I also know
some vegetarians who do not fit into our general image of a fit vegetarian. Except
not eating meat, they do not watch their carbohydrate intake, nor are they
physically active. Although by definition, a vegetarian means a non-meat eater,
and there is no restriction or requirement on life style, I would use the word
with caution. Because I, probably like most people, add extra expectations to vegetarians.
When hearing the word, I tend to think this person cares about health, so he or
she made the choice to stop eating meat.
I asked
several vegetarian friends of mine why they became vegetarians. The answers
usually fall into three categories, health concern, moral concern or natural
disgust of meat. It seems reasonable that if your argument of being a
vegetarian does not include health, you do not have to be physically fit in
order to proudly being a vegetarian. Therefore, I have no ground to blame
unhealthy vegetarians because their choice was not based on health.
However, I
do think there are people who would like to become vegetarian to improve their
health, but they might be misled by the media or any other information sources.
They equal no meat consumption to being fitness. They cut meat out from their
diet but add excessive sugar and fat in. They live with the illusion that they
are very healthy but in fact they might be worse off.
In contrast,
meat eaters with healthy life styles can be seen everywhere. They prove the
notion that being healthy means a balanced life in diet and exercise. I do not
have any personal preference over meat or no meat, and I know I do not crave
for meat. Nevertheless, when I see meat cooked in a special and alluring way,
often in ethnic food recipes, I cannot resist it. Once again, I hope to
emphasize that it is not much about what you eat, but how much you eat and what
your physical activity level is.
Another
trend in health-centric population is about eating organically. Organic food
itself is a huge topic which many professionals are discussing all the time. I
will talk about this issue in later articles. What I want to mention here is
the similar mistake some people make as some vegetarian, including me. They arbitrarily
associate organic ingredients to healthy food. To them, the label “organic” means
“healthy-no-doubt”, and means no matter how much you consume, it will always do
good to your body.
Sometimes I
think the food industry overuses and misuses the word “organic”. It is a very
smart and rewarding commercializing strategy though. But pay attention to the
gimmicks! I cannot help laughing when I see “organic ice cream or chocolate” or
read “organic cane sugar” on the package. Do people really think junk food with
organic ingredients becomes healthy food?
Another
joke I heard is manufacturers are considering frying potato chips in olive oil
to make them healthier. Do you think highly processed food with all organic
ingredients is still organic? I think “organic” itself should have another
deeper layer of meaning, which is natural and least processed.
As pharmacologist
usually say, all drugs are poisons and it all depends on the dose. I think the
same rule applies to food too. If you overeat, food becomes poison.