More people on vegetarian diet

A woman selects a cucumber from a plate full of vegetables. A growing number of people are on a vegetarian diet since vegetables proved to be excellent detoxifiers. / Courtesy of Samsung Medical Center

To become healthy, many people rely on dietary supplements. Tablets of vitamins ranging from A to E and comprehensive nutritional supplements, including iron, magnesium and other substances, are examples.

But the paradigm of how people are taking care of their diet and the type of dietary supplements they take are changing.

In terms of diet, if people paid special attention to their food intake for weight control or for energy-supply reasons, recent trends show people are taking extra care of their diet for detoxification purposes.

Consuming vegetables is a good example. More and more people are on a vegetarian diet not because they loathe meat or because they are against slaughtering of animals but because vegetables are excellent detoxifiers.

“I started eating vegetables as my main diet since last month and I saw immediate effects. I used to have constipation, now I don’t have any problems in my bowel movements,” said Eileen Chung, a 26-year-old graduate student.

“I also feel that my digestive system is more comfortable,” she said.

The effect of vegetables on the body is distinctive, experts say.

“When I compare my experience of massaging Japanese and Koreans, the Japanese are much easier to take care of because their muscles are softer and they smoothen out easily,” said Oh Eun-ju, a massage therapist at Black Bay, a therapy center in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.

“This is much attributed to their diet which revolves around vegetables and seafood. Their food is less salty or spicy, much milder than Korea’s,” she said.

“But Koreans tend to have tougher muscles that are harder to smoothen out. Koreans tend to consume a lot of meat and salty food which makes the muscles stiffer. Contracted nerves cause the muscles to stiffen. This means the body lacks energy and has low metabolism and blood circulation,” she added.

Vegetables are not the only food that has detoxification effects on the body. When consumed together with nutritional supplements such as enzyme and glutathione, they see synergy effects, a reason why health substances are becoming increasingly popular.

“I naturally lost two kilograms after consuming enzymes with vegetables. I also don’t have menstrual cramps anymore,” said Chung.

The common characteristic of these nutritional supplements is that they are biological substances that the human body produces but they become deficient.

“Glutathione is a combined element of three amino acids. This chemical combination occurs within the cells in our body. These three must combine in adequate proportions in order to produce glutathione but the process is often deterred in our bodies due to gastric acid,” said Chung Hai-sook, manager at Hyoun Biotech, a company that distributes Glutathione Alpha.

“The glutathione powder helps our body produce glutathione without this deterrence,” he said. “Our bodies are accumulating harmful substances from the outside. Doctors say some epidemic diseases are caused by Westernization of our diet but it’s because our food is not clean anymore. That’s why health supplements that help detoxification are coming under the spotlight.”

The glutathione powder acts as a detoxifier.

“The glutathione detoxifies the toxins that have accumulated within our bodies and discharges them. Problems occur if the bodily waste continues to accumulate,” Chung said.

Because of the detoxification effect, many see their skin rejuvenate and their digestive systems activated.

There are even centers that run programs that help people maximize the effect of these supplements through exercise and workout programs along with a vegetarian diet.

“Enzymes help the body create energy by activating digestion and absorption of nutrients. It also gets rid of old tissue and regenerates new ones,” said Lee Jik-won, director at Prun Life, an enzyme clinic located in Jinan, North Jeolla Province.

“Pollution, stress, internal toxins, bodily waste, and drugs have turned our body environment into a place difficult for enzymes to live in. Consuming enzyme supplements help the body create a favorable environment for our enzymes to live in.”

The clinic provides a regular vegetarian meal and strict exercise programs to help the body break down the enzymes more easily. <The Korea Times/Yun Suh-young>

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