Articles (April 2006)

In spite of how society normally recognizes the vastly different accomplishments of Socrates, Plato, William Shakespeare, and Benjamin Franklin, these famous people all share one common choice in lifestyle—they all happen to have been vegetarians. (Salter 15) As a vegetarian myself, I chose to explore vegetarianism for this project to dispel numerous misconceptions people have about vegetarians’ diets, lifestyle, goals, and eating framework. Furthermore, I discovered a wide array of nutritional necessities to follow a vegetarian lifestyle more effectively and healthfully. In addition, I learned about a breadth of ways to enhance my current diet to ensure that I eat enough variety, vitamins, and minerals.

Society often associates the term “vegetarian” with someone who solely eats fruits and vegetables, who does not receive enough nourishment, and who needs immensely complicated meals in order to sustain their diet. (Vegetarian Myths) Primarily, there are more than several types vegetarians and each type adheres to different fundamental ideals. For instance, I learned that I follow an Ovolactovegetarian diet. Individuals who follow these diets, eliminate all meat, fish, and poultry in their diets. Most people who fall under this category emphasize the ingestion of egg and milk products in order to fulfill a healthy diet. (Salter 19) The aim for a large number for followers of this vegetarian tenant is to prevent the “harming or destroying of animal life in any way.” (Salter 21) Most teenagers who attempt vegetarian diets, however, are considered Semivegetarians, as they reduce their consumption of meat and animal products, but they pick and choose which animal products they wish to omit from their diet. (Teens health) In addition to these most prevalent forms of vegetarianism in American society, a smaller percentage of people eat Vegan (.5% of adolescents) diets, where all animal products and animal meats are omitted from their diets. The American Dietetic Association officially endorses and recognizes the healthy benefits of Vegan, Ovolactovegetarian, and Semivegetarian diets, therefore a vegetarian diet can not only be very beneficial for one’s health, but it is formally established as a safe and legitimate diet. “It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” (Vegetarian Diets)

Choosing a vegetarian diet can be both healthy for oneself and also the environment. The spread of vegetarianism can yield numerous benefits for the world’s population, and over time it has the potential to reduce world hunger. One pound of grain is required to make one pound of bread, but it takes 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of meat. (Salter 16) Thus vegetarianism can favorably the impact world hunger situation. If consumers were more inclined to choose vegetarian foods over meat products, animal cruelty and death rates could decline. Further, from 1960-1985 over 40% of the Central American rainforests were destroyed to create grazing land for cattle. (Vegetarian Diets) Therefore from an ecological perspective, widescale vegetarianism can aid in the preservation of forests because it requires much less land to cultivate grains than in does to produce livestock.

There are a broad spectrum of correlational studies that show a positive correlation between vegetarianism and reduced obesity, cancer, heart desease, and digestive tract problem rates. (Time) For instance, during a 21 year study begun in 1960 that examined a group of 27,529 adults, control and experimental groups were formed. In the experimental group that regularly consumed meat and animal products (with smoking, age, and gender all considered) there was not only an increase in the mortality rate, but also people became more likely to acquire heart disease and similar illnesses, compared with the vegetarian control group. (Salter 33) Regarding obesity, vegetarian diets on contain far less harmful saturated fats on average because of the strong emphasis on low-calorie fruits and vegetables, which are very low in fat. Plant-based foods also contain a high amount of fiber, which help the digestive tract absorb necessary water to carry out its function most effectively. (Salter 30)

Vegetarianism reflects a decision to improve one’s health, wellbeing, environment, and fellow humans, if practiced as recommended by the American Dietetic Association. Certainly, the benefits often found in vegetarian diets do not guarantee a healthy lifestyle, as it is up to the individual to eat sensibly and nutritiously, but they can increase the chance of improving one’s health by eliminating the consumption of saturated fat rich meats. This project enabled me to see the ecologic benefits and it also taught me about the numerous types of vegetarians there are.

Written by Oliver Layton
Feburary, 2005.

Two months ago my father and I argued about the Atkins diet. We were absorbed in a rerun of American Idol when, during a commercial break, I mentioned to him that the one hundred percent whole wheat English muffin I had been chomping on earlier was a healthy snack, something he might want to incorporate into his diet. “Nah,” he said, “I don’t want all the carbs.” And here is where a seemingly benign conversation turned malignant. He was offended that I was suggesting devilish foods, and I was frustrated because for the last year I had been pushing sound nutritional advice in his direction without any profundity on his part.

