Category Archives: Vegetarianism

SAN DIEGO Ever wonder why we are hearing more and moreabout vegetarianism and veganism?Vegetarianism in Americas 2017 study showed that 3.2 percent of all USadults, or approximately 7.3 million Americans, follow a plant-basedvegetarian diet. And 0.5 percent or 1 million persons are vegans. That might be the reason

With a national trend predominantly spawned by Millennials, and GenerationZs, people across the country are catching this trend.

The Mayo clinic, in their Healthy Lifestyle segment, helped to provideclarity to the variety of vegetarian diet types:

Vegetarian diets tend to be comprised of fewer processed foods. These foods arelower in calories, sugar, fat, cholesterol and sodium in the main.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a quality vegetarian diet consists of fruitsvegetables, whole grains, dairy (if permitted), protein sources andhealthy oils.

Published in Harvard Health, the article Becoming a Vegetarian, speculates that a plant-based vegetarian diet helps reduce heart disease, some formsof cancer, diabetes. It may also help maintain a healthy weight level.

One of the greatest challenges vegetarians face is maintaining an adequateintake of protein.

According to Healthline, proteins are the building blocks of our organs, muscles, skin, hormonesand more.

Companies like Beyond Meat,Greenleaf Foods, Applegate Farms, Hormel Foods currently invest millions of dollars and more to findalternative solutions ensuring proper protein alternatives and otherhealth-enhancing properties.

For vegetarians today, the challenges and choices are becoming easier as morealternatives are finding creative and tasty solutions.

Restaurants are stepping up and offering vegetarian solutions forsatisfying a palate. These include a variety of casual fast-food chainsthat offer scrumptious alternatives to the traditional beef orchicken burger.

Healthline offers further recommendations for attaining the 46 grams ofdaily protein for women and 56 grams of daily protein for men:

Be certain to read the ingredients on food labels. Some explore vegetarian options, helping to ensure compliance with the vegetarian diet of choice.

An occasionalblood test for key elements is a simple process provided by your medical professional to ensure adequate vitamin, mineral and protein levels,

According to Veganbits, there are many reasons why Americans areturning to vegetarianism.

With health being the top reason, animal protection and personal disgust abouteating animals ranked close second and third reason. Other reasons mentioned included environmental, social and religious.

Whatever our age, socio-economic status, faith, gender, culture, orbeliefs regarding the environment, vegetarianism could ultimately become a unifying factor in creating a healthier, safer and more economicallycountry and a more stable world.

It would be wonderful if country-by-country, we could eliminate hunger as the food supply becomes more greatly plant-based. This could help create new sectorjobs, technologies, sustainable independence, more availability of foodand the reduction of disease.

Until next time, enjoy the ride in good health!

Headline image: The vegan Amy Burger at Amys Drive-Thru in Rohnert Park, California. Image via Wikipedia Commons, CC 2.0 license.

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Have a beef with vegetarianism? Find out what all the mooing is... - Communities Digital News

The vegan chorizo in a taco served up at Taqueria El Barrio on Comm Ave poses a delicious dilemma.

The red, granular imitation chorizo looks just like Mexican-style pork sausage, and yet it cannot remotely be described as a health food. What is it made from? Nothing on the menu indicates its ingredients and the staff knows only that the main ingredient is soy.

Mystery (un)meat and new vegan faux meat options abound around the BU campus, from dining halls and the freezer section of supermarkets to Dunkin shops, which will roll out a new Beyond Sausage breakfast sandwich in early November.

With growing numbers of millennials and Generation Zers demanding affordable, cruelty-free foods and weighing the environmental impact of their day-to-day eating choices, there are now more options than ever, from Impossible Burgers and Incogmeato brand chicken nuggets to New Wave Foods lab-cultured shrimp, which it bills as shellfish evolved. And college and university campuses have become ground zero for the mock-meat movement.

If people gave up meat, it would have such a big impact on the environment, says Hannah Ferguson (CAS23), who decided to become a vegetarian when she arrived at BU. I dont miss meat.

