Whether for esthetic reasons in search of a good-looking shape, for healthy reasons in an effort to live better, or just for religious or ethic mandates, vegetarian food is elbowing its way through in today's world.

It's not a secret to anyone that good eating habits could really be a medicinal way for either curing or preventing diseases. In many cases, a vegetarian diet is the natural solution to deal with inherited metabolic disorders.

This dietary regimen is highly recommended for diabetic people who find in vegetables a way to keep their glucose levels under wraps, while patients with cardiac problems could get the right protection they need against the ghost of cholesterol and the risk of having a heart attack.

A research study conducted by German oncologists over a sample of 2,000 veggies disclosed that eating very little or no meat at all could slash the risks of deadly heart attacks or cardiovascular diseases by half, one of the leading causes of death today (around 25 to 50 percent).

Vegetarians ward off animal-origin fat and raise their vitamin and fiber intake, two elements that help prevent the above-mentioned ailments. Blood samples in vegetable eaters reveal higher concentrations of leukocytes specialized in killing cancerous cells.

Moreover, this study group was also less prone to suffer from gallbladder and kidney stones, and cut down on their chances of catching a bade case of constipation.

A research study carried out in Sweden back in 1985, showed asthmatic patients who managed to be on a vegetarian diet for a whole year saw their respiratory attacks hacked off in both frequency and severity as they consumed less relief medications. Twenty two out of twenty four persons noticed a dramatic improvement.

For those with family records of cataract, swerving the twisted path of their genetic inheritance could be as easy as raising the intake of Vitamin A and manganese between 40 and 50 years of age. And no other food carries more of those two nutrients than carrot, either grated or in juice.

The virtues of other cancer-preventing foodstuffs have also been hyped. Cases in point are such vegetables as cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli, all of them featuring high concentrations of genisteine, a substance that bars tumors from growing vein vessels and branching out into other parts of the human body.

The most important thing to bear in mind for those eager to take on this kind of eating habit is the adequate selection of food, making sure all necessary nutrients are covered in just one meal.

Variety is the key to success Proteins are found in such grains as soybeans, therefore doctors recommend higher intakes of legumes, dry fruits, cereals and seeds.

Calcium is found in wholesome soybean milk, but also in lettuce, spinach, broccoli and chard, as well as in beans. For its part, iron goes in wholesome oatmeal, seeds and green vegetables. The consumption of those two minerals can be jacked up by eating more Vitamin C-rich food, like tomatoes.

Some have aired concerns that such a vegetarian diet fails to meet the nutritional requirements the body needs. However, it's a whole lot easier to keep the proper levels of proteins and other nutrients flowing in by depending exclusively on vegetables and legumes.

It's all a matter of matching the right combinations in order to get the necessary proteins. Even though you don't have to be rocket scientist to know vegetable-only diets are not that rich in proteins as meat meals, intake levels found in vegetables are actually satisfactory.

Protein excess is usually linked to the formation of kidney stones, osteoporosis and very likely to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, a diet based on legumes, grains, fruits and vegetables contains the right amount of those nutrients.

Thus, this kind of eating habit, vehemently defended by philosophers like Plato and Nietzsche, by political leaders like Benjamin Franklin and Ghandi, and pop stars like Paul McCartney and Bob Marley, also banks on the support of scientists who eye vegetables as a top dietary priority.

It'll be like following the old Hippocratic precept: “Let my food be my only medicine and my medicine be my only food.”