Vegan Teens / Non-Dairy delights

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Same story on two sites...

 

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http://www.dominionpost.com/a/food/2002/01/23/ac/

 

Vegan teens

 

They can give up meat, dairy and stay healthy

 

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http://detnews.com/2002/food/0201/26/01-396240.htm

 

Non-Dairy delights

 

By Hilary Groutage Smith / Salt Lake City Tribune

 

It all started with a debate project at Jeremy Beckham's house. The

Taylorsville teen was drafting a " bill " that would make hunting illegal when he

realized the content of the imaginary project was giving him more than just a

good grade in debate class.

All of a sudden, he had food for thought. The hamburgers and Hot Pockets he

loved had faces, hearts, flesh and bone.

Beckham quit eating meat and a few weeks later, gave up eggs and dairy

products and became a vegan (pronounced VEE-gun).

" I had never met another vegan or vegetarian when I became one, " he said.

And with that move, Beckham became part of a growing number of teens who come

home and announce to their parents that they're giving up flesh.

Don't freak out if this happens to you, said registered pediatric dietician

Rebecca Kelln of Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. A

lifelong vegetarian herself, Kelln said any effort teens make to adopt healthier

eating and exercise habits ought to be embraced by parents.

With a few guidelines, teens can construct perfectly healthy diets minus meat

or animal products, or both.

" Whether it's concern for animal rights, environmental concerns or out of a

concern for world hunger, if a young person wants to be a vegetarian, it can be

nutritionally adequate, " she said.

Variety is the key, she said, whether the diet is vegan or vegetarian.

Sources of calcium and iron must be high on the list of foods eaten every day.

Dairy products, dark green vegetables, broccoli and fortified orange juice

are good sources of calcium. Iron comes from dark green leafy vegetables, dried

beans, fortified breads and cereals. When eating foods high in iron, Kelln said

it is important also to eat something high in vitamin C at the same meal.

" That ensures the iron is utilized more efficiently, " she said.

Those who follow a strict vegan eating regime, vitamin B12 might be a

concern. It is found in the form of supplements or in soy milk and breakfast

cereals.

The job of feeding the teen veg-head might be made a little easier because of

17-year-old Lauren Butts of Medford, Oregon. She stopped eating meat after

accidentally ordering a burger made of horse meat while traveling in France

nearly a decade ago.

She was horrified, didn't eat the burger and when she returned home, set

about becoming a vegetarian.

Last year, Butts published a cookbook and handbook for vegetarian teens

called " OK, So Now You're A Vegetarian. "

" My Dad was, like, 'You're going to die!' He didn't think it was

nutritionally possible to stay healthy. He hunts and stuff, " she said.

" My mother just said, 'If you think I'm fixing you your own dinner every

night, you've got another thing coming,' " Butts remembered.

So Butts started cooking for herself. She read books and met with a

registered dietitian to make sure she could give up meat and stay healthy.

" Being vegetarian is more than just pulling the pepperoni off your pizza, "

she said.

Butts now spends time every Sunday making food she can freeze and eat through

the week -- food that her family is more than happy to sample.

" They say they're not vegetarians, but they're more than willing to help

themselves to my stuff, " she said.

But so far, no one in Butts' family has given up meat.

That is not the case at Beckham's house. His dedication has carried over to

his mother, Colleen

Gardner, and stepfather, who also have given up meat.

Now mother and son boast animal cruelty-free living and attend frequent

meetings of animal rights groups

in Salt Lake City.

" I've stopped thinking of vegetables as a side dish, " Gardner said.

" Almost every time I'm fixing a meal in my kitchen I think about how nice it

is not to worry about contamination from meat. "

 

 

 

 

 

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