Its definitely super, super easy now to be vegan, says Gianina Padula (Sargent21), who says dining options were one of the factors she weighed in choosing a college. Its made me more conscious of what I put in my body.

But since colleges like BU, with 11,000 students on a meal plan, are where questions get asked, and often answered through years or decades of research, here are two to consider: what if fake meat isnt so good for the planet after all? And what if its not that healthy either? What if its a trend, like the fat-free foods deluge of the 1990s that gave us potato chips made with Olestra and joyless Snackwell cookies?

As nutritionist Joan Salge Blake (Sargent84, Wheelock16), a Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences clinical professor of nutrition, says: Dont just assume the new options are healthier than the cow.

Its too early to know the answer for sure, but vegetarianism and veganism have evolved from being a personal health statement to a political one about the planets well-being. Sales of plant-based meat rose nearly 40 percent, to $801 million, between 2017 and 2019, according to the Good Food Institute, an industry group. Kara Nielsen (MET06), vice president of trends and marketing at Silicon Valleybased CCD Innovation, says young consumers are driving the shift, impatient for new ways to address their concerns that traditional agriculture will not be able to support the planets food needs without at the same time destroying the planet.

Theyre big consumers of media and [theyve] seen all the movies and videos that have shed light on the horrors of factory farming, so theyve been influenced by that, Nielsen says. This is a way they can exert power and control using their diet.

Meat substitutes increasingly promise a bizarre meta meat-eating experience.

Take the bleeding Impossible Burger, made with red, plant-based heme to make it taste meaty and look more like a burger. Its now available in grocery stores and at Burger King, and is one of the plant-based state-of-the-art options in BU dining halls, thanks to student demand.

Its rival, Beyond Meat, calls itself the future of protein and is featured on the menus of McDonalds and Subway. The alternative protein market is growing and companies like San Franciscobased Just are using animal cells, not a slaughtered animal, to make cultured chicken in a laboratory.

A promotional video even shows Justs employees eating its engineered chicken foodstuff at a picnic table while a chicken named Ian, whose cells helped create the food theyre eating, struts around the grassy yard.

Its surreal, but the industry calls these pseudo chicken nuggets and plant-based burgers clean meat, because they are created in a laboratory, not raised in a factory farm. The companies behind the new ventures heavily promote themselves as an environmentally friendly option, as well as a virtuous one.

Our planet cannot afford to supply the water, fuel, pesticides, and fertilizer that industrialized animal production requires, the Just website says. It cant afford the polluted water or the biodiversity loss. It cant afford the moral inconsistencies.

Some research has shown that moving away from livestock and poultry would reduce greenhouse gases. Joseph Poore, a doctoral student studying the environment at the University of Oxford, found that avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact, not just on greenhouse gas emissions, but on land use, biodiversity loss, water pollution, pesticide use, antibiotic use and a range of other issues.

Another study, commissioned by Beyond Meat and conducted by the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, found that Beyond Meats burgers generated 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions, among other environmental benefits.

The drawbacks of red meats and pork, as well as processed meats like salami and frankfurters, which the World Health Organization classifies as carcinogenic, are well documented.

But fake meats also come with many health and environmental unknowns that will take years to understand. An article by researchers at Harvards T. H. Chan School of Public Health that looked at whether plant-based meat alternatives can be part of a healthy and sustainable diet was published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Their conclusion: the answer remains far from a given due to a lack of rigorously designed and independently funded studies.

Take heme, the much-publicized ingredient in the Impossible Burger that the company says makes meat taste like meat and is something weve been eating and craving since the dawn of humanity. Impossible Foods derives its heme from soy plants using a fermentation process and genetically engineered yeast.

Sean J. Elliott a College of Arts & Sciences professor of chemistry, a heme chemist, and a vegetarian, says heme is a common molecule used in biochemistry research and is found not just in animals and soy, but in insects and bugs that dont necessarily taste like meat. The heme thats used by Impossible Foods isnt just hemeits heme delivered to your burger using a heme-binding protein called leghemoglobin. That raises questions for him about whether its truly the factor responsible for the meaty craveability of the product.

