Vegetarianism – just a diet or a lifestyle, too?
I myself already had an aversion towards meat as a child. It just didn’t seem right for me to slaughter animals and then eat them. Later in high school my then friend Sonja and I sometimes went to her grandparents to help out at their farm. I remember the day when she showed me Fritz and Frieda, two pigs she liked very much. She fed and stroked them almost every day. A few weeks later when we were having lunch together in school she told me that she had Fritz on her bread. I was disgusted. It’s not that I wasn’t aware that we have real, dead meat on our lunch breads when we eat meat products, but I was just shocked about the fact that she could actually chew on her once loved animal.
Vegetarianism has a long history and today it is the most common diet. Some people are on a vegetarian diet because their doctors told them to do so, for example, but for many others it is more than just a diet – it is a lifestyle, too. This diet has become more and more popular in the last few years, in Hawaii, the continental United States and worldwide. There are also many sub-groups. The broadest definition of a vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat any meat, fish, and poultry. The strictest form is the vegan who doesn’t consume any animal products at all, including eggs, honey, or dairy products and is even not buying leather products. There are several different reasons for someone to become a vegetarian. A major one might be the health issue. In today’s world it seems like that everybody is talking about saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and so on. It is in the newspaper, on TV, on the radio – everywhere. The statistics say that over 50 % of all Americans are overweight and since we all know that meats contain a lot of fat and are harder to digest that vegetables, some people choose the vegetarian diet to prevent illnesses or to loose weight. Another reason to become a vegetarian might be because of environmental concerns. Did you know that the U.S. meat industry, for example, consumes over half of all water used for all purposes in the United States? Or that one consumes approximately 55 square feet of tropical rainforest by just eating one quarter pound hamburger? Others are vegetarians because they are aware that by eating animal flesh we also consume many antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides that were fed to the animals before. Therefore, these people avoid eating meat to keep their own bodies both clean and healthy. However, followers of a vegetarian diet have to keep in mind that the right balance of their diet is essential to staying healthy. It doesn’t do good if a vegetarian eats lots of oils, sweet foods, or other fatty products all the time. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the four essential food groups for humans are: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (beans and peas).
In Hawaii, it’s easy to be a vegetarian because there are many health food stores that sell vegetarian foods. You can find everything, from tofu, soy burgers, veggie burgers, soy chicken and of course, fresh tropical fruits. Also, most restaurants in Hawaii have at least one vegetarian dish on their menu.
The choice of becoming a vegetarian is a big one with deep-reaching consequences. It profoundly changes one’s lifestyle, for one doesn’t have to worry anymore about the conditions under which one’s food died.
