Hardly a day goes by that I don’t find myself rolling my eyes, scoffing at a few of my friends in regard to a lifestyle choice of theirs that I cannot wrap my head around. Now I am not a bigot, and I am not going to simply cast judgment on someone for how they want to live their lives. However, when someone begins talking my ear off about the lack of vegetarian and vegan options at the dining hall, I kind of want to immediately begin vomiting.
After the initial comment, I usually start dropping references to the downsides of the vegetarian and vegan diets. Vitamin B12 is mainly found in meat, liver, fish and milk. Vegetarians that don’t meet their requirement for this vitamin are six times more likely to suffer from brain shrinkage, according to a study run by the American Academy of Neurology.
A brain shrinkage victim is usually more than 60 years old. Any time you eliminate an entire food group from your diet, you put yourself at risk of suffering a nutrient deficiency. Depending on what it is specifically that a person may be lacking, the consequences can range in their severity, a main symptom is memory loss. Now obviously there are many different supplements on the market, but the word ‘supplement’ itself means “something that completes or enhances something else when added to it”. Supplements are not supposed to be a solution.
On the other hand, I must concede to some benefits of vegetarianism. Many people that don’t restrict what they eat tend to consume far too much meat and not nearly enough grains, fruits, and vegetables. For those that eliminate meat from their diets, this issue tends to fix itself. Vegetarians have lower incidences of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diverticulitis, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, gallstones and renal disease. Vegetarian diets tend to have less saturated fat and cholesterol and be richer in dietary fiber, complex carbohydrates and other minerals. So I must back down to my vegetarian friends and admit that while I truly hate to say it, they have a very strong argument.
Now I am going to be honest, I hate salad. Lettuce grosses me out more than anything, thus causing me to get up in arms at the thought of it. I am also a big believer in quality of life. I enjoy eating meat. I would vote for Ronald McDonald if he were to take a stab at the Oval Office. Obviously this kind of stuff is not exactly healthy for you and that is where a person must take a step back and be able to limit themselves to making things, like Double Quarter Pounders an occasional treat rather than a daily ritual. This ability to exert control over one’s diet grows increasingly more important with age.
As I often say, problems are much more easily taken care of before they arise.
Dan Maloney is a sophomore studying biological science and a columnist for The Post. Email him at dm933612@ohiou.edu.
