Advice for maintaining a healthy vegetarian diet

Eating a varied diet of nutritious foods is essential to good health and vitality.To ensure your body is getting enough protein from non-animal sources, consider these tips for optimizing your vegetarian diet.

While a lot of vegetarian food is healthy, it is still important to keep things varied to ensure that your diet is well balanced and includes a broad range of nutrients.

• Devise a menu that combines whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes such as dried beans, lentils and split peas – together they supply all the essential amino acids. Try dhal with rice, hummus with flat bread or kidney beans with tortillas.
• Load up on lentils, wheat germ, pumpkin seeds and unsalted nuts, which are all known for their high protein content.
• Eat more soy products, such as tofu, tempeh and miso. They're the best alternative to meat for providing complete protein. Soy protein is rich in phyto-oestrogens or isoflavones, which may help to lower cholesterol, inhibit the growth of cancer cells and ease the symptoms of menopause.
• Try spelt pasta – it's an excellent protein source for vegetarians and its protein content is 10–25 percent higher than common varieties of commercial wheat pasta.
• Eat plenty of legumes, such as beans and split peas. They are not only high in protein, but also high in fibre and very low in saturated fat. Additionally, legumes can help to protect against cancer, lower cholesterol and control blood sugar.
• If you're not a vegan, add dairy foods or eggs to your daily diet. They are a source of good-quality protein, particularly for young children and some older people who may find it difficult to eat the volume of grains and beans needed to meet daily protein requirements.

Liven up your vegetarian meals with a variety of spreads and toppings that are both delicious and packed with the goodness your body requires.

• Avocado: Mash avocado as a spread on sandwiches. It tastes delicious, is rich in beneficial essential fatty acids and loaded with vitamins, minerals and fibre.
• Dips: Check the refrigerated section in your supermarket for tasty and healthy dips you can use as a spread, such as hummus.
• Low-fat cheeses: Instead of butter, use cottage cheese or fresh ricotta. Both make a great base for other fillings.
• Nut butters: Purchase a brand that doesn't contain partially hydrogenated oils. Alternatively, try making them at home. For peanut butter, simply combine 2 cups of roasted peanuts with 1/4 cup of peanut oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a food processor. Process the mixture until it reaches the desired texture, whether chunky or smooth.
• Oils: Use a little extra virgin olive oil or cold-pressed walnut oil on bread.

Tip: Fresh nuts and seeds taste great and have many health benefits. However, as they age, their oils oxidize and become rancid, creating a bitter flavour. The best and cheapest way to buy nuts and seeds is in the shell. Choose nuts that feel heavy for their size: if they feel light, they may be withered inside. If you're buying packaged shelled nuts, buy them from a health food shop with a high turnover. Avoid purchasing them in bulk from bins because their sensitivity to light, heat and oxygen will cause shelled nuts to oxidize quickly.

Whether you've been maintaining a vegetarian diet for years or are just starting out, there are always tasty new foods to discover that can add to the healthy variety of your daily meals.