Benefits of a vegetarian diet for all

By Maria Kegel

JAKARTA (JP): If Dr. Hendry Wijaja had his way, everyone, from babies to the elderly, would choose a vegetarian diet for better living.

As a strong advocate of a meatless diet, Hendry uses his medical background and sound reasoning to point out that vegetarianism meets everyone's nutritional requirements at any age of life, although pregnant or nursing women should drink more milk.

"Anyone can be (a vegetarian), but the main point of the diet is to eat a variety of food, combining items from the four food groups of grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes, to achieve the best results."

He was speaking on the health aspects of vegetarianism on Saturday at a seminar titled A Healthy Lifestyle for the 21st Century, held by Keluarga Vegetarian Maitreya Indonesia at the Menara Peninsula Hotel.

The doctor also gave a thumbs-up for children and adolescents to be on a vegetarian diet.

Children have high energy needs, and the doctor said their protein and calcium intake would be sufficient without meat in their diet.

"Calcium is easy to find and is very high in tofu and milk and in carrots so if they consume them every day, there's no problem," he said.

Children need between 500 milligrams (mg) and 600 mg of calcium a day, while teenagers need about 800 mg.

Hendry, the director of Miracle Executive Clinic in Purwakarta, West Java, also recommended that children get up to 15 minutes of sunshine a day to help their bodies absorb the mineral.

In fact, the calcium intake itself was not as important as what the source of protein was in a diet, Hendry said.

"With protein derived from an animal, a person will need a lot of calcium to stabilize his pH level in his blood because animal protein tends to lower it, and the body, not used to the acidity, will tend to normalize it by taking calcium from the bones, which could induce osteoporosis and kidney stones later," he said.

Calcium is the only primary mineral needed for building and maintaining strong bones, and is especially important for growing children and women, especially in the peak bone-building years between the teens and early thirties.

He also said there was no need to be concerned about a lack of protein in a vegetarian diet, "as long as the calorie requirements are filled in an individual's meals".

An average worker needs 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day while children need between 1,000 and 1,900, depending on their age.

Babies need 110 calories a day for every kilogram of body weight, and that decreases every three years by 10 calories a day per kilogram of body weight, he said.

Grains, green vegetables and legumes are the main sources of protein, he said.

But children need a variety of food, Hendry emphasized, saying it was better to get their calorie intake from complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes, cereals, corn and barley.

"Avoid 'empty-calorie' food, like junk food, as it only contains calories and has no nutrients," he said, citing sugar- loaded soft drinks as one of the worst offenders.

"To eat food raw is the best, as the more food is processed, the less nutritional value it has."

The daily requirement of protein for children and teenagers is one gram for every kilogram of body weight or between 20 grams and 30 grams per day, while an adult needs 50 grams.

However, Hendry said as long as people achieved their daily calorie intake, there was no need to worry about protein.

Hendry, who has adopted a vegan diet, said that dairy products were not necessary or recommended for our health.

A vegan is a person who does not consume meat or dairy products at all.

"Cheese is solid fat, while eggs are unnecessary and, in fact, more harmful to us, especially the yolk, which is very high in cholesterol."

Skimmed milk yogurt is an exception as it has low fat levels, he said, as well as acidophilus, which is fermented by any one of several non-harmful bacteria and used therapeutically to change the intestinal flora.

Trend

Hendry said a growing number of people in Indonesia were turning to vegetarianism, mainly for religious and medical reasons.

He explained that many degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart attacks, stroke and diabetes mellitus, were mostly related to a meat-centered diet.

"The number one health concern (for people switching over) is high cholesterol, and many realize that the key point to heart disease is related to a high level of cholesterol, which is only found in animal products."

Cancer is the second main health reason for people to become vegetarians, and Hendry said "cancer patients are almost always told to avoid a meat diet".

Other medical problems associated with carnivores include functional overloading of the kidneys, impaired blood sugar metabolism, micro-organism infections, dioxin poisoning and increased levels of hormonal adrenaline, related to high blood pressure.

For those who worry that there is a lack of variety associated with vegetarianism, Hendry advised looking in the market and seeing the many types of grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables available there.

"Actually, it is meat that lacks variety, as there are only four or five types to eat."

He also said people should not be concerned with weight gain on a vegetarian diet if they consume only 12 nuts a day and stay away from cheese.

The doctor said there was still a misconception here that we need meat in our diet.

"In Indonesia, we're still following the old government diet recommendation of empat sehat lima sempurna, (four groups is healthy, five, counting milk, is perfect), so we're accustomed to eating meat and dairy products," he said.

But meat contains hormone injections, drugs, such as antibiotics, and additives, including nitrate, which are almost all carcinogenic, Hendry said.

"We should eat to live, not live to eat," Hendry said.