Every adult of average size needs 80 – 120 gram of protein daily. Rich protein sources are: legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs, cheese and flesh foods (flesh is not recommended).

Nutritionally, a vegetarian diet is superior above all else. However, if you have been eating
meat all your life, it may be hard to change your eating habits for physiological reasons. You will require some protein from animal sources.
People who do eat flesh may still do well provided they watch two requirements:
a) Be sure not to overeat protein from any source, by keeping within the right quantities of
total protein food.
b) compensate for the lack of fiber by having plenty of vegetables.

People who like to switch to vegetarian eating but are having difficulties adjusting to plant foods may benefit by including moderate amounts of deep-sea fish, or free range, organic white or red meat to their diet, once or twice a week.

A vegetarian diet may be strict vegetarian (or vegan) or one including small amounts of
unprocessed cheese and free-range eggs (lacto-ovo-vegetarian). These foods may provide some ‘nutritional assurance’ against vitamin B12 deficiency.

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates come in two forms: simple and complex.

Simple carbohydrates are sugars that don’t need to be broken down further, so the body can use them for quick boosts of energy. Honey, maple syrup, soda, cookies, candy, table sugar and cakes are all sources of simple sugars, but since they are also high in calories, they should only be eaten occasionally.

Instead, it is important to eat healthy sources of simple sugars, like fruit and fat-free or low-fat milk. These alternatives to sugary sweets offer vitamins, minerals and fiber as well.
Complex carbohydrates are larger, digest more slowly and provide longer-lasting energy. Foods like bread, pasta, rice, oatmeal, corn and starchy vegetables (like potatoes and carrots) contain the highest amounts. Sources you should choose most often are vegetables, beans and whole-grain, high-fiber breads and cereals. The right carbohydrates are either complex carbohydrate or fiber and generally
supply additional healthy trace elements and phytonutrients, as well as energy and should have a low-glycemic index.

Select unrefined carbohydrates – sugary and starchy foods – for energy (plus their minerals, vitamins and fibre).

Sugary Foods
Besides high-water content fresh fruits, natural sugar comes in concentrated form dried fruit or
sparing quantities of honey, pure maple syrup, rice syrup, etc. or black/brown sugar.
Limit concentrated sugary foods to around 60 grams per day for a person of average size –
or at least no more than this amount at any one time, so as not to upset blood sugar level.
For honey, etc. the amount would only be a small portion of this.

Starchy foods
Include vegetables like potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin and sweet corn.
also grains like wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, millet, buckwheat etc.
With a sedentary lifestyle, limit grain foods to about 120 grams/day in total,
which is equivalent to about four slices of bread. It is better on some days
to have starchy vegetables instead of grains. As the vegetables contain less starch
than the grains, they can be eaten in much larger quantities.

Starchy foods, being ‘heating’ foods, are more suitable for cold weather,
while sweet, succulent fruits are more compatible with hot weather.

FATS
While excess fat is dangerous, some fats are essential and are good for you.
Your body needs it for proper brain development, like 0mega-3 and omega-6,
to bring certain vitamins through the brain barrier.

There are two types of fat: saturated and unsaturated.
Beneficial fats are high in essential fatty acids and low in saturated fatty acids.
Unsaturated fats is found in fish like salmon, tuna, also in nuts, seeds, avocados,
and most vegetable oils and plant fats. These are fats in liquid form.
Saturated fat may increase your risk of heart disease.
We normally get all the fat we need from protein rich foods, provided they are mainly from
plant origin.

We don’t need butter, cream or other highly saturated animal fats. Coconut and palm oils
are also high in saturated fat and can be found in many store-bought baked foods.
However, for those who like to use them, a small amount should be tolerated, provided there is not a blood-triglyceride problem. Treed these concentrated fats (including any oil) only as a garnish and limit them to a total of around 30 grams a day for a person of average size.

Select cold pressed and unrefined oil if possible – for example ‘extra virgin, cold-pressed olive oil. Unsalted butter appears to be less harmful than margarine because of the damaging trans fatty acids in the hydrogenated oils in most margarines. In any case, butter is less processed than margarine. Watch for processed foods containing added fat, especially if he fat is saturated or hydrogenated.