Write LTE- DawnWatch Dallas follow-up--feature article on vegetarianism 6/19/07]

[Guest guest]

Please send your thanks and thoughts to the DMN LTE for publishing this article

on vegetarianism.

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi

 

Just a couple of notes...Barbara Dillard, Rusty Posch, and I are all members of

Vegetarian Network of Dallas, which wasn't mentioned in the article, but Kudo's

to our members. Also, the article mistakenly says I'm a " former registered

nurse. " I am currently licensed as such.

 

Margaret

 

DawnWatch <news

2007/06/20 Wed PM 09:05:31 CDT

margaretmorin

DawnWatch Dallas follow-up -- feature article on vegetarianism 6/19/07

 

Margaret Morin has let me know that in the same section of yesterday's Dallas

Morning News (same section as the vegan shopping guide I just sent out) there

was a feature article on vegetarianism. Woohoo! I will paste it below.

 

Please send appreciative letters at

http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi

 

-----------

 

Choosing a vegetarian diet changed their health

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving/nutrition/stories/\

DN-nh_vegetarianjump_0619liv.ART.State.Edition1.4368fc4.html

 

Here's how local people made the switch

 

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

By LISA MARTIN / Special contributor to the Dallas Morning News

 

Though no physician ever suggested that Barbara Bush of Carrollton become a

vegetarian, the assistant professor at the University of North Texas realized

that she inherited a legacy of diet-related diseases that included diabetes and

heart problems.

 

Photos by REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor

Barbara Bush (left), Don Moy and Angelica Thomas, all members of the Black

Vegetarian Society of Texas, prepare a meal at Mr. Moy's house. A dozen years

ago, she began as a vegetarian, then transitioned to a vegan, someone who eats

no animal products whatsoever, including dairy and eggs.

>

> " Doctors seem to enjoy telling me I'm in good health, " she says. " And I feel

like I'm in good health. "

>

>She's part of a growing trend of people abstaining from or limiting the amount

of meat and other animal-based products in their diet. As of last year, there

were an estimated 4.8 million vegetarians in the United States, one-third to

one-half of them vegan, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit

educational organization. That number has nearly doubled since 1997.

>

>So why have those people decided to go vegetarian? The reasons vary nearly as

much as the people themselves, although definite themes motivate the choice,

namely health and ethical and environmental reasons.

>

>As a teenager in the Czech Republic, Barbara Dillard feared that a nasty bout

of hepatitis would end her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina.

Traditional medicine may have saved her life at age 17, but she despaired that

the constant fatigue and accompanying weakness might end her aspirations. Out of

desperation and after much research, she decided to try vegetarianism.

>

>REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor

>A meal of pasta, black-eyed peas and salad prepared by members of the Black

Vegetarian Society of Texas " My doctors were amazed at my recovery, " says Mrs.

Dillard, a Dallasite since the late 1990s. " But it wasn't easy to be a

vegetarian. I even had to learn to make my own soy milk. " That's because such

products were not readily available at the time in the Eastern European country.

>

>She went on to spend four years as a member of the National Theatre ballet

company in the Czech Republic before moving stateside, where she is a

stay-at-home mom.

>

>Dr. Manisha Chandalia, an endocrinologist and metabolism specialist at UT

Southwestern Medical Center, also brought a tradition of vegetarianism with her

to Dallas.

>

> " I don't have strong religious reasons for being a vegetarian, but growing up

in India, nobody in my family was very keen on meat, " she explains. " Here, it's

more difficult for me to be a vegetarian. It's easy to become sloppy and end up

with a carb intake that's too high. "

>

>Dr. Chandalia describes herself as an ovo-lacto vegetarian: someone who eats no

meat, poultry or fish but whose diet includes dairy products and eggs.

>

>Mrs. Dillard, on the other hand, is a vegan: She will not consume animal

products, which means checking food labels for ingredients such as lard and

gelatin.

>

>Behind the decision

>

>The reasons people turn to vegetarianism tend to fall into three broad

categories: health, the environment, and animal rights or ethical

considerations. Religious reasons also may lead a person to abstain from eating

certain types of meat, such as pork or beef.

>

>Reactions from the uninitiated to a vegetarian's dietary choice can range to

fascination or abject horror.

>

>

>Barbara Dillard (left) and her husband, Devin, have stopped eating meat and

plan to raise their 18-month-old daughter, Dannielle, on a meatless diet. " My

family still doesn't understand how or why I'm a vegetarian, " says Barbara Bush,

president of the Black Vegetarian Society of Texas. " But when my father passed

away, one of my aunts who's a big meat eater went out of her way to research and

prepare a vegan meal. I was so touched by this gesture of support. "

>

>Ms. Bush says her co-workers often are fascinated by her choice.

