Weight Gain Diet Tips for Vegetarians

Written by Editor in January 5th, 2009 Under: Current Health Articles, Gastro-Intestinal Diseases, Medications & Supplements, Nutrition, Women's Health & Pregnancy Tags: Vegetarian diet, Weight gain

Nutrition Problems in Vegetarians

The vegetarians have nutritional problems, which can be different from non vegetarians. This is due to the fact that vegetables lack certain nutrients and pure vegetarians may be victim of that. So a vegetarian may face more difficulty in trying to gain weight than others.

Reasons for Low Weight in Vegetarians

The low body weight of vegetarian may be due to:

• deficiency of nutrients in food (iron, vitamin B12, poor quality proteins etc.)
• worm infestation
• malabsorption syndrome
• poor dietary habit, low appetite

Why a Vegetarian May Refuse Food?

A. Food Related Causes

A vegetarian may refuse food for the following reasons:

• always having same type of food and there is lack of variety
• if vegetable is produced with excess fertilizers the vegetables are not tasty so a vegetarian may not get the taste of the food.

B. Body Related Causes - Low Appetite

The causes of low appetite may be as below:

• anemia (due to iron deficiency, deficiency of vitamin B12, as iron of vegetable origin is not absorbed properly and vitamin B12 is found only in foods of animal origin)
• worm infestation that compromise intestinal absorption
• psychological and psychiatric diseases like anorexia nervosa, depression
• excess alcohol intake can cause low appetite
• infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, influenza, hepatitis, kidney infection
• serious illnesses like cancer, liver diseases, kidney diseases, hypothyroidism, pancreatitis to name only a few
• antibiotics and chemotherapy, many medications like anti diabetic (metformin), narcotics etc.

How to Prepare for Appointment With a Doctor?

A vegetarian can expect following questions:

• current diet to evaluate calorie intake and vit B12 and iron intake (if the person is a pure vegetarian, pernicious anemia from vit B12 deficiency may develop, since vitamin B12 is available only in foods of animal origin)
• appetite
• doctor may enquire about worm infestation

Recommended Tests Before Starting a Diet?

Some laboratory investigations should be done before going for treatment of weight gain by a vegetarian. First the cause of not gaining weight or weight loss should be investigated. Foods of vegetable origin do not contain vitamin B12 (vitamin B12 is available only in foods of animal sources), so if the vegetarian is not consuming even fresh milk (pure vegetarian) than he may be suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency and deficiency of vitamin B12 cause pernicious anemia or megaloblastic anemia. There should also be investigations for other causes of anemia like stool for ova and cyst of worms (hookworm infestation is common cause of anemia), routine investigations like hemoglobin percentage, TLC (total leukocyte or white blood cell count), DLC (differential leukocyte count), peripheral blood smear for study of blood cell morphology.

Vegetarian Foods That can Help Gain Weight

There are very large varieties of vegetables that are available for vegetarians that are very rich in quality (calorie, proteins, fats, carbohydrate rich).

The rich source of protein of plant origin include:

• Soya bean (the richest source of plant protein)
• pulses
• lentils
• grams
• drumsticks
• cereals
• beans, etc.

The rich sources of fats of plant origin include:

• nuts
• peanuts (contain high quantity of EFA or essential fatty acids)
• cashew nuts
• oil seeds
• olives
• almonds, etc.

The rich sources of carbohydrates of plant origin include:

• cereals (rice, wheat, corn, millet etc)
• pasta (macaroni)
• potato
• all root vegetables
• raisins, bananas,

Green leafy vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, spinach, asparagus, etc. are rich sources of vitamins and minerals. Fruits are also rich sources of vitamins and minerals and also rich in antioxidants that help to fight cancer. Regarding eating of fruit and vegetables we should follow one golden rule that is “The locally grown fruits and vegetables are the best” because they are the cheapest and suitable for that particular environment and weather. Costly and imported fruits and vegetables are less valuable than the locally grown fruits and vegetables, because they are not fresh and preservative chemicals are used.

Foods to Avoid During Gaining Weight Attempt

Which food to avoid by the vegetarians depends on the person trying to gain weight. If the person is a diabetic than he should avoid or restrict foods with high glycemic index like potato, rice etc. While trying to gain weight one should avoid foods with high fiber contents like salads, leafy vegetables to prevent excessive bloating and gas. One should avoid taking excess tea or coffee, excess drinks, carbonated drinks and smoke (smoking reduce appetite). One drink per day is helpful in increasing appetite and should be taken to improve faster weight gain.

Meals Proposals for Skinny Vegetarians

While trying to gain weight the breakfast and lunch/dinner should be like this:

Breakfast

• 200-300 gm of bread (2-3 slices or 2-3 chapatis for Indians)
• About 100 gm of sprouting beans/grams
• A glass of milk (250-300 ml) with 10-15 gm of sugar or a cup of tea/coffee
• High calorie fruits like bananas 2-3 big size

Lunch/Dinner

• 200-300 gm of rice or wheat (roti)
• 50 gm of leafy vegetables
• 75-100 gm of other vegetables
• Pulses about 50 gm
• cooking oil like (sunflower oil, ground nut oil, safflower oil etc.
• milk or curd 100 gm/ml

Snacks

In between major meals few servings are advisable.

Drinks to Try and to Avoid

Alcoholic drinks should be preferably avoided, but 1 drink per day is good for health and also it increases appetite. More than one drink per day is not recommended. There is no advantage of one type of drink over another (e.g. wine, beer, scotches are all same for improving appetite).

Vitamin B12 and Iron Supplements

In vegetarians there may be problem of iron (iron deficiency anemia) and vitamin B12 (megaloblastic or pernicious anemia), because the iron from vegetable sources are not absorbed properly and vitamin B12 is available only in animal sources. Iron absorption is better if iron is present as ferrous fumerate, sulphate form (which is the form in animal source) and also there are some chemicals like oxalates which are available in vegetables that hamper the absorption of iron (normally less than 5% of iron is absorbed from diet). Vitamin B12 has to be supplemented as tablet, liquid or injection form (our daily requirement of B12 is about 10 micrograms).

General Dietary Advice to Vegetarians

Diet should be balanced diet. Balanced diet for vegetarians is different from that of others. The protein for vegetarian should be from at least two different sources; because vegetable or plant proteins are not “biologically complete” (all essential amino acids are not available) so to get all the essential amino acids vegetarian has to depend on at least two sources. For balanced diet of vegetarian first and foremost is protein requirement (10-15% of energy) and it can be met from cereals like rice, wheat, maize etc. and pulses and nuts like peanut, almonds etc. Next important is fats (15-30% of energy) and it should contain large percentage of unsaturated fats including essential fatty acids. Carbohydrates (remaining energy requirement) are the next and it can be met from cereals like rice, wheat and maize. Than vitamins and minerals requirements should be met from vegetables (all types of vegetables including leafy vegetables, roots & tubers) and fruits.