Veggie

Living life without the beef

By MARIAM SHABANA
and DEBORAH PERRY
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

Because of requests made by students, the cafeteria has started serving a special vegetarian lunch menu.
The new menu started on Oct. 28.
“I found that there are a lot of people who enjoy meatless dishes so starting (last) week the cafeteria is having a special vegetarian lunch menu,” said Moe Hinton, director of Food Services.
The word “vegetarian” encompass a wide variety of ideal systems. And the truth behind living in a world full of vegetarians is that a perfect vegetarian doesn’t exist.
There are vegetarians who eat eggs and milk products. There are oval–lacto vegetarians and vegans who don’t eat any kind on animal product, said Karen Whittemore, a family nurse practitioner at the Wellness Center.
“I think it is good to be a vegetarian, not a vegan or an oval–lacto vegetarian, so that you can add cheese and eggs to your food,” Whittemore said.
There have been many benefits espoused for being vegetarian. These include a longer life span – on average a full 10 to 15 years longer, a lower rate of all diseases including: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, kidney stones and osteoporosis, according to the Web site www.vegetariantimes.com.
“You can be a healthy person as a vegetarian if you make sure that you eat a wide variety of foods,” Whittemore said.
However, there can be a downside to vegetarianism.
“You can end up with nutritional deficiency,” said Whittemore. “Especially the vegetarians who are not eating a wide variety (of vegetables).”
Whittemore said other health problems can include skin problems caused by the nutritional deficiency, anorexia caused by not eating enough calories for the body to function. Weight loss is another sign of not eating enough calories, she said.
“If you are not taking enough calories your body will try to find a way to get the calories from itself, so it starts eating itself,” Whittemore said.
Another problem is not getting enough of the vitamins and minerals

  

With the growing number of vegetarians, the SUU cafeteria now offers a vegetarian lunch menu. A vegetarian diet can be healthy if a variety of grains, fruit and vegetables are consumed.
ANNIE BROWN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

which are normally found in animal products.
“If you are an oval–lacto vegetarian you can end up missing out on a lot of Vitamin B,” Whittemore said.
And while vegans and oval–lacto vegetarians don’t eat animal protein, Whittemore said it isn’t difficult to find sources for the protein from plants and vegetables.
“The protein – that you can get if you are eating smartly,” she said. “It is really important to combine food like rice and beans to make sure that you get complete protein.”
Whittemore said the best way to be a vegetarian is to be sure to eat enough food, with enough diversity, and in the right quantities.
“There are some people, they brag about being vegetarians and they are not eating anything really, they are just eating their sugar and salads,” she said.
Before deciding to become any form of vegetarian Whittemore suggests finding out about how to do it properly to get the right kind of nutrition.
“I think it would be a good idea if somebody is thinking about becoming a vegetarian they might want to look on the Internet and find ways that are healthy for them to do that,” she said.