[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Going vegetarian
TIME was when I would not eat vegetables. I had no appetite for them. Instead, I devoured meat – especially beef and pork – as if it would no longer be available the next day. It’s the other way around today. I may not like the taste of certain vegetable preparations, but I’d always clamor for them. As much as possible, I would not touch meat.
I have no alternative but this vegetarian lifestyle. There was a time when my chest x-ray revealed I was suffering from atherosclerotic aorta. My two-dimensional echo-cardiography revealed “left ventricular dysfunction.” I thought I was dying due to unprecedented dizziness, body weakness and muscle pains. My doctor warned that I could die of hypertension, heart attack or stroke unless I abandoned meat and other fatty foods.
“Slow down,” Dr. Pacifico Dalisay Jr. advised, short of asking me to stop working for a living.
With no money to buy mega-expensive drugs that could not guarantee cure after all, I decided to spend more time reading books and articles on vegetarianism; it could be the answer to my problem. One of the books recommends strict adherence to vegetarian diet and withdrawal from meat and other fatty foods. This could reverse inflammation of the arteries. I have been feeling better as a result of heeding the advice.
Vegetarianism, everybody knows, is the practice of eating foods mainly from the plant kingdom, rarely from animals. Those who eat no animal or dairy products are more correctly described as vegans.
Historically, vegetarianism sprang from philosophical and religious beliefs. Followers of Hinduism and Buddhism have for centuries avoided animal flesh because of the belief in the sacredness of life and the reincarnation of souls into the bodies of other animate beings. The Seventh-Day Adventists preach vegetarianism purely for better health. The Roman Catholic Trappist monks also practice vegetarianism for a different reason: to fulfill vows of austerity and self-sacrifice.
Modern vegetarianism entered public consciousness during the 19th century, specifically in 1847 with the establishment of the Vegetarian Society in Great Britain, which also taught that killing animals is both cruel and unnecessary; and that using available land to raise vegetables, grains and fruits instead of livestock makes better economic and ecological sense.
Today, scientific studies show that diets rich in animal fats may contribute to the early development of diseases, including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and colorectal cancer.
The plant-based diet has the advantage of being low in saturated fats, cholesterol and salt, but most vegetables can be lacking in essential nutrients received from meat, fish and poultry. The good news, however, is that certain grains – say mongo – are as rich in protein as meat. An excellent substitute for milk and other dairy products are fortified soy beans.
In the United States, the American Dietetic Association recommends that vegetarians take vitamin and mineral supplements always. In particular, vegans must take vitamin B supplements, since vitamins B6 and B12 are not found in vegetables.
A number of Hollywood stars have publicly embraced vegetarianism. To quote Alice Silverstone, “Since I’ve gone vegetarian, my body has never felt better and my taste buds have opened up to a whole new world.”
The shapely Pamela Anderson once told a tabloid reporter, “Chickens, pigs and other animals are interesting individuals with personalities and intelligence. If people are eating animals, they are promoting cruelty to animals.”
Paul McCartney – of the four phenomenal Beatles – once told a magazine writer: “To save the planet, all you have to do is just stop eating meat. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot – ecology, famine, cruelty.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
