NOT all of us can completely give up meat, but we have to admit that there are some standards that vegetarians live by that we can all adopt in our own approach to eating right and maintaining a healthy body.

Owing to their lifestyle, those who go without meat generally tend to have lower cholesterol levels and are at decreased risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and certain types of cancer.

“Although you have some vegetarians who have on a lot of weight, vegetarians generally tend to be leaner if they practise a good vegetarian lifestyle,” said vegan and nutritionist Donovan Grant.

You don’t have to be a vegetarian to reap these benefits. You would just need to apply the following principles that govern their lifestyle.

1. Be able to say no. Part of the challenge some of us have is being able to turn down a delicious meal, even if we know it would completely mess up our weight loss plan or health goal. But saying ‘no’ is something vegetarians have mastered. A vegetarian can put a whole room of meat eaters to shame by refusing to take a bite, no matter how hungry they are.

2. Check out the ingredients on food packages. Vegetarians have to stick to a particular eating regimen and so they take great pains to scrutinise what they eat. This means they take time out to read food labels if they are not sure, and even at the risk of being a bother, they usually ask the waitress at the restaurant, or their host at a party, what is included in the dish they are being served. We can all learn to be a bit more selective in what we eat.

3. Embrace plant-based dishes. We have already established that we don’t expect you to completely give up meat. However, you can reap some great benefits from incorporating plant-based protein in your diet. Beans, for example, are great sources of fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and are easy to prepare when you get in late in the evenings and want a quick meal. It’s also okay to swap your steak and pork for steamed cabbage and callaloo every once in a while.

4. Use natural spices for flavour. The fact that someone is a vegetarian doesn’t mean they are doomed to a life of consuming bland, tasteless dishes. Vegetarians are in fact probably more appreciative of utilising natural herbs and spices to enhance their meals instead of depending on processed additives which are likely to possess something that is on their restricted list of food items.

5. Find creative ways to prepare vegetables. A vegetarian diet is not as expansive as a carnivorous one, so you usually find that non-meat lovers have to experiment a lot with the limited ingredients they are allowed to consume. You would be amazed at the tons of dishes a vegetarian can create from purchases made just from the vegetable and fruit aisle. After a day of putting their creative head to work, they’ll have breakfast, lunch, dinner and even dessert from their basket of all-natural ingredients.

6. Eating right is a lifestyle and not a temporary fix. Vegetarianism is not a diet, it’s a philosophy. This is probably the sort of outlook that is needed in our quest to maintain good health. A diet is a temporary thing, while a philosophy governs every aspect of an individual’s life. It is often said that the first obstacle we need to overcome in trying to lose weight is our mind. Once your mind is completely made up, then it will become easy to stick to a new lifestyle.