Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane

staying healthy in the fast lane

Why Be Vegan/Vegetarian?

About fifteen or so years ago, I became a vegetarian, and around
ten or more years ago, I became what I call a “sloppy” vegan. A
vegetarian eats plant foods but can also, depending on the type of
vegetarian, eat eggs (ovo-) or dairy products (lacto-). A vegan does
not eat any animal foods. I call myself a “sloppy” vegan because I
still have leather shoes, once a month or so I might have some type
of dairy food or maybe something with eggs in it. I might have veg-
etable soup at a restaurant that might be made with chicken broth.
I don’t go out and buy animal foods for my home use, nor do I go
out and order animal foods. I would say that I am a 99 percent-plus
vegan; “sloppy” is a pretty good description! Vegetarianism is a
process and evolution. Once you start, it grows on you, and aspects
of it become more important to you and you continue to change.

Health and Weight Control Being a Vegetarian

Before I describe the benefits of vegetarianism on weight con-
trol, I want to make it clear that I am talking about whole-food
vegetarians, eating the majority of their diet as vegetables, fruit,
beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains and minimal or no refined or
processed foods. There is nothing worse for the cause of encour-
aging plant-based diets than a “loud” vegetarian who is eating
refined-grain products, rich in fats and added sugar; processed
vegetarian foods; and virtually no vegetables and fruit—one who
looks shriveled up, pale, and has to have his or her caffeine fix in
order to walk. Or, a vegetarian who is overweight, eating all kinds
of refined, sweet-fat-enriched flour “animal-free” foods. Please,
please, my vegetarian brothers and sisters—eat whole, unrefined
plant foods with tons of vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, and
moderate amounts of whole grains. (Watch for food sensitivities,
especially to grains). Get some exercise and some sunlight daily.
Don’t be processed-food, refined-grain vegetarians or, as Dr. Cor-
dain, the author of The Paleo Diet, so aptly calls these types of veg-
etarians, “breaditarians.”^18