even in soup form, at night. “The principle being that one should not eat meat when the body’s capacity to digest is lower. Therefore, this also applies to reducing the intake of meat in the rainy season (when this capacity is at its lowest),” says Tambe.
– The next step is psychological. Do not be harsh on yourself with statements like, ‘I will never touch nonvegetarian food at all’. The moment you do this, your mind becomes your enemy. A better way is to say to yourself, ‘It doesn’t suit me and I have to stop eating non-vegetarian food.’ Remember, we need our mind to cooperate to undo the habit. philosophies, which encourage being a vegetarian.
Vegetarian’s speak up
As opposed to the popular belief that vegetarians lack sufficient protein and calcium in the body and have poor immunity, it is scientifically proven vegetarian food provides everything that the human body needs. It should be understood and cooked in a proper manner and it will provide all solutions for nutrients at every stage of a person’s life. At no stage in a person’s life does one need to supplement vegetarian food with any vitamin tablets or other means.
“Turning vegetarian has brought about a positive change in my lifestyle. My digestive problems and gas are almost eliminated. I have gotten rid of my sluggishness, which used to affect my mood strongly. My mind and body remain fresh and active for much longer now. I needed to sleep quite a bit earlier. Now I can manage with shorter sleep,” says Deshmukh.
The replacement plan
For those who eat meat the body has developed the habit to have something heavy to digest. So this must be replaced with certain vegetarian food that is heavy as well.
– Replace fulkas or chapatis with heavy wheat preparations such as parathas.
– Sweets made out of chickpea or out of milk are ideal because they are heavy to digest and very nutritious at the same time.
– To substitute the energy we get out of meat, the consumption of milk is essential. But there is a note of caution here. Milk should be fresh and not homogenised. The products available on a large commercial scale will not be effective. This kind of milk has no useful fat and has been treated with high temperatures (making it ineffective from a nutritional point of view).
– From a dietetic perspective, ingesting butter and ghee are also important substitutes to meat. Opt for butter made from curd in the traditional way and so should ghee, by boiling this butter. All these should be taken in appropriate quantities according to your body.
– Another psychological booster is that once you have made this decision, don’t feel shy to say that you are not eating meat.
– You could also take advantage of some spiritual or religious.
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