Try
Vegetarianism, I like It!
By Jordan
Rasmussen,
Outpost staff
Are you considering joining the 9 percent of the world that decides every day to not give any more money to a billion-dollar industry? An industry that thrives on growing things just to destroy them? Perhaps you are ready, but for other reasons. Perhaps for you it is the ethical concern of whether it is right or wrong, or maybe it is the idea that it will help you lose weight. But before jumping into becoming a vegetarian, you should know that there might be more to it than you think.
There are two major categories of vegetarianism. The
average vegetarian is an Ovo-Lacto vegetarian. Ovo-Lacto
vegetarians eat eggs and dairy.
A vegan eats no animal flesh and no animal by-products. Vegans refrain from eating dairy, eggs and the most serious vegans do not eat honey because it comes from bees. A vegan diet is crucially strict and dieticians do not recommend it because it is difficult to supplement adequate amounts of protein. But Erik Marcus, author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating and publisher of Vegan.com, says that over the past ten years, he has noticed that more and more vegetarians are opting to become vegan.
"I think that more people are choosing a vegan diet after being vegetarian," Marcus says. "It's the logical evolution once you stop eating meat."
Whether you become a
vegetarian for ethical, health or religious concerns, more
thinking is involved in the vegetarian lifestyle than just
not eating meat.
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Many people become vegetarians because they disagree with the general consensus that it is acceptable to kill animals for human consumption. Others are appalled at the treatment of the same animals while they are alive. Veal is a classic example of this horrible treatment. Baby cows are boxed up for their entire life, unable to run or play. They are injected with hormones every day until they are slaughtered for their tender flesh. But the meat industry is only one industry making money from the unethical treatment of animals.
Cosmetic companies use animals as a method of product testing. These animals are often left seriously affected by product experimentation and are killed off if they are no longer useful to the corporation. Proctor and Gamble, the leader of the animal testing pack, manufactures such products as Crest, Pantene and Head and Shoulders.
In trying to better your
ethical self, you will benefit animals and their rights by
not buying these products.
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Unless meat is the only thing that you eat, a vegetarian diet will not necessarily help you lose weight. Vickie Bovee, Master of Science, registered dietician and certified health cducation specialist at the University of Nevada, says that even though vegetarians cut out meat, the diet is absolutely not low fat.
"If you want to lose weight, watch your portion sizes, and your calorie and total fat intake," Bovee says. "A vegetarian diet that consists of cheese, eggs and nuts as the main protein sources is a high-fat diet."
But Bovee does say that a
vegetarian diet can be just as healthy as a meat diet. She
offers some guidelines for novice vegetarians:
- Be an Ovo-Lacto
Vegetarian. This means do not exclude eggs and dairy from
your diet. (Especially if you are just starting to be
veggie.)
- Don't become a
vegetarian to lose weight. You won't.
- Be sure to eat five
servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Of course,
Bovee says this goes for flesh-food people too.
- Watch your saturated fat
intake. Too much cheese can be a bad thing, but you can
find healthier unsaturated fats in things like nuts and
vegetable oils.
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Many Eastern religions teach the practice of vegetarianism as a spiritual part of life. Buddhists believe in preventing harm from any living creature. They believe in reincarnation and that they may be harming their brother if they were to kill and eat a living being. Members of the Reno Buddhist Church say that although not all of them are vegetarian, they all believe that it is the next step in evolving into a more advanced being.
Other variations of Eastern religions teach that taking in any flesh of another animal requires that you also take on the karma that animal has left behind.
Recently, self-help and
spirituality books, such as James Redfield's The Celestine
Prophecy have noted that switching to a vegetarian diet is
likely to be the next step toward the evolution of our
species. Meat eaters often disagree, saying that because we
are at the top of the food chain, the world would become
overrun with animals if we stopped eating them. This makes
sense, but at the rate we are destroying various species of
animals, it might be a good thing to let them replenish
their numbers.
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Switching to a vegetarian diet puts you in a league with such men as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, every past Dalai Lama, and Albert Einstein. We consider these men to be geniuses and founding fathers probably because they had more time to think because they weren't bound up by meat rotting in their intestines before it left their system, like the flesh-food eaters were.
If you are serious about excluding animal products from your diet, read the labels! Who would think that such things as Jell-O and cheese were not vegetarian? Gelatin is used in many products as a thickening agent, and it is made from pig hooves.
Here are some sneaky products that contain gelatin that you should watch out for:
- Jell-O (obviously)
- Starburst
- Skittles
- some yogurts
- Gummi Bears
- Frosted Mini Wheats
- Pop Tarts
- Altoids
- Some skin and hair care products also contain gelatin. Be sure to read the labels on Noxzema and Neutrogena products.
Also, many soups and sauces are started with a chicken or
beef stock. If you are in the store, read the ingredients of
packaged mixes and cans of sauce or soup. Usually meat stock
is one of the first ingredients. If you are in a restaurant,
don't be afraid to ask if your selection contains a meat
stock. Many people are choosing a vegetarian diet and
restaurants are becoming more and more veggie-friendly. Of
course you will receive better response from your inquiries
in a delicatessen or café than in a steak
house.
Pizza is a great vegetarian entree, full of many of
the food groups and mmm, so good. Photo byDeanne
Evely
Many cheeses contain rennet. Rennet is an animal product (stomach lining, usually of a goat) used in the culturing process. In co-ops and health food stores, the cheeses will have ingredient lists too. Choose cheese that lists "vegetarian" or "macrobiotic" rennet.
Packaged products like Rice-A-Roni and Top Ramen also contain meat products in their seasonings. Many include dehydrated chicken fat for flavor. Most Caesar salad dressings contain anchovy. It is very important to read the ingredients.
Tortillas and refried beans often are cooked in lard, another animal product. Choose products that say "vegetarian" or "lard free," and as a bonus this usually cuts out some of the fat from beans. Again, don't be shy in a restaurant, many Mexican restaurants have switched to 100 percent vegetable oils. Taco Bell has vegetarian beans.
The switch can be healthy or not, depending on your eating habits. Ethically it can feel right but don't let vegetarianism make you malnourished. It is a nice change, and it would be nice to see the percentage of veg-heads in the world grow. Good luck, live veggie!
See the dining section for a list of vegetarian friendly restaurants in Reno.
Posted
May 7, 1999
Copyright 1999
Nevada Outpost
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