Vegetarians
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Vegetarian Diets and Chronic Disease
To be a vegetarian, or to not be a vegetarian, that is the question. Vegetarians are people who don't eat meat, poultry, or fish for health, environmental, ethical, religious or economic reasons. Vegans are vegetarians who do not eat any animal products, including dairy products, eggs, and honey. Whether a vegetarian lifestyle is healthy or not, depends on the individual.
A well balanced vegetarian diet chosen from a wide variety of foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and soy beans are rich in monounsaturated and polysaturated fatty acids, minerals, complex carbohydrates and is restricted in saturated fat. The burden of modern lifestyle diseases is enormous when the cost of investigation, diagnosis, treatment and primary and secondary prevention are included.
Thus, dietary intervention with a vegetarian diet seems to be a cheap, physiological and safe approach to the prevention, and possibility management of modern lifestyle diseases. Ideally, it should be complemented with other healthy lifestyle practices such as regular exercise and abstinence from smoking, excessive alcohol and illicit drugs. The U. S...