Soy has been presented as a health food and is available in many forms such as soy flour widely used in the baked goods industry and soy milk widely used as an alternative to cow's milk. In replacing soy we face the same issue of becoming a food detective that we have with nuts and peanuts.
The demand for milk has created an intensive dairy industry in which cows are treated as units of production not living creatures. Dairy cows are selectively bred for the highest milk yield. They are impregnated every year so that they continue to produce milk.
Alpha-linolenic or ALA is found in vegetable oils. It is the shortest of the long-chained a2 cow ghee during pregnanc polyunsaturated fatty acids PUFAs The body can if it must convert some ALA into the longer-chained PUFAs. In the case of a strict vegetarian diet, it must. But, the conversion process is limited and varies from one person to the other. At most, only 5% of the ALA in a person's diet will be converted to Docosahexaenoic or DHA, the longest of the long-chained PUFAs.
But what about Calcium from milk? Ah yes, Calcium, every physician's number one reason for drinking milk. Well here is a short list of quality foods that are excellent Calcium sources. Believe me this list could go on and on but I will make the point with just a few.
Country kids used to eat constantly, but few were fat. The wild plums read more might be ready to eat, requiring a trip down the gravel road to where they grew. Everyone would gather and eat straight from the tree. Finally they would fill a bucket to take back to the kitchen. When blackberries came in they would pick them and get covered with chigger bites in the process. Eggs had to be gathered. Chickens were plucked before church on Sunday and fried after, often in lard. The garden had to be picked, and, yes everyone had a garden.
Slim Figure - When you think of a vegetarian, do you think of a fat person? Most likely not. Since vegetarians aren't filled up with animal proteins and high calories, putting on weight is not something that comes easy. In fact, vegetarians eat on average 500 calories less than their meat eating counterparts. Remember, every 3,500 calories equal a pound of weight. Think how much weight you can lose in a week by going the healthy vegetarian route!