Although he says hes enjoyed Impossible Burgers on a couple of occasions, he also says the fermentation process used to create heme leaves behind a cocktail of leftovers along with leghemoglobin if the product is produced at an industrial scale.

Its easy to stay focused on the red heme, because its pretty. As a chemist, I have to think so, Elliott says. And for marketing, it gives you something easy to focus on instead of some of the other more complicated intellectual property that [Impossible Foods] doesnt necessarily want all their competition to know aboutlike how you make those yeast strains do the stuff that they do.

From a health perspective, Salge Blake says, many alternative meats are highly processed and made with unfamiliar ingredients, something health professionals have steered people away from for decades. A Burger King Impossible Whopper and a regular Whopper have about the same calories (630 vs. 660) and both contain unhealthy amounts of saturated fat and salt and more saturated fat than a regular hamburger made from lean beef.

It can also be tricky to discern what to eat when even traditional health advice about meat is called into question. Last month, a surprising study challenged decades of nutrition advice by telling consumers that forgoing red meat and pork offers only small health benefits, contradicting decades of nutrition advice and sowing confusion. On the heels of the report, it was revealed that the studys lead author, Bradley C. Johnston, an epidemiologist at Canadas Dalhousie University, has funding ties to the meat and food industry.

Salge Blake recommendsthis will sound familiara balanced diet rich in vegetables and fruits as well as lean meats and proteins. And she cautions against taking an extreme approach when it comes to health trends that also claim to save the planet, because it can create anxiety over food choices.

Im not a fan of the clean-eating thing, because it makes people crazy, she says. Students are thinking, I cant have all these worlds coming at me at one time.

Christopher L. Bee, BU culinary director, has a big job. The University has more than 11,000 students on its food plan, and they are vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, pescatarian, and increasingly flexitarian. (No fruitarians yet. Yes, thats a thing.) Keeping everyone satisfied is a challenge, especially when students are ranking colleges by which ones have the best dining halls.

Bee offers Impossible Burgers and a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes, as well as organic, fair-trade, free-range, and sustainably harvested foods. There are dining halls that offer as many as 10 different types of milk and milk substitutes, with oat milk the latest addition.

People are less afraid of the word vegan, says Bee, recalling the era when tofu and seitan seemed exotic. But laboratory food isnt what we like to do.

He says hes interested in offering vegetarian fare thats nutritious and familiar, and hes recently offered a special vegan-vegetarian station training class for Dining Services chefs. And hes got another on plant-forward cooking planned. (According to Plant-Forward Global 50, plant-forward is a style of cooking and eating that emphasizes and celebrates, but is not limited to, plant-based foodsincluding fruits and vegetables.)

The University already sources more than 20 percent of its food from local farmers, more than 80 percent of the seafood it serves is certified as traceable or sustainably caught or farmed, and nearly 20 percent of its meat and poultry products are certified as humanely raised. Ground beef, hamburgers, and hot dogs are from grass-fed animals, pork is from gestation crate-free animals. Find a full list here.

It will be college and university researchers who will ultimately untangle the environmental and health benefits, if any, related to the new meat substitutes hitting the market. But Bee, himself a carnivore, says he thinks the vegan meatballs cooked by his chefs at Fresh Fuel at Granby Commons compete favorably with meat and vegetarian options, and theyre cooked using eggplant, garlic, and lentils and are very flavorful.

We do serve the Impossible Burger, but we can get the same results using food, while still making a difference, he says.

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Fake Meats Are Hot, but Are They Healthy? | BU Today - BU Today

An employment tribunal has held that vegetarianism is not protected by discrimination legislation. This is not binding on other tribunals which may come to a different view.

THE FACTS

Mr Conisbee, a vegetarian, was employed by Crossley Farms Ltd for five months before he resigned. He claimed that his vegetarianism is a belief and that he had suffered discrimination because of this belief. At a preliminary hearing, an employment tribunal considered whether vegetarianism is protected by discrimination legislation.

