Local vegetarians find needs growing more accessible

With an increasing amount of awareness, education, product accessibility and popularity, practicing a vegetarian lifestyle is becoming easier for Alpena residents who wish to eliminate or limit their intake of meat.

Jan Robarge of Ossineke has been a vegetarian for over 40 years and teaches classes on vegetarianism and enlightenment courses through Alpena Community Colleges's Community Education classes.

"I love showing people that it's not difficult," she said. "You don't need to eat all of those exotic foods to thrive on vegetarianism."

She said during her classes she likes to show how easy it is to use natural foods. She said she always likes to share recipes and go into the kitchen at the college and create something for the class to try.

Robarge became a vegetarian for religious reasons and for the health benefits associated with it. She said she finds her lifestyle easy because she eats natural foods. Robarge said she doesn't eat out a lot, but has an easier time eating at restaurants when she is traveling.

Robarge said more people need to consider not eating meat and believes people are hesitant to do it because they fear they won't get enough protein. She said protein can be found in a variety of foods, even fruit, and even vegetarians can get way too much protein.

Registered dietitian Judy MacNeill said the most commonly practiced of the vegetarian diets is the lacto-ovo-vegetarian. The lacto-ovo-vegetarian doesn't eat meat products but will eat dairy products and eggs.

When looking at a vegetarian food pyramid the meat, poultry and fish of the traditional food pyramid are replaced by dry beans, nuts, seeds, eggs and meat substitutes. Two to three servings of these types of proteins are still recommended daily.

"In general, vegetarianism is a very healthy diet if you concentrate on an increased consumption of fruits and vegetables because that's been shown through numerous, numerous studies to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity - you name it. It's like the magic pill," MacNeill said.

She cautioned, however, that although a vegetarian diet is defined as not eating meat, a person can't thrive on meatless hamburgers or chocolate because it's not healthy. MacNeill said vegetarians or those considering the vegetarian diet should educate themselves and be aware of their sources of protein and that they are receiving adequate amounts of iron.

MacNeill said people decide to become vegetarian for many different reasons including religion, ethics and weight loss. She said most of the people she's encountered have become vegetarian for health reasons who use the diet for weight loss or have a concern about the link between eating too much meat and the risk of certain diseases.

Alisa Boboltz of Alpena has been a vegetarian for 4 1/2 years, two of which were spent as a vegan. She said she became a vegetarian because it makes her healthier, it's good for the environment and for compassionate reasons.

"I was never really a big meat eater before anyway. It wasn't difficult for me," she said, adding that being a vegetarian isn't as hard as people think it is.

When she was a vegan, Boboltz would abstain from eating food with any animal byproduct in it. She said she really had to read the food labels and be knowledgeable about what ingredients animal products were used in. She said certain dyes in foods would contain animal products and although a cheese might say lactose free, whey would be an ingredient on the label.

She said it was harder for her to be a vegan. She said it became very stressful because her family didn't really understand her lifestyle and ended up switching back to a vegetarian diet.

MacNeill said the key to healthy eating is everything in moderation.

"I don't want to be misinterpreted that a meat containing diet is unhealthy ... certainly a person who is eating a meat derived diet, again if they're doing their homework and as much as possible avoiding the processed meats and the higher fat ones and getting the full compliment of the fruits vegetables and whole grains - which truly are the basis of a healthy diet, can have a very, very healthy diet," she said.

Crystal Nelson can be reached via e-mail at cnelson@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5693.