Vegetarian diet – is it really the way to go?

Dr. Wald’s response: “The vegetarian diet, by virtue of the fact that it is supposed to be centered around fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, is associated with a much lower risk of developing any number of chronic degenerative diseases.  Diabetes, heart disease, various cancers, autoimmune disease and even risk of infections can be lowered, prevented and helped by adapting a vegetarian diet.  Studies of vegetarians of different types demonstrate that life span might be increased, as people tend to diet less of health problems that could result in premature death.  Even breast cancer and colon cancer risk is lower in vegetarians!  Eating lower down on the foods chain (i.e., predominantly plant foods) help limit the concentration in the body of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides that would “bio-accumulate” in the cow or chicken, and ultimately in us – that may lead to yet more health problems including, but not limited to, dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, multiple sclerosis and a host of autoimmune conditions.”
While vegetarianism, when done correctly, is certainly healthful – it can certainly be done wrong.  In the case of your daughter, an inappropriate vegetarian diet can lead to certain nutritional problems that can in fact cause moodiness. Sure, teenagers are often moody, but this does not mean that the vegetarian diet is not the cause or at least a contributing factor.  For example, protein deficiency would reduce the intake of proteins required to break down into amino acids; 80% of neurotransmitters in the brain, are obtained from the diet. Without proper balance of neurotransmitters moodiness, fatigue, sluggishness, learning difficulties and a host of other health problems can result.  Other common deficiencies found in vegetarian diets include, iron deficiency; protein deficiency; B-complex deficiency; magnesium deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency.  A multivitamin should be considered with a small amount of iron in a menstruating girl who does not eat any animal protein at all. Depending upon what the blood work says, more iron and other nutritional supplements might be advantageous as they are easy to add to a teenagers diet (who might be unwilling or find it just too difficult) to comply with healthier vegetarian changes.”  Check out Dr. Wald’s nutritional products at: www.blooddetective.com especially Reds Protect, Green’s Detox and Longevity Complete.