{"id":161,"date":"2009-04-04T17:45:40","date_gmt":"2009-04-04T17:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=161"},"modified":"2012-09-04T17:58:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T17:58:56","slug":"green-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/green-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Minds"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Jason Baker, director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia-Pacific, was only 18 years old, sometimes in 1990, he saw truckloads of chickens from poultry farms passing in front of their house in Detroit on their way to slaughterhouses. \u00a0\u201cOnce, a chicken fell out (of the truck) \u2013 she was so fat, she couldn\u2019t even stand up. \u00a0Her beak was half gone and she didn\u2019t have feathers in some places. We took her to a veterinarian, but it was too late; she had to be euthanized,\u201d he recalls. \u00a0\u201cThere was no way I would eat meat again after that.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But while Baker\u2019s decision to become, at first, a vegetarian (exclusion of meat from diet), and, eventually, a vegan (pure plant-based diet, with poultry products and milk also excluded) was triggered by his involvement in the animal rights movement, there are, as PETA itself states, as many reasons to be a vegan as there are vegans.<\/p>\n

SEEING GREEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humans, says Baker, started out as \u201cnaturally herbivorous,\u201d with prehistoric men eating herbs first before eating flesh. But it was only in the 20th century that vegetarianism started to popularly become a way of living, with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi popularly known as vegetarians. Although many of the world’s religions and philosophies, such as Buddhism and Jainism, have long promoted vegetarianism, more recently, in a Hollywood-dominated era, supported by celebrities including Beatles\u2019 Paul McCartney, Pamela Anderson, Alicia Silverstone, and Natalie Portman, among others.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, vegetarianism is a relatively new concept. In fact, PETA, dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of animals, including those that end up on dining tables, only opened office locally in 2004. Amazingly, says Baker, PETA gets more requests for Vegetarian Starter Kits from the Philippines than from just anywhere else in Asia, Africa, and South America.<\/p>\n

Baker thinks this is largely because \u201caround 90% of Asians, including Filipinos, are lactose-intolerant.\u201d Thus, soy products have always been popular in the region, though, he adds, Filipinos are luckier because they have an array of vegetables to choose from, and, already, most food courts in malls have a vegetarian food stall, making vegetarian food as affordable and convenient as any fast food.<\/p>\n

TURNING GREEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing vegetarian is the best thing anyone can do to improve their health, alleviate animal suffering, and save the environment,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

According to www.goveg.com, \u201cgoing vegetarian is the single best thing that we can do for ourselves and our family.\u201d This is because a meat-free diet that is rich in, among others, complex carbohydrates, protein, fiber, omeg-3 fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins \u201cprovides optimal nutrition for both children and adults, forming the foundation for dietary habits that support a lifetime of good health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Various studies continue to support this claim. The American Dietetic Association, for example, states that \u201cvegetarians have lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.\u201d Vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, too, making it a popular technique to lose weight among the weight-conscious.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Toronto have also found that a plant-based diet rich in soy and soluble fiber can reduce cholesterol levels by as much as one-third. And even more studies have shown that, on average, vegetarians and vegans are at least 10% leaner, and live six to 10 years longer than meat-eaters,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, vegetarianism is not perfect. For example, since \u201cvitamin B-12 is primarily found in animal sources, vegans need to take a multivitamin or B-12 supplement to get ample B-12,\u201d Baker says. \u201cBut it is still possible to get most vital nutrients from a vegan diet \u2013 (after all) vitamin B-12 is also found in nutritional yeast, and many fortified cereals and soy milks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond choosing to be healthy, however, turning vegetarian is, according to PETA, also \u201ccompassionate to the animals and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is estimated that each vegetarian saves at least 83 animals every year,\u201d Baker says, adding that “the world\u2019s livestock account for 15% to 25% of overall global methane emissions \u2014 and methane is 24 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. In the US, nearly half of the water, more than a third of raw materials and fossil fuels, 80% of agricultural land, and 70% of grain are used to raise animals for food. The animals, in turn, produce a whopping 87,000 pounds of manure every single second \u2013 (a quantity) 130 times the excrement of the entire human population, leaking into streams and rivers, and contaminating water sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vegetarian diet is, therefore, \u201cnot only healthy but also humane,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

CHOOSING GREEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing vegetarian seemed difficult at first \u2014 I had loved bacon double cheeseburgers,\u201d Baker recalls. \u201cBut I made the switch overnight. It\u2019s just a matter of learning new food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning vegetarian is \u201ceasier than ever before these days since there are many more options. In the Philippines, soy products are everywhere; you don\u2019t go to the taho (tofu), the taho goes to you.\u201d There are also the “mock meats” long promoted by Seventh-Day Adventists as \u201cmock meats\u201d that is cholesterol free and generally lower in fat; the pervasiveness of the vegetarian products, such as those carried by shopping chain Rustans in its supermarkets (called Taste), from sliced soy meat, tofu cream cheese, soy cheese, mock tuna, and dairy-free chocolate; and the availability of more dining venues either exclusively catering to vegetarians, or re-configuring their menus to offer vegetarian menus (e.g. in Quezon City alone, there are about five all-vegetarian restaurants, even as pizza companies, such as Yellow Cab and Greenwich, make vegetable pizzas without cheese, and Wendy\u2019s and KFC now have vegetable salads for the health-conscious), Baker says.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompassion will never go out of style. We show people that vegetarianism isn\u2019t just about losing a few pounds; it\u2019s about being humane and healthy,\u201d Baker ends.<\/p>\n

For more information on the benefits of turning vegetarian, visit www.peta.org, www.PinoyVeg.com, www.PETAAsiaPacific.com, and http:\/\/goveg.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Philippines, vegetarianism is a relatively new concept. But its prominence has been growing fast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,11,35],"tags":[101,100,102],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness-2","category-nutrition","category-wellness-2","tag-peta","tag-veganism","tag-vegetarianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}