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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOOD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 2004
Vegetarians now have more options
By Julie Jones
jjones@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Diet products, such as Atkins and SlimFast, are congesting supermarket shelves. But there is a less commercialized dietary lifestyle with an increasing number of available products - vegetarianism.
The American Dietetic Association estimated that $1.5 billion was spent in the vegetarian food market in 2002 on foods that replaced meat products. This number is up from $310 million in 1996, and is expected to double by 2006.
According to The National Restaurant Association, eight out of 10 restaurants with table service offer vegetarian entrees.
Lori Smith, Lawrence junior, has followed a vegetarian lifestyle for 11 years. She agreed that it had become easier to follow the vegetarian lifestyle in recent years.
"When I stopped eating meat I did not know what I was doing," Smith said. "It's been a learning process over the years to make sure I get enough protein."
What Smith went through was normal, said Reed Mangels, nutrition adviser for The Vegetarian Resource Group. Many beginning vegetarians take meat off of their plates, but then don't replace it with anything else, leading to hunger and nutrition deficiencies.
"The important thing is to educate yourself," Mangels said."Read as much about it as possible."
tend to live longer, and have a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes. Mangels said.
The no-meat diet can also lower rates of rheumatoid arthritis and help lower cholesterol, said Peter Kimble, Lawrence naturopath.
Despite the health benefits, caution should still be exerted when cutting meat from the diet. Vegetarians and vegans should eat a variety of plant-based food, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans, Mangels said. Eating refined grains, such as white breads and pastas, can actually be worse for your health.
Though studies show vegans absorb calcium better, they still have the potential to have an inadequate calcium supply, said Ann Chapman, Watkins Memorial Health Center nutritionist. Beans, figs, almonds, tofu and orange juice fortified with calcium can help vegans attain the 1,200 milligrams of calcium needed daily.
Strict vegans should also take B12 vitamin supplements.
Kimble said he did not recommend a vegetarian or vegan diet for everyone, such as those with acid reflux disease or gluten intolerances.
"In my opinion the healthiest diet is mostly vegetarian, but does not exclude meat, especially eggs," Kimble said.
Studies have shown that vegetarians - Edited by Miranda Lenning
The optimum diet would include meat or eggs at least three or four times a week, he said.
Photo Illustration by Courtney Kuhlen
Record rainfall; damaging storms hurt crops
By Erik Johnson
ejohnson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Most Summers, Bob and Joy Lominska, owners of Hoyland Farms, a 67-acre organic farm about 15 miles north of Lawrence, wake up in the morning to gaze at the Western sky and pray for rain. A few strong storms in the past month, however, have them cursing the prospect of more water on their many crops.
June has come and gone with lower-than-average rainfall in the Lawrence area — 3.85 inches, more than and inch-and-a-half lower than the June average, according to www.weather.com. But a few especially wet weekends, namely a storm that Lominska said dumped more than 5 inches on his farm June 27 and 28, damaged crops
and saturated the soil on some local farms.
"Look at this," Joy Lominska said, pointing to a row of empty, soaked clay soil. "We can't Roto-till and we can't hoe this. You'd stick the hoe in the ground and pull up nothing but a big clump of mud."
The Lominska's are members of the Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, a group of eight local organic farms providing bags of fresh produce to more than 300 students and Lawrence households each week for 22 weeks a year. Because organic farmers typically run smaller operations than factory or corporate farms, they don't always have the irrigation tools or water-diversion methods to get them through unusual weather.
Although 2004 remains a successful year overall, dense clay soil at Hoyland Farms, which usually acts as a holding tank for
"You can see the beans here that don't look very happy." Joy said standing over a row of beans, most of which are dead or dying. "They've all suffocated from a lack of oxygen. That rain's killed them."
water during drier years, has held too much water this year, killing some crops.
Wet weather also promotes fungal diseases in many plants. One-third of Hoyland's cherry crop rotted, and bad grapes have to be picked each day to avoid spreading of infection.
Michael Lee, Lawrence Free State High School junior, is looking over the crops at Sandheron Farm in Oskaloosa while his father, Stu Schaffer, sociology professor at Johnson County Community College, is attending lectures in China. Sandheron sits in a valley, and the same storm that damaged Hoyland Farm's
crops drowned Lee's entire bean crop.
Rainwater runs down the hills on either side of the valley, carrying debris, knocking over some plants and flooding others.
"At certain points in the garden the rain just sits there," Lee said. "That's been drowning some plants, and it's been a bit of a problem."
Two weeks into July, rains have already exceeded the monthly average of 4.01 inches by almost an inch. August is typically the driest month in Kansas, and despite the possibility of more heavy storms, the Lominska's are optimistic of another successful year.
"On the whole, I think it will be a good year," Bob said. "But it's always easier to put rain down yourself than it is to take it off."
— Edited by Miranda Lenning