Emergency Leads to Debate

Yesterday, I was flying home form visiting family friends in Massachusetts. Suddenly, we have to make an emergency landing becuase one of our engines kept stalling for some unknown reason. Waiting in the terminal for our next connecting flight, my step-dad and I went to look for something to eat becuase it was 6:00 and we haven't eaten dinner yet. We eventually found a garden salad, cheerios (I LOVE them!), and some other random snacks. When we sat back down, we struck up a conversation with a elderly couple and a mother with her teenage daughter.

The mother noticed that I was eating healthier foods than other teens she has observed (this staement was obviously pointed towards her daughter). That followed with me talking about my vegetarian lifestyle. It's really werid. The very word "vegetarian" makes adults, mostly moms, act like cujo. Immediately, she ranted on her daughter's friends that were vegetarians and vegans, talking on and on about how they were anemic and that she abhors the idea of a teen "depriving her body of extra nutrients." (she was more focused on girls becuase of their importnt growing period as a teen...the fact that she was a daughter-obsessed, soccer-mom might have played a role...maybe...)

I can't tell you how many times I have heard the "are you getting enough protien? iron?"...the list goes on... Ugh. Finally I told her that those girls couldn't have done the right research before becoming vegetarians; especially if they are dropping like tipped cows everywhere. My then the elderly couple jumped in saying that when you don't eat meat or fish, you miss so many nutrients. WOW .... I have my work cut out for me, don't I?

I also find it amazing that people, especially "wise" adults, stick to and rely on what they think or hear even though it isn't true or they didn't bother researching the subject.

Protien and iron defeciency are the main topics of conversation I get on a daily basis. I can't say how many times I have had to make an adult listen to me, a 14-year-old teenager. Chances are what I say will bounce off their 12-inch thick skulls like ping pong balls, but I can't say that I didn't try :)

Medical research has shown that vegetarians and vegans get enough protien and iron without monitoring their diets obsessively (but they have to be a balanced , healthy diets). Protien comes from whole grains, oatmeal, brown rice, beans, peas, lentils, tofu, soy milk, mushrooms, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, and the ever-popular vegetarian burgers and hot dogs. Even eating too much animal protien scientifically leads to osteoporosis (according to a 2003 USDA report).

Iron defiecency or anemia doesn't occur more often in vegetarians than meat-eaters. Leafy greens, broccoli, whole grains, fortified cereals, beans, nuts, and many other plant sources provide substanial amount of iron. Also, multi-vitamins help.

Hopefully, both the couple and the mother double-take on their opinions as we flew smoothly home through the clouds.