Spring 2002 - The Food Issue

Sustainable Diet
by Helen Hollister
Photos by Sarah Galbraith

Scents of oregano, thyme and cumin wafted lazily through the air. Meanwhile, two pots sizzled and snapped, laden with colorful, aromatic tofu entrees. Bellingham resident Sea Ganschow squeezed a block of tofu between her fingers, forming small crumbs for tofu salad.

“This is my favorite part,” Ganschow said as the tofu fell from her hand.

She’s taught tofu-cooking classes for nearly four years through the Bellingham Community Food Co-op’s Healthy Connections series.

Ganschow is married and has three children, aged 17, 4 and 2. Her entire household is vegetarian.

A 2000 National Zogby Poll sponsored by the Vegetarian Resource Group found 2.5 percent of the population is vegetarian, meaning approximately 4 million adults in the United States are vegetarian.

While the reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet vary, one of the most compelling involves meat consumptions’ negative environmental impacts.

Ganschow maintains a vegetarian diet in part because of her concern for the environment. She said vegetarianism’s impacts can go a long way.

“(A vegetarian) uses fewer resources of the planet to produce food,” Ganschow said.

Many vegetarians believe an undeniable link exists between vegetarianism, the environment and the meat industry.

Vegetarians of Washington President, Amanda Strombom, said using fewer resources is the primary benefit of eating vegetarian. The extensive role water plays in cattle production also has an enormous impact on the environment, she said.

“It takes roughly 12-times the amount of land to grow enough grain to feed a cow to get one pound of meat, compared to the land required to grow wheat for a pound of flour,” Strombom said. “More than half the total amount of water consumed in the United States goes to irrigate land for growing feed and fodder for livestock.”

Producing a pound of beef often requires up to 15-times the amount of water required to produce the equivalent amount of plant protein.

Also, pollution from animal manure has a major impact on the environment, Strombom said.

“While we humans use bathrooms linked to carefully controlled sewage systems, animals have no such constraints,”she said.

While the North Cascades Audubon Society has made no official statement regarding the impact of livestock on the environment, President Debbie Craig said the large amount of land dedicated to livestock and the pollution caused by livestock feces have incredible impacts on the environment.

The conscious consumer

Clad in nothing but blue corduroy pants and a hemp shoulder bag, Western Washington University student Michael Shepard strutted his environmentally friendly stuff during the Vegan Fest fashion show in Western’s Viking Union in April.

As a member of the Western Animal Rights Network, Shepard said it is an environmentalist’s obligation to be vegetarian.

He said he believes that by eating meat, a person is harming the environment.

“In this country the negative environmental impacts include enormous amounts of land used for cow grazing or food production for livestock,” Shepard said. “Byproducts of animal agriculture are often dumped into streams — byproducts like manure, antibiotics and steroids.”

Shepard, a vegetarian for 10 years and a vegan for five years, said the collective mentality must change before society can.

“That mentality (dictates) what we buy, why we buy and what we support with our money,” Shepard said. “As consumers, that is our most powerful form of activism. Going vegetarian is a really easy way to incorporate activism into your life.”

While Western student Matt Russell, 22, is a vegetarian primarily for health reasons, he said he doesn’t think people realize the strain eating meat puts on the earth’s resources. Russell said meat is such a part of American culture that eating it with every meal has become tradition.

“It’s an institution,” Russell said. “You can try to explain these things to people. They don’t really care because they need their meat.

“You go to Denny’s or Shari’s and they have a breakfast steak. What the hell is a breakfast steak?”

The nutritional truth

Kristine Duncan, a registered dietitian from the St. Joseph Hospital Nutrition and Diabetes Education Clinic, said that, although people can get all the nutrients they require from plant-based foods, most people don’t think about that possibility.

“There is a plant source for every nutrient except vitamin B-12,” Duncan said. “This is only a concern for vegans, as they consume no animal foods. But many common foods are fortified with B-12 that a vegan could include, like fortified soy or rice milk and many breakfast cereals.”

She said that vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy products can get adequate amounts of B-12 from dairy foods and eggs.

“We get calcium, protein and iron from animal foods but we can get calcium from broccoli, leafy greens, almonds, oranges, black beans, fortified orange juice and some soy products,” Duncan said. “We can get protein from nuts, seeds, legumes and soy. We can get iron from whole grains, breakfast cereals, legumes, etc.”

Duncan said the way to maintain a nutritional balance is replacing each animal food with an alternate instead of just removing it.

“If you would normally have a turkey sandwich at lunch with fruit and a glass of milk, then be sure to have a peanut butter or humus sandwich, or a sandwich with a soy lunch meat or a slice of cheese with your fruit and milk,” Duncan said.

She said a vegetarian can achieve a balanced diet easily by varying their diet and eating from each food group.

“The most important thing to remember when following a vegetarian diet is adequacy, balance and variety,” Duncan said. “Vegetarian diets are often higher in fiber and vitamin C and lower in cholesterol, saturated fats and calories. Vegetarians are at lower risk for many chronic diseases that affect our population, including heart disease, obesity and cancer.”

Strombom said the number of environmental reasons for vegetarianism combined with the personal health benefits are overwhelming and that reducing dependence on meat will lower a person’s fat intake, cholesterol level and the amount of toxins they consume.

Adopting the alternative

Craig advised people to educate themselves and reduce the amount of beef they consume, especially fast food beef. She said if everyone simply reduced their beef consumption by one meal per week it would make a difference.

Strombom suggested that people recognize eliminating meat from one’s diet is a long-term goal. She said people should take it one step at a time.

“These steps could include eating one vegetarian meal a week, trying out some of the fake-meat products which are readily available in grocery stores, or choosing a bean burrito, a veggie burger or a veggie pizza the next time you eat out,” Strombom said.

She said that people who still want meat in their diet should buy organic meats raised in a more environmentally conscious way.

“Every step you take, however small, will have a beneficial impact on the environment,” Strombom said.

Senior Helen Hollister is pursuing a double major in journalism and Spanish at Western. She has previously been published in the Western Front and Seattle Central Community College’s newspaper, the City Collegian.

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