Personalized Diets & Vegetarianism

A brief overview of "personalized" diets:

Diet and Nutrition plays an important role in our sustenance, health and well-being. However, the trends of having a "personalized" diet based on the individual's blood type, metabolic type, ayurvedic constitution, medical conditions, genotype, cultural and beliefs are on the rise.

The underlying science behind blood type diet lies in the illness susceptibility, bacteria in the gut, reaction to stress, blood type antigens present in other parts of the body, all differs in each blood type, which calls for different dietary intakes.

Due to biochemical differences, different individuals function best on different amounts of fat, carbohydrates and proteins consumed. A person who is consuming the exact same diet from another may not have the same results if they are trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass due to different metabolic rates and patterns.

In the ayurvedic perspective, there are three doshas—Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. These Doshas, or mind-body types, are unique blends of physical, emotional, and mental characteristics. It is said that health is attained when the mind, body, and environment are in balance, where each different predominant dosha type, needs to consume and avoid certain foods.

Our dietary choices are sometimes affected by intolerance or allergy to certain types of food. There are also dietary patterns that might be recommended, prescribed or administered for people with specific medical needs. For example, in the treatment gluten-related disorders, which include coeliac disease, gluten-free diets which avoids the protein gluten, which is found in barley, rye and wheat. are followed. The Ketogenic diet is another example of a high-fat, low-carb diet, in which dietary and body fat is converted into energy for treatment of refractory epilepsy.

In the Genome diet, body type, metabolic rate, disease susceptibility are categorized into 6 different "GenoTypes" which determines the, caloric intake, composition of fats, carbohydrates and proteins that are most effective for weight-loss and optimal health.

Vegetarian Diets:

In the interest of Ayurveda and Yoga, we will explore the types of vegetarian diets and the potential deficiencies with these diets and how to ensure the deficient nutrients are obtained through available food sources:

Deficiencies & problems related to Vegetarian diets

• Lack of Amino acids

• lack of vitamin B12 calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc (due to phytic acid from certain grains, beans and legumes, raw soybeans, lentils and mung beans that prevents it's absorption)

• Essential fatty acid insufficiency (EFAs are linoleic acid (LA, omega-6) and alpha linolenic acid (ALA, omega-3)

• Vitamin A

• Vitamin D

• L-carnitine

• Over-consumption of carbohydrates

• Fatigue / low energy (due to lack of B vitamins, zinc, etc)

• Potential inability to put on muscle mass

• May not address the nutritional needs of children and pregnant women

What else should you consider, if you decide on following a diet, or going vegetarian?

The nutritional and caloric needs of an individual to be considered and understood before adopting and integrating the diet we read or hear about. Although there are many health benefits and ethical reasons to consuming a partial or full plant-based diet, due to the nature of the food sources and the absence of certain vitamins and minerals that are otherwise present in meat, dairy, seafood, etc, someone considering to follow a vegetarian diet needs to carefully ensure that the shortages of these essential nutrients for the body are properly obtained from the right sources.

Online Sources:

https://www.forksoverknives.com/do-people-need-different-diets/#gs.oODsJZg

https://draxe.com/vegetarian-diet/

https://www.healthline.com/health/metabolic-diet-review-fact-or-fiction

http://www.dadamo.com/txt/index.pl?1001

http://www.dadamo.com/txt/index.pl?1039

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diets

https://draxe.com/vegetarian-diet/

https://www.naturalgrocers.com/recipes/special-diets/vegetarian/nutritional-concerns-for-vegetarians/