May 10, 2019
According to Adams-Mass, her decision to not eat meat for two years caused her to develop anemia — a condition in which there’s a deficiency of iron in red blood cells.
“I was super iron deficient, even though I was taking iron pills,” Adams-Mass said. “With anemia I was basically able to tell and then get tested because I was feeling really fatigued and having less energy overall.”
Our beef is grown to be extra fatty because that’s what the American public wants, and red meats are associated with heart disease and minor afflictions like gout. Red meat is a precursor to that.
— Al Wachutka
As a vegetarian herself, biology teacher Jessica Gust said it is easy for students to lack the necessary nutrients when changing to a vegetarian or vegan diet.
“To be vegetarian, you have to be savvy about understanding where your macro and micro nutrients come from,” Gust said.
Improved cardiovascular health is also a major benefit of a plant-based vegan diet, according to Vegan Club president Lara Garcia, a senior.
“There’s been a lot of proven links between cardiovascular health disease and the consumption of meat as well as dairy because it has a lot of saturated fat,” Garcia said.
Science teacher Al Wachutka warns that Americans who consume meat are at a higher risk of various diseases.
“Our beef is grown to be extra fatty because that’s what the American public wants, and red meats are associated with heart disease and minor afflictions like gout. Red meat is a precursor to that,” Wachutka said.
Adams-Mass said she became a vegetarian for moral and ethical reasons, yet could not continue with that lifestyle.
“I didn’t like the idea of eating meat and killing animals,” Adams-Mass said.
To stay healthy when going vegan, Garcia said it is important to focus on the plant-based aspect of veganism.
“It’s more about eating healthy because you can still eat unhealthy as a vegan,” Garcia said. “But when you’re just eating a variety of whole plants it’s kind of hard to be unhealthy.”
According to Gust, high schoolers especially need to be cognizant of their health when eating vegetarian or vegan.
‘During puberty and your early 20s, you want to make sure that (you’re) setting yourself up to be as healthy as possible when you’re old,” Gust said. “There are huge advantages to eliminating meat from your diet, but at the same time you could be creating other health issues if you’re not careful.”
Adams-Mass said she wishes she would have been more aware of the health impacts before changing her diet.
“Just make sure you know ways to incorporate enough protein and iron into your diet,” Adams-Mass said.