Spring Break
Letter to the Editor: Vegetarianism article misleading
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Opinions
I was distressed by your article on vegetarianism ("Do Research Before Committing to Vegetarianism") in Monday's edition of The DEN.
The point of the article - accompanied by a skull & crossbones image, no less - seems to be that vegetarianism is unhealthy for college students.
This is a highly misleading point of view.
It seems to be based on the point made by HERC nutrition coordinator Sarah Allen: "What a lot of kids do is that they stop eating meat. They don't replace it with anything and they eat a lot of cheese pizza and pretzels."
Certainly, a diet consisting mainly of pizza and pretzels is unhealthy. But it doesn't matter if it's cheese pizza or pepperoni. And if you throw in a couple of Chik-Filets and a few bacon-double-cheeseburgers, things don't improve.
Bad nutrition choices are a problem whether you are a vegetarian or not. There is no doubt that vegetarians need to be aware of what they eat, but so do meat eaters.
By making an active decision to adopt dietary restrictions, vegetarians are already one step ahead in that process. Vegetarians are forced to be more conscious of their food choices.
We can't just stop in at Hardees or Subway and pick up a greasy, high-fat sandwich.
Having to think more carefully about what you can eat doesn't guarantee a healthy diet, but it raises the likelihood.
Not to mention the fact it is better for the environment, kinder to animals, and cheaper.
Steve Scher, professor in the Department of Psychology
The point of the article - accompanied by a skull & crossbones image, no less - seems to be that vegetarianism is unhealthy for college students.
This is a highly misleading point of view.
It seems to be based on the point made by HERC nutrition coordinator Sarah Allen: "What a lot of kids do is that they stop eating meat. They don't replace it with anything and they eat a lot of cheese pizza and pretzels."
Certainly, a diet consisting mainly of pizza and pretzels is unhealthy. But it doesn't matter if it's cheese pizza or pepperoni. And if you throw in a couple of Chik-Filets and a few bacon-double-cheeseburgers, things don't improve.
Bad nutrition choices are a problem whether you are a vegetarian or not. There is no doubt that vegetarians need to be aware of what they eat, but so do meat eaters.
By making an active decision to adopt dietary restrictions, vegetarians are already one step ahead in that process. Vegetarians are forced to be more conscious of their food choices.
We can't just stop in at Hardees or Subway and pick up a greasy, high-fat sandwich.
Having to think more carefully about what you can eat doesn't guarantee a healthy diet, but it raises the likelihood.
Not to mention the fact it is better for the environment, kinder to animals, and cheaper.
Steve Scher, professor in the Department of Psychology
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