You may have heard about all the wonderful benefits of changing your diet to include more vegetables and less meat. If you really plan to do this, you will need help right away to make sure you are getting proper nutrition. This is where I can help you.

Your first lesson in becoming a vegetarian is about the different types of nutrients and what foods they are found in.

Types of nutrients

There are six main classes of nutrients that you will find in food. Some foods only provide one main class, while some foods overlap between classes.

The six classes are:

Carbohydrates
Fats
Minerals
Protein
Vitamins
Water

Carbohydrates are found in foods that should make up the majority of your diet. These include rice, bread, noodles, pasta, and other cereal-based food products. This group also includes foods high in sugar, fiber, and starch.

Fats are another of the six and they come with two broad subcategories; unsaturated and saturated fats. Unsaturated fats are those found in plants and are generally liquid at room temperature. Saturated fats are of animal origin and are solid or semi-solid at room temperature.

Protein – This can be found in foods like vegetables, tofu, soy products, dairy products, and eggs.

Minerals are, for example, iron, calcium, iodine, potassium, etc.

Vitamins are considered essential for various bodily processes and for the general maintenance of good health. The only vitamin that is not needed in the diet is vitamin D, which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight.

Water is the sixth class and constitutes 2/3 of the human body. We get 20 percent of our daily water intake from the food we eat, and the rest should come from the water we drink, as well as other beverages.

Nutrition basics

Your body can get all the nutrients it needs for its proper function from food.

Eating a balanced diet means eating a combination of foods from the different food groups in the proper proportions.

There is no one food that can provide the body with all the nutrients necessary for growth and good health.

Different nutrients have different and specific uses in the body.

Most of the nutrients that are necessary for good health cannot function on their own, but instead act in conjunction with other nutrients in the body.

No matter your age, we all need the same nutrients only in different amounts at different stages of life.

The amount of nutrients your body needs depends on your level of physical activity, your age, your gender, and your general health.