In a previous case, the EAT gave the following guidance on what constitutes a belief for the purposes of being protected as a religious or philosophical belief:

Considering this guidance, the tribunal accepted that Mr Conisbee had a genuine belief in his vegetarianism and that the practice of vegetarianism is worthy of respect in a democratic society and not incompatible with human dignity and the fundamental rights of others. However, it considered that:

Accordingly, the tribunal held that vegetarianism is not protected as a belief. The tribunal distinguished vegetarianism from veganism, and the judge in this case would likely have found veganism constitutes a belief, capable of protection from discrimination.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR EMPLOYERS?

As this is a tribunal decision, it is not binding on other tribunals. The case demonstrates how tribunals might treat future claims by vegetarians who claim they should be protected from discrimination. However, it is also possible that another judge would find that vegetarianism is a protected "belief", not least because climate change has already been found to be a protected belief and some vegetarians may eat as they do because of the impact of cattle farming on the environment among other reasons. This is certainly an area that is likely to be revisited over the coming years.

Conisbee v Crossley Farms Ltd and other ET/3335357/2018

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Religion or Belief Discrimination: Employment Tribunal finds 'vegetarianism' is not a belief protected from discrimination - Lexology

With Climate Change on individuals minds and livestock farming in trouble for greenhouse gas emission, many individuals see vegetarianism as a positive step. A research advises that offering a greater vegetarian selection should be a way to lure meat eaters into selecting more veggie meals.

Livestock farming gets a bad rap for its contribution to greenhouse gases, which trap heat and contribute to global warming. In the United States, agriculture contributes 9% of gas emissions to the atmosphere, much of which is down to livestock. By passing gas, ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, pass methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 25 times more powerful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide and concentration have more than doubled in the last 200 years.

So, lowering methane levels in the atmosphere could have and important positive impact on the environment, which is why vegetarianism seems like a viable solution.

A new research from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom shows that the solution as adding more vegetarian options to menus. The paper appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research observed at the sales information over 94,000 meals in three unnamed Cambridge College cafeterias over a year. It discovered that by doubling vegetarian choice to 2 out of 4 of the meal options available, the sales of vegetarian meals increased by 40.8% to 78.8%.

This research is significant because high eat diets are incompatible with a safe climate, so we need to find effective simple, non-controversial approaches to get us all to eat more plant based food.

Meat eaters might also order veggie options

The Cambridge study members discovered that the biggest meat eaters- those who had consistently chosen fish or meat before the second vegetarian option became available- were the one who opted for a vegetarian meal in the largest numbers.

Not only did that but having a vegetarian lunch not make it any more possible that the traditional meat eaters would compensate by having a meaty dinner.

The research which observed at diners daily meal choices through payments made on university cards ran through two canteens. The canteens varied their range from no vegetarian dishes at all to days when 75% of options were vegetarian.

A third canteen offered lunchtime menus that shifted every 2 weeks from one veggie option to two. Investigators concluded that upping the proportion of vegetarian meals had the most important effect on those who ordinarily chose more meat.

The response was striking, says Garnett. It seems obvious in hindsight, and a number of commentators have asked, Why is this science? Isnt this obvious? I would say yes and no. If we had discovered no effect which could also seem obvious.

She continues, I find it fascinating that by responding, people are implicitly acknowledging that our food environments can have a strong influence on what we eat and other health behaviors.

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An Increase in Variety of Vegetarian Food could Tempt Carnivores to Stay Away From Meat. - DailyHealthTalks

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Growing up, someone was always cooking meat in my household. My grandmother was an amazing cook and soulfully prepared fried chicken, smothered pork chops, chilis and stews right up until she died last year. She was even known to whip up pigs snout, cows tongue and chicken feet on special occasions, but Id always make myself scarce on those days.

It never occurred to me that, one day, Id be preparing food with vegetarian children in mind. Ive got six kids ranging from 26 down to 3-year-old twins and four of them will not touch meat. As their mother, I can assure you that from the moment they could digest food, they knew they didnt want animal protein.

