[965] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
FWD from Natural Foods: Teens becoming vegetarian
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vegetarian Resource Center)
Wed Jun 19 00:06:06 1996
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 00:04:51 -0400
To: veg-teen@empire.net, vsg@MIT.EDU
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 14:09:00 -0700
From: "Marie, Donna M (dmmarie)" <dmmarie@pbsrv04.isp.PacBell.COM>
Subject: FW: Teenagers choosing vegetarianism-- G
To: NFLIST <nf-list@monroe.llnl.gov>
Errors-To: owner-nf-list@monroe.llnl.gov
Reply-To: nf-list@monroe.llnl.gov
This was just published in a magazine that's geared to teenagers. it's
called
REACT, and is inserted into the NJ Star-Ledger. On the cover is a picture
of
a girl surrounded by fruit and vegetables and says "Vegetarians: Teens
choose
a way of life"
Note that the Teenage Research Unlimited organization did a study and found
that 85 percent of teenage girls and 18 percent of teenage boys think that
vegetarianism
is in!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Whether they support animal rights or the environment or simple want to eat
healthily a Growing number ot teens are golng veggie
by David Oliver Relin :
Paul Shapiro was 13 when he saw a
series of graphic pictures that changed his mind about eating meat. The
photos, taken in slaughterhouses, document what Paul calls the "unbelievable
suffering we cause animals when we raise them as food." Today at 16, Paul
pulls out the photos and shows them to people who question his decision to
become a vegetarian.
The pictures are difficult to look at. In one, a pig is biting the bars of
the cage where it is being fattened-a cage too small for it to turn around
in. In another chickens' beaks have been burned off so they won't peck each
other to death at a crowded factory farm.
Now in his junior year at the Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.,
Paul
has founded Compassion Over Killing, an organization with branches in
Atlanta
and Seattle.
It's dedicated to promoting animal rights and vegetarianism.
"I love the dogs that live with my family," Paul says. "And I can't see the
difference between eating one of them or a pig. What right do we have to
make
animals suffer when we don't need to eat meat to survive?"
Paul is one of a growing number of American teens who are thumbing their
noses at foods like cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizzas and turning to
vegetarian diets instead. Roughly 2.5 million Americans now consider
themselves vegetarians, and according to Baltimore's Vegetarian Resource
Group, teens make up one of the fastest growing groups.
Suddenly, vegetarianism is trendy. High-profile veggies from R.E.M.'s
Michael
Stipe to Roseanne's Sarah Gilbert speak passionately about nonanimal diets.
According to a 1995 survey by lllinois-based Teenage Research Unlimited, 85
percent of teenage girls and 18 percent of teenage boys think that
vegetarianism
is in
But it's more than fashion that attracts teens to vegetarianism. Ask teens
why they are switching away from meat, and they will offer as many answers
as
there are foods.
Some, like Paul, are strong supporters of animal rights. Others are drawn to
a healthy diet, free from animal fats. Still others believe that vegetables
are environmentally friendly food, using less land and fewer resources than
cattle and other meat sources.
Danny Seo, 19, says he was the only vegetarian in his Shillington, Pa.. high
school when he stopped eating meat at age 13. "Guys are supposed to be
tough,
and if you try to be compassionate [by not eating arlimals], it's seen as a
step down," he explains. Danny says it was hard going to friends' parties
where only meat was served. "It upsets some people when you are different"
Danny says.
The best place for vegetarian teens to turn for support is
to each other, says Tovah Walters-Gidseg, 14. That's why she started a group
called the Vegetarian Youth Network.
Tovah says she became a veggie at age 12, when she realized that it was "a
way of living with respect for life and the Earth." But in her small town of
New Paltz, N.Y., she had trouble finding people her age who shared her
views.
Now, Tovah says, her group's Web page lets teen veggies e-mail each other
around the world.
Perhaps the toughest hurdle teen vegetarians face is dealing with family
members who consider it just another teenage fad. Many parents believe that
a
diet without meat is a diet without nutrition. "I had to show my parents I
was serious by learning about nutrition and helping with the cooking,: Tovah
says.
Paul Shapiro overcame his parents' skepticism by visiting a nutritionist who
helped him plan healthy vegetarian meals.
"A well-balanced vegetarian diet is perfectly appropriate for teens," says
Suzanne Havala, a nutritionist for the Vegetarian Resource Group.
But just giving up meat doesn't necessarily mean you're eating well. Havala
warns. A steady diet of french fries, cheese pizza and candy bars is high in
fat and unhealthy. Her advice to teens interested in becoming vegetarians is
to "hold down the fatty or greasy junk foods. A healthy vegetarian diet
includes plenty of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, leafy greens, whole grains
and legumes."
Havala emphasizes that turning veggie
requires careful thought It can mean hours spent studying nutrition. It also
takes extra work from packing your own school lunch to cooking your own
special meals at home.
But the effort is worth it, Paul says, if you're working for a cause you
believe in. Above his desk at home hangs a poster he made to remind himself
why he became a vegetarian. It's a photo of his dog, a golden retriever,
sitting on a dinner plate next to a knife and fork. "Why not?" the caption
reads. "You eat other animals, don't you? Go vegetarian!" ^