I tended towards simple recommendations. Whole wheat breads are good for you. Milk contains sugar but has other beneficial components. Rice is not diabetes in a bowl. Vegetables are a source of carbohydrates but are nutrient dense. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is not going straight to your belly. Your triple bacon cheeseburger (hold the bun, of course) is. So is your sausage and cheese omelet and your pound of filet mignon.

Despite my advice, I could not penetrate his first and final line of defense: “I lost twenty pounds on the Atkins diet two years ago.” This deflection of my Atkins diet attack was in indirect way of saying “Jon, I don’t believe you.” Yet every academically respected nutrition book wholeheartedly disagrees with the Atkins approach to food. Ask Walter Willett, nutrition professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health, what he thinks of your high-fat, high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, and he will likely send you to the grocery store with a new list.

So what am I (or any other nutritionist) up against when I advocate healthy sources of carbohydrates, such as whole grain products and produce? The answer is a complex interaction between psychology, economics, sociology, and medicine. This topic is untouched and worthy of volumes.

What is clear is that people who consider the Atkins diet are typically overweight or obese, indicating their tendency to over-consume calories. When they cut the carbs and eat more satiating fats and proteins, they are embarking on a masked reduced calorie diet. Cutting your major source of calories (carbohydrates) from your diet undoubtedly results in a reduced caloric intake because high-fat, high-protein foods are so filling. Of course they will lose weight if they eat less calories. That is the golden rule of weight watching.

But for Atkins followers the term weight loss is a misnomer because what these dieters are really after is a reduction in fat mass. High protein diets are known to decrease water retention rates, so a plethora of protein in your stomach is extra urine in your bowl. If you want to do the math, urine weighs roughly two and a quarter pounds per liter: lose four liters of body water and lose ten pounds of water weight. If you lose twenty pounds on the Atkins diet over the course of three months, you are likely to have lost only ten to fifteen pounds of fat, misleading you and all other Atkins groupies into thinking you have made a greater accomplishment than in reality. Anyone who has tried the Atkins diet and failed to maintain its regimen, including my father, will tell you that when you harbor the Atkins diet for a week and treat yourself once again to those tasty demons called carbohydrates, you will retain more water and the needle on the scale will slide past your record low-weight marker, only to scare you back into following the Atkins way of life once again.

Ironically, a more subtle temptation towards the Atkins diet is right in front of our faces every time we go to the grocery store. The snack food aisle is cluttered with brightly colored boxes, many of which have a seal in one of the corners that reads “Only 3 Net Carbs!” The naive shopper picks up the box and thinks, “If Nabisco says so, this must be good for me.” Every time someone ignorant about nutrition picks up a box like this one and sees the gold or silver Atkins seal, the carbs-are-bad message is reinforced. Factor in the number of “Atkins approved” boxes this person sees in one visit to the grocery store and the number of people who have a similar experience, and the effect is unimaginable. I am reminded of a nightmare I had when I was a child, in which aliens infiltrated Earth and submerged it in a shockwave that reprogrammed our minds to respond to their enslaving commands. The seal of Atkins approval is sending a shockwave throughout America, telling us that carbohydrates are what make us fat, when the true culprit is excess calories.

The problem is that any effort to weigh down the Atkins pull is simply overwhelmed by the shockwave. At Barnes and Noble hardcover and paperback copies of Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and its accessory books appear in the windows, foyer, checkout line, and bestseller table, while only three to four copies of Walter Willett’s Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, the most scientifically founded nutrition book available to the public to date, can be found collecting dust in the health section. And back on the supermarket shelves, along with the “seals of approval,” you see a line of Atkins brand products, from low-carb pancake mix to low-carb-impact bread, and a cornucopia of products from other companies trying to capitalize on the latest diet trend. Each of these products is a new pair of feet in the pro-Atkins march.

The man who began the march and led it for several years is none other than the deceased Dr. Atkins himself. He was an M.D., a modern day superhero with the power to cure your weight management issues, if you buy his bestselling book for only $24.95. Hopefully the new person leading the march lacks Dr. Atkins’ ingenuity, creativity, and charisma. Otherwise the Atkins craze will continue to churn something artery clogging. If you want proof of the ill effects of the Atkins diet, take a look at Dr. Atkin’s medical records. He had a history of heart attacks and heart disease that ultimately contributed to his death.

Written by Jonathan Brestoff
Feburary 10th, 2006.
Inspired by Woody Allen’s “Random Reflections from a Second Rate Mind”