>

> " Whenever we're together at a banquet, I get a special meal, and people are

always enthralled, " she says with a laugh. " I try to be discreet, and I'm not a

missionary out to convert people, but they always ask questions. "

>

>Also Online

>Cookbooks now serving fruit, vegetables as main dish

>

>Local resources for vegetarians

>

>Nutrition advice for vegetarians

>

>Grilled veggies 101

>

>Laurel's Kitchen a faithful companion

>The inquiries often center on protein: Is she eating enough? How can she and

other vegetarians survive, let alone thrive?

>

> " If you have a crummy diet and give up meat, it's likely that you'll still have

a crummy diet, " says Jo Ann Carson, a professor of clinical nutrition at UT

Southwestern and a registered dietitian who earned a doctorate in nutrition.

>

> " But most serious vegetarians and vegans go out of their way to have a healthy

diet and not to eat doughnuts all day long. "

>

>

>

>Earth, animal concerns

>

>Although health concerns initially motivated Terry Jensen of Euless to go vegan

in the mid-1990s, she quickly embraced the environmental benefits of the

practice.

>

> " Food is one of the biggest users of energy and one of the greatest

contributors to global warming, " she says. " Not only are the greenhouse gases

emitted from the animals' waste causing problems with the environment, but you

also have issues of transportation of the food and the energy that consumes. "

>

>Adds Margaret Morin, co-president of the Vegetarian Network of Dallas and a

former registered nurse: " The number one thing you can do to support the

environment is to go vegan. " For this longtime Dallasite, however, another issue

motivated her decision 15 years ago to become a vegetarian: empathy for animals.

>

> " Farmed animals are objectified as cogs in the wheel of production and forced

to eke out a miserable and lonely existence until they die, usually in terror,

just so humans can eat their flesh, " she says. " This is incontrovertibly wrong. "

>

>Missing ice cream

>

>For her friend, Rusty Posch of Irving, a dispatcher for Southwest Airlines and

a vegan who gave up animal products almost nine years ago, the only thing he

truly misses about his former lifestyle is ice cream.

>

> " Tofutti is OK, but the rice-based ice creams don't taste as good to me, "

admits this longtime volunteer with the Irving Animal Shelter.

>

>Like many vegetarians and vegans, he went cold turkey on meat. Others,

including Ms. Bush, preferred to taper off, first giving up beef and pork, then

chicken, then fish and finally all animal products. The choice is purely

individual, one born of myriad factors ranging from convenience to cravings.

>

> " The one advice I've given people who are tempted by fast food at work is to

bring meals from home, " he says. " Someone who brings in fried chicken or

something, well the smell might get to you, especially in the beginning. "

>

>Lisa Martin is an Arlington freelance writer. The New York Times also

contributed to this article.

>

>RESTAURANTS

>

>Many restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth area offer vegetarian entrees, but

the following offer all-vegetarian menus.

>

>•Cosmic Cafe, 2912 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas; 214-521-6157,

www.cosmiccafedallas.com. Menu includes black-bean burgers, falafel, spinach

enchiladas, mandala pizza.

>

>•Kalachandji's, 5430 Gurley Ave., Dallas; 214-821-1048,

www.kalachandjis.com. Menu includes bean soup, vegetable curry and rice

puddings.

>

>•Spiral Diner & Bakery, 1314 W. Magnolia, Fort Worth; 817-332-8834,

www.spiraldiner.com (A second Spiral Diner is being planned for Oak Cliff.)

Vegan menu includes organic fruit smoothies, hot hummus wrap, red coconut curry

noodles.

>

>•Veggie Garden, 516 W. Arapaho Road, Richardson; 972-479-0888,

www.theveggiegarden.com. Menu includes eggless egg roll, kung pao soy beef, soy

shrimp fried rice.

>

>DEFINITIONS

>

>Vegetarian (also known as ovo-lacto vegetarian):

>

>Eats no meat, poultry or fish; does consume dairy products and eggs.

>Vegan: Eats no animal products. This can even include honey, because it is made

by living creatures.

>

>Pescovegetarian or pescetarian: Will eat fish in addition to dairy and eggs,

but abstains from consuming meat and poultry.

>

>Flexitarian:

>

>A relatively new term to describe someone who is primarily vegetarian but who

may, for pragmatic reasons, occasionally eat animal flesh.

>(End of Dallas Morning News article)

>------------

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>Wed Jun 20 19:52:50 2007