One woman’s foray into a meatless approach to cooking.
For years, as a writer, I have been tracking stories on the advantages of vegetarian diets for health. I just began experimenting with the concept of personally moving to a vegetarian diet. Some forego meat for spiritual purposes. Many go vegetarian in order to support the environment; the United Nations recently found that one of the main causes of the most major environmental issues facing the planet is livestock. But now, health is also motivating people—including me—to shift to a plant-based diet.
More and more people are cutting back on meat; now, 3 percent of American adults-over 7 million individuals-never eat meat, fish or poultry, up from less than 1 percent in 1994. Science is revealing that cutting back on meat is better for almost everyone. Relaunched in 2003 at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to assist Americans in reducing saturated fat intake, the Meatless Monday campaign—a successful voluntary reduction effort in the United States during both World War I and World War II—has evolved into a full-fledged movement. San Francisco and other cities have declared official Meatless Monday; public schools and college dining halls have embraced the idea; famous chefs like Mario Batali are spearheading the change in eateries. Programmes based on Meatless Monday are flourishing in Canada, Brazil, Croatia, and Korea. Most likely, you know numerous folks who have given up meat; perhaps dairy and eggs as well every day of the week. Perhaps among them you are one.
Learning more about vegetarian eating helped me to feel more at ease with switching my diet. From pregnant women to youngsters to athletes, the American Dietetic Association insists that vegetarian meals are safe and healthy for everyone—long as they are well planned. Cutting meat often means obtaining more dietary fibre, folic acid, vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium and unsaturated fat, and less saturated fat and cholesterol, according to research. Studies have indicated that cutting meat intake lowers the risk of heart disease, maybe type 2 diabetes, and several malignancies. Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D., who has written extensively on vegetarian diets, states “Vegetarians have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and tend to be a little bit thinner, so vegetarians are automatically going to be at lower risk of certain chronic diseases.”
These statistics motivated my husband and me to determine that our family of four—which also includes our 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter—would switch to more vegetarian meals.
A Case Study for Plant-Based Diets
We have, in many respects, a decent model for a vegetarian society, and it’s one I gave some thought as we decided on our new diet. Situated about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, a suburban valley in southern California’s Inland Empire lies Loma Linda, home to many thousand Seventh-Day Adventists among other religious groups. The Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) religion holds that the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and, hence, shouldn’t be contaminated with alcohol or tobacco-and, some members also think meat should not be consumed. Thirty percent of Adventists eat just vegetarian food. Researchers at Loma Linda University, an SDA medical centre, released an observational study in 1958 demonstrating that Adventists were noticeably less likely to die from cancer, heart disease, and other lifestyle-related ailments. The scientists started investigating if their diets would contribute to explain their improved health in 1974. Eating less beef was really linked, they discovered, to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
Research on other vegetarian groups has produced comparable findings. For instance, a 1999 collection of several research revealed that those who had been vegetarian for more than five years were 24 percent less likely than meat-eaters to die of ischemic heart disease or coronary heart disease. (Those who ate meat sometimes were still 20 percent less likely to die of these illnesses.)
These results originally made me glad. Our family has always avoided overly processed meals in favour of largely whole foods, like brown rice and whole-wheat pastas and fruits and vegetables. But the more I studied our food, the more I came to see that our meals were defined by meat-not veggies or grains.
I so promised myself that, for a month, I would not only cut back on meat and create nutritious meals from EatingWell’s new book, EatingWell Fast & Flavorful Meatless Meals, but also buy a wider range of fruits and vegetables, particularly greens and colourful peppers and carrots. I would up my bean intake. I would also make sure we were all receiving enough of the minerals vegetarians require to pay more attention to: vitamin B12 (only found naturally in animal products); iron (more readily absorbed from meat); DHA and EPA, omega-3 fatty acids (mostly in fish); zinc and iodine. I got every member of my family multivitamins just to be cautious.
Meeting Our Meatless Month
I went grocery shopping at the start of the week to get supplies for our new meals. That evening I made vegetable Sesame-Crusted Tofu. That was incredible. The next day I really desired it and warmed the leftovers for lunch.
The remainder of the week tasted as good. One particularly popular was the bean and hominy potpie-total comfort food. Cooking vegetarian started to seem like an adventure; I started stuffing more “good stuff” into breakfast and lunch; I prepared smoothies with silken tofu, greens, blueberries, bananas and orange juice. They were so excellent; my three-year-old started requesting one every day. When my kid triumphantly pushed the soybean out of the pod into his mouth, he enthused, “I did it, Mommy! I cooked edamame and dusted it with sea salt! MMM! I find soybeans to be delicious! I was delighted as my family has a history of cholesterol problems and soy has been linked to lower levels.
Say researchers, lower LDL (bad) and total cholesterol levels may be a main factor for vegetarians’ lower risk for heart disease. High cholesterol might aggravate artery plaque that can cause heart attacks or strokes. While vegetables include loads of fibre and plant sterols, which can help to keep cholesterol levels in a healthy range, meat has great amounts of saturated fat, which boosts cholesterol levels. Most certainly, our new diet was already lowering our cholesterol and benefiting our hearts.
Obviously, “vegetarian” does not necessarily translate into heart-healthy cuisine. “Because vegetarian diets are defined, basically, as just eliminating meat, the word “vegetarian” labels a great diversity of eating styles,” says Winston Craig, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, the lead author of the American Dietetic Association’s position paper on vegetarian diets. For instance, a diet heavy in white bread and plenty of cheese qualifies as “vegetarian.”
We started making minor adjustments to the rest of our diet using EatingWell’s formula for healthy vegetarian meals (plenty of veggies and whole grains, minimal high-fat dairy and moderate quantities of good fats, such oils and nuts). We cut ice cream and cheeses. On toast, I spread peanut butter rather than ordinary butter. Many scientists think that vegetarians’ better heart health results from a large consumption of nuts, which have unsaturated fats that decrease cholesterol. Studies have indicated that those who eat nuts more than four times a week suffer half as many heart attacks as those who consume nuts less than once a week.)
The little dietary changes seemed so natural that I started to think this new way of eating may be permanent. A good vegetarian meal with friends highlighted that point: I presented Tomato and Spinach meal Strata and nobody noticed the lack of meat. Hardy carnivore like my dad went back for seconds.
An Evolved Eating Approach
A few weeks later, I realised eating is far more than simply sustenance. Eating may be a deliberate, yet nearly automatic means of expressing one’s values (e.g., excellent health, compassionate treatment of animals, improved surroundings). Every time I came across food, I started to pay far more attention to it and had to make little selections each time. Mindlessly eating coconut-coated chocolate Sno Balls or hundreds of chocolate chip cookies became far more challenging as a result. “I believe that eating more vegetarian meals has helped me to practice self control; it gives me the muscles to control my junk food eating,” I said in my diary.
I also had quadrupled my fruit and vegetable intake and felt fantastic about the stuff I was eating overall. “Generally a person on a vegetarian diet tells me they feel better all around,” adds Craig. I agreed. Maybe I had less desires as I constantly thought about health and the fascinating tastes I was giving my taste receptors satiated.
I felt free. I came out feeling free. And it tasted nice.
