Many people I see nowadays are either vegetarians or they want to become vegetarian. From counseling so many thousands of people through my 35 years of practice I can show you how to approach it in a more intelligent way.
First, it seems that many people incorrectly define vegetarianism as meaning that they don’t eat animal protein: just fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. This is an incorrect interpretation. What vegetarianism actually means is that you won’t kill the animal in your efforts to get animal protein in your diet.
There was a reason why the ancient doctors of India who cognized Ayurveda, who were strict vegetarians themselves, stated that we need something from an animal every single day in our diets.
So this means that milk will now take center stage in the diet because you don’t have to kill the animal to get the milk. And of course we work with those dairies who take excellent care of their cows. Milk and milk products will then become your source of animal protein. We educate our patients on the correct milk to take (A2, non-homogenized) from grass-fed cows, how to take it in the correct way (boiled either on an empty stomach with various spices which help you digest the protein and sugar in the milk, or cooked into grains).
Many of our patients are sensitive to milk nowadays due to the devastation of the digestive tract from many medications such as antibiotics, birth control pills, steroids, acid reflux medicines and vaccines. In these cases we have to spend 1-2 years fixing their digestion at the level of the gut micro biome and the liver. During that time we have to figure out which type of milk they can digest, such as goat’s milk, home-made almond milk, etc. so their bones don’t suffer during the years without the animal milk. This is because milk is the most nourishing food for the bones, containing the fat which delivers the calcium into the bones.
So why would the ancient doctors proclaim that we needed animal protein everyday? Well, there are probably hundreds of reasons if you look at all the processes at work inside your body. But here’s a few obvious ones: your bones are made of collagen — this is the type of protein found mostly in hair, skin, nails, bones and ligaments — and it comes from animal sources. We always think about calcium when we think of our bones, but the calcium and other minerals have to adhere to the collagen matrix in the bones, so we can’t forget about that.
The hormones that keep you young and fertile: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are made of cholesterol. Cholesterol comes from an animal.
Speaking of cholesterol — the brain is the most cholesterol-rich organ in the body. In fact, you can’t eat enough cholesterol in your diet to satisfy the brain’s needs for cholesterol, so the liver has to make it to ensure the brain gets its daily requirements. The myelin sheath, the covering to the nerve, is made of cholesterol and cholesterol is one of the factors involved in allowing nerve cells to communicate with each other and exchange electrical signals.
This is why dementia is a common side effect of statin drugs, the drugs which lower cholesterol. Can you imagine how difficult it must be for the brain to work if there is no cholesterol in the diet at all?
Every cell wall in your body is made of cholesterol. These cell walls are extremely intelligent, allowing nutrients to come into the cell while at the same time pushing toxins away from the inside of the cell. So the cell membranes have to be very soft and buoyant, filled with cholesterol, in order to work correctly.
Another problem that could be a potential pitfall if you decide to become vegetarian is that you have to be committed to cooking fresh everyday. Keep in mind that the food has both the highest nutritional value and the pranic energy, nature’s life force. To keep the panic energy intact we have to avoid leftovers, pre-packaged foods, processed foods, frozen, and canned foods. And we definitely don’t want to microwave the food which zaps the delicate prana or life energy out of the food.
I remember my teacher and mentor telling me how he visited a friend’s house who was a vegetarian. He was always wondering why he looked so pale and had very pasty-looking skin and fell sick quite often. Here is what he made the two of them for lunch: a warmed up can of black bean soup, a frozen veggie burger with melted processed vegan cheese on top,and thawed out gluten-free bread filled with questionable ingredients. He was amazed how his friend, who was highly educated and authored several best-selling books, interpreted a vegetarian diet in this way, and had not been educated on the correct way to eat a healthy vegetarian diet. He could once and for all understand why he looked so pale and malnourished. Now if the highly educated people in society don’t understand what comprises a healthy diet, then you can imagine some of the mistakes an average teenager who suddenly decides they want to be a vegetarian might make.
This is another good example demonstrating how even a “vegetarian” diet can be unhealthy, filled with fast food, such as pizza, macaroni and cheese, French fries, almond milk sitting on the shelf for months, processed gluten-free products and various soy cheeses and butter substitutes.
The most common deficiencies that we see on blood work with many of our vegetarian patients is that the B12 can go low, along with the iron. So if you are a vegetarian eat iron-rich foods. Keep in mind that the vegetarian sources of iron are considered non-heme iron, which means they don’t absorb as well as the heme iron, which comes from meat. And B12 is mostly found in animal protein. So get blood work yearly if you have decided to become a vegetarian.
On the other hand, a vegetarian diet can be extremely healthy if you do it correctly: cooking fresh foods every day from scratch, seeking out the good quality milk and making panir, yogurt, buttermilk, takra, and having a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes with good quality fats, such as ghee and olive oil. My teacher also made up a special recipe he called green protein which helps the absorption of the non-heme iron.
So be careful if you decide to become a vegetarian. It can promote a long healthy life if you do it correctly. On the other hand if you do it without educating yourself first you can create some health problems as you go to these great lengths to avoid animal protein.
I hope this information was valuable to you as you strive to eat as healthy as you can.
Thank you,