Valeria Lopez

J Lewenstein

English 1A

April 6, 2017

Join the Vegetarian Revolution: Be Humble. Be Humane.

    Any time you step into Tanya’s kitchen, you won’t see any meat. Her house is full of vegetables, and fruits. Her pantry contains beans; lentils and chickpeas. She likes to throw chickpeas into pasta dishes and vegetable braises and stews. She loves using a variety of grains, she says it makes meals more interesting.  An essential for vegetarian kitchen is Tofu. Her drawers have colorful bowls to put in the salads and fruits. Her home is healthy cruelty-free meals! It takes a lot to be a vegetarian and she has come a long way. What is like to be a vegetarian? It is for you to care about the animals and your health, a lot of people become vegetarians for different reasons. In Tanya's case she became a vegetarian because she cared for the animals. She told me, "I care for the dogs, cats, all animals, that's why I became a vegetarian and I believe animals should not be killed

     I know Tanya because of mutual acquaintance. I met her at my friend’s 20th birthday party. She’s very outgoing and outspoken. She’s the type of girl that you would go to if you were having problems and needed someone to be there for you. The first thing that I might say about Tanya is that she’s a very loyal vegetarian. People may not notice of how hard it is to stay committed or how it takes people courage to do what they for the animals and the planet.

    How a vegetarian diet affects you depends not only on the type of diet, but also on your specific food choices. There's a lot of scary thoughts when going meatless. Also there a lot of things that happen within your body when becoming a vegetarian. Of course you might lose a few pounds but your body might take a while to adjust to the vegetarian diet. Vegetarian diets decrease the risk of many forms of cancer for example; heart disease, gallstones, and kidney stones. People who eat no meat also they tend to have lower blood pressure. Also a lower cholesterol, and they weigh less overall than meat eaters do. The true benefits of vegetarianism come when you focus your diet on healthy, nutrient-rich whole foods.

    Many people will become vegetarian because they believe is the healthy option. But is it really worth it? Jason Dolock stated that if you become a vegetarian you will simply eat less protein, and it’s a pretty big deal because we need protein in our diets. Protein is what makes up the building blocks of our body and essentially all we do when we eat meat is recycle the flesh and to use it to reconstruct our own. Jason Dolock said “First of all you can’t survive on soya beans and eggs….And the protein in vegetables and plants doesn’t have the same amino acid profile and simply isn’t bio-available enough to be of any use.” Jason Dolock believes that people become vegetarians because they care about the animals and the environment. Some become vegetarians because they want a healthy diet. You have know the consequences of becoming vegetarian and how the vegetarian diet works. You also have to be careful on what the benefits and the effects of becoming a vegetarian are.

    I met Tanya at Starbucks, very unique you would think. I haven't seen her since my birthday party but she still looked the same, her long straight hair and the way she smile which could light up the whole room. As soon as she got there, we hugged and she asked if I ever grew. Laughing and talking throughout the conversation, she ordered a typical Green Tea Frappuccino.
When Tanya first starting to research about Vegetarianism, she found one thing that caught her attention. Her parents, in the other hand did not like the idea of her changing her diet and becoming something they thought it was dumb. Tanya didn't care and went on saying she grew up with animals and the love she has for dogs is unbelievable. I've never met anyone like her, so sweet and caring for her animals. Her biggest commitment was letting go of the food she loved and help out the animal cruelty. That's the reason why she become a vegetarian, because the love for animals was so big; as we talked you could see how happy she was with her life now, she talked about how she managed to work out her diet. Being a vegetarian takes a lot of effort and time. Many people unlike Tanya, can’t handle the eating healthy and stop eating their bad habits. Tanya had a lot of courage to do what she’s doing. The reason for all of this was that she simply loves animals, she thinks it’s cruel what they do to the animals. They are being slaughtered for food and the animals have no idea why. She said that she’s helping out the environment, if you reduce the amount of meat that’s eaten it will have a huge positive impact on the planet. She explained to me what’s so good about a vegetarian diet, how she researched a lot of what she was going to eat and how quickly her body was adjusting to what she was putting in her body. While Tanya was talking to me she seemed so enthusiasm and happy. She changed for the better and she said she couldn’t be any happier. She’s at San Bernardino College right now persuading her dream of becoming a dentist.

    No doubt many people will never give up eating meat. They've grown up with it. They are used to all kinds of meat. Making changes is hard and especially at this point at our lives and it can be frightening. Meet is all we know. But being vegetarian isn't about giving up it’s also about trying something new. People who reduce the amount of meat in their diet will reduce their intake of fat and cholesterol. Choosing to be a vegetarian is choosing to live longer and healthier. No one is going to change over night! Making healthy choices can be a challenge, but it will feel good.

    In the article "Will Going Vegetarian Help You Lose Weight? Cynthia Sass talks about a famous singer called Adele that slimmed down by following a strict vegetarian diet.  You can certainly lose weight faster by going vegetarian but you have to do it the right way. Cynthia states “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 65 percent of American adults age 20 and up are overweight or obese, but the prevalence of obesity among vegetarians and vegans is below 10 percent. On average, the body weights of both male and female vegetarians are three percent to 20 percent lower than omnivores. Research has also found that switching to a healthy vegan diet leads to weight loss, even without changes to exercise or limits on portion size, calories, or carbohydrates.” Also people tend to gain weight when going on a vegetarian diet but that’s because they don’t get the right balance. When going on a vegetarian diet it should contain plenty of vegetable, fruits, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and healthy plant-based fats like avocado. She continues on saying, “Protein is a key factor in weight control because it boosts satiety, preserves muscle and revs up metabolism. If you go vegan be sure to pay attention to your protein intake.”

Work Cited

"Vegetarianism in a Nutshell." The Vegetarian Resource Group. The Vegetarian Resource Group, 2008. Web. 2 May 2017.

"Vegetarian Nutrition for Teenagers — The VegetarianResource Group." The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). The Vegetarian Resource Group, 14 May 2003. Web. 2 May 2017.

"Primer on Animal Rights — The Vegetarian Resource Group." The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2017.

Ginsberg, Caryn, and Alissa Ostrowski. "The Market for Vegetarian Foods." The Vegetarian Resource Group. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2017.

"The Vegetarian Resource Group." The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). N.p., 22 Feb. 2009. Web. 2 May 2017.