Information » Health » Health and Body Matters » Vegetarian and Vegan
In This Section
Vegetarian and Vegan
There are different types of vegetarian diets according to what foods are not eaten. Some people only cut out red meat. Others cut out all meat but eat fish; some will cut out eggs but not milk and milk products.
A vegan will not eat anything that comes from an animal so eats only fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, cereals, beans and lentils and vegetable oils. They may also avoid non-food animal products such as leather.
There are a few reasons why people become vegetarians and vegans. For some the reason is that they don’t believe in killing animals for meat or taking advantage of animals for their produce such as milk and eggs. Others simply don’t like the taste of meat.
Eating a vegetarian or vegan diet can be perfectly healthy providing you eat a balanced diet (see CLIC section on Nutrition) that contains all the food groups.
If you decide you would like to eat a vegetarian or vegan diet it is important to find out what vegetarian foods contain the essential food groups and ensure that you include them in your meals. Cutting certain things from your diet can cause deficiencies in your body e.g. cutting out dairy products can cause a lack of calcium and you may need to take a supplement.
Meat is a source of protein so you need to get it from other sources such as nuts, seeds, beans, peas and lentils, cereals and soya if you are vegan and dairy products, like milk, cheese and eggs if you are vegetarian that includes dairy products.
You will also need to make sure that you are having the right vitamin and mineral requirements e.g. vitamin c found in fresh citrus fruit helps absorb iron from leafy green vegetables. All balanced diets must include fibre and 1.2 litres of water a day.
6 Comments – Post a comment
Commented 55 months ago - 12th March 2012 - 18:37pm
I have had genital herpes for about 15 years. In the past few months it has gotten much worse...medicatio doesn't seem to help..mostly terrible fatigue...almost constant outbreaks.
Any suggestions..does anyone else have this problem..have tried supplements, cutting out all arginine, blah, blah....
RR12...
Commented 55 months ago - 14th March 2012 - 12:30pm
Hello, as we're just an info site for 11-25s we can only point you towards places that might be of use as and off the top of my head all I can think of is the relevant page on NHS Choices, but keep checking back to see if any CLICers have advice.
Cheers and good luck.
Commented 37 months ago - 12th September 2013 - 15:22pm
Me and my girlfriend want to be responsible and get tested before we have sex as we've both had other partners. Where/how do we do it? Do we need to book appointments?
Also: my friend said that it's a bad idea because if you get tested then you have to pay more insurance when you're older because they see you as someone who takes risks. So maybe it's better if we don't?
Commented 37 months ago - 16th September 2013 - 09:35am
Hi Dire_Liar,
Thanks for getting in contact.
As I’m not trained to give advice or advocacy all I can do is point you to places that may provide some of the information for which you are looking.
Firstly – though this article is about emergency contraception, it has links to Cardiff’s ISHs, (integrated sexual health clinics – used to be GUM clinics)
Secondly – brook.org.uk is an excellent resource for sexual health information for U25s
Thirdly – Meic Cymru is the free advice and advocacy helpline for young people in Wales – you can ring, text or instant message them, they’ll definitely know which way to point you
Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond, it was the Sprout Awards last week and it’s thrown everything up in the air.
Commented 36 months ago - 18th September 2013 - 11:40am
Fantastic that you and your girlfriend want to get tested. Sam has already directed you to the Integrated Sexual Health (ISH) clinic times. Cardiff Royal Infirmary run a young persons clinic on a Monday afternoon 1.30-4.00. The clinic provides free and confidential advice and testing. There are also sexual health clinics running throughout Cardiff - just follow Sam's link.
Getting tested for an STI will not affect any future insurance. Your medical records are private and confidential. Insurance companies can only ask if you have ever tested positive for HIV. If someone is HIV positive they would have to declare this, as you would any other long term condition.
Getting tested for an STI is promoting positive sexual health. Getting tested will not affect any future insurance / mortgage applications.
Be safe and look after your sexual health.
Commented 36 months ago - 27th September 2013 - 12:25pm
Wow, that's really useful to know. Thanks ever so much for your help guys. :)