So, when the holidays roll around, Im quite busy preparing different dishes for the keto eaters in our family, the gluten-free crowd and my league of vegetarians. When we go on vacation, we even try to pick destinations that will accommodate our varied dietary needs. Recently weve been looking to relocate, which is why WalletHubs 2019 Best Cities for Vegans and Vegetarians immediately caught my eye.

The Method

There are roughly 10 million vegan and vegetarian adults in the United States. Depending on where you live, though, finding meatless options at local grocery stores and restaurants can be difficult. Thats why WalletHub set out to find the 100 largest cities with the best and most affordable plant-based options across the country.

The team looked at 17 key indicators including the cost of groceries, number of salad shops and share of restaurants serving meat-free dishes. For the full findings and description of the methodology used to compile the list, see the full article.

The Top 10

While there was a time when vegetarianism was closely associated with a California lifestyle, looking at the top 10 cities on WalletHubs list, its clear that people across the country are choosing a meatless diet. Lets take a look:

These cities are spread all across the country, which is not surprising considering acceptance of veganism and vegetarianism has grown the number of vegans increased by 600% between 2014 and 2017.

Plant-Based Options Are Growing

The options for plant-based eaters are growing every single day. Just look at how many meatless meals are now available at fast food restaurants! Who would have ever thought that Burger King would sell an Impossible Whopper, which contains zero beef? Yet, chains such as Carls Jr. and White Castle are carrying burgers that vegetarians can actually enjoy.

Gone are the days where theyd be forced into ordering nothing more than a salad at sit-down restaurants. Today its pretty common to find a whole section of meatless appetizers and entrees on menus. The offerings are becoming bolder and more creative too, a trend for which vegans and vegetarians nationwide are undoubtedly thankful!

While plant-based options are growing across the country, its great to have a list of cities that are particularly friendly for vegans and vegetarians. Its so much easier to live a fulfilled, happy life in a community where you feel supported. Not happy with whats available in your area? One of these cities might just be for you!

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The Best Cities For Vegans and Vegetarians in 2019 - Forbes

More and more travellers are turning to vegetarianism 10'000 Hours

As anyone who has tried it can attest, vegan and vegetarian cuisine can very often be delicious, hearty, healthy and satisfying. And while it has gotten easier to find good veggie options while on the move, sometimes it can be tricky. With that in mind, a new study has unveiled the top cities in the US for vegan and vegetarian food, meaning you can start brainstorming your next culinary adventure.

According to a 2019 Harris Poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, approximately 10 million adults in the United States are vegan or vegetarian. Released by WalletHub, the new study compared the 100 largest American cities across 17 different categories, including average meal cost, the price of groceries for vegetarians, the number of restaurants serving meatless options, salad shops per capita, number of community gardens, frequency of juice and smoothie bars and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Scooping the top spot in the whole study was Portland, Oregon, a city that has enjoyed a long standing reputation as an alternative, multicultural and trendy hotspot not only vegan and vegetarian cuisine, but food and culture in general. The top ten was completed by Los Angeles, Orlando, Seattle, Austin, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, San Diego and Tampa, while Scottsdale, Anaheim, Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, Washington, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Houston and Charlotte were also named amongst the best in the country. Scottsdale, Arizona was shown to have the highest share of restaurants serving vegetarian options at 20.14%, which is 12.5 times higher than Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest at just 1.61%.

Scottsdale also claimed the title of city with the highest share of restaurants serving vegan options, while Newark, New Jersey is the city with the least amount of restaurants catering to vegans. San Francisco has the most community-supported agriculture programmes per square root of population, just over 20 times more than San Antonia, the city with the fewest. And if youre on the hunt for a good salad shop, look no further than New York, which was shown to have the most per square root of population, while Laredo, Texas has the fewest. Cities in the bottom ten were El Paso, San Bernardino, Greensboro, North Las Vegas, Baton Rouge, Henderson, Winston-Salem, Stockton, Tulsa, Memphis and Laredo.

The full findings are available on the official WalletHub website.

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US cities with the best choices for vegans and vegetarians - Lonely Planet Travel News