The Young Ones

Four years ago, a young woman began taking yoga classes with me. I was interested in teaching children's yoga, and she thought she'd try it. She quickly realized that she loved yoga. Four years later, she now receives private yoga instruction from me and my colleague. The other night, she mentioned that she's considering becoming a vegetarian. I asked her about her motivation, and she said, "animal cruelty". I have heard that from many vegetarians.

Rarely do I hear that people become vegetarians for health reasons. Instead, there is an ah-ha moment. Education is the key, and once the facts are put forth about how factory farming is cruel to animals (and hurting our environment), many people are willing to make a change.

Her parents are concerned that she isn't old enough to eat a vegetarian diet, and that she won't get all the nutrients she needs, particularly protein. This is a common misconception, and again, education is the key. Our ancestors ate nowhere near the amount of meat that Americans consume today, and they were healthier for it. We need 15g of protein at each meal, and we can get that amount, easily, through legumes (beans/lentils), grains, soy, seitan. The phytonutrients needed for a healthy body don't come from meat - they come from fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts/seeds, healthy oils.

How to begin incorporating these new foods is typically overwhelming for people. Where to shop, how to cook with new ingredients, finding recipes - all of it seems like too much in a day to day world, that for many, is already too overwhelming. The beauty of healthy vegetarian cooking is that it's simple because the ingredients are whole (not processed) and more pure.

Last fall, during my 4-week cooking class series, 2 mothers attended, not because they personally were invested in living a vegetarian lifestyle, but because their daughters were already vegetarians - one was 12 and the other 17. The young ones seem to be leading the way with greater knowledge and an openness to change.

The topic of food and nutrition is always heated because we are so emotionally tied to our foods. The key is to look at the source of our food - where does it come from and how was it produced? When the facts are understood, there will be no more arguments. We can agree on farming practices that don't hurt the environment and practices that don't inflict cruelty on animals. When we focus on what we can agree on, we can move forward with the discussion on being a vegetarian.

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