The Brown & White

Christina Stegura, '08, has been a vegetarian since she was 12 years old.

"It started out when I thought of eating other things that were alive and had feelings," Stegura said. "When I was 12, I didn't understand that it could be helpful to the environment. I just couldn't accept that things were raised to be slaughtered."

Stegura was the first vegetarian in her family. Initially, her parents did not support her new diet. They refused to make her meatless dinners when she was in high school, Stegura said.

"If I wanted to be a vegetarian, I had to do it myself," Stegura said. "But I'm glad they encouraged me to cook for myself because now I know how to cook."

Her mother insisted Stegura visit a nutritionist to make sure she was eating a balanced diet and maintaining healthy habits as a vegetarian. But, Stegura's decision to go meatless affected more than her health.

"The biggest problem I had was with my brother," Stegura said. "He used to throw pepperoni at me. I would run around screaming. Looking back, I was acting ridiculous, but it was so gross to me."

Today's student vegetarians have converted for health, environmental, religious or animal rights reasons.

Dining services provides vegetarian and vegan options for all students. In Rathbone Hall there is a special section dedicated to vegetarian and vegan food. Stegura said she never felt constrained as a vegetarian diner at Lehigh.

"When I was a freshman, they had a room in the lower [University Center] that was full of vegetarian and vegan food," Stegura said. "They kept it separate so you knew it wasn't being touched by meat. I thought it was great because it gave me an alternative to the few choices at Rathbone and the [University Center food court]."

The Johnson Room, where the vegan and vegetarian food was once served, has since been eliminated. Dining services could not be reached for comment.

However, Stegura can see how non-vegetarians may not understand how vegetarians can stand eating pasta and salad every day.

"To someone who's a meat eater, it doesn't seem like there are a lot of options," Stegura said. "However, when I came to Lehigh, I had been a vegetarian for about six years. I was set on what I ate, and Lehigh's dining services provided a lot of those same things."

Stegura said it may be difficult to be a vegetarian at college.

"You have a certain set of options when you get to Lehigh, and if you cut that down even more, it may seem like there is nothing left to eat," Stegura said.

However, Stegura learned much more about the health and environmental benefits of vegetarianism while at Lehigh.

According to GoVeg.com, a Web site dedicated to promoting vegetarian lifestyles, a vegetarian diet can help prevent three of the most common killers in the U.S. - cancer, heart disease and stroke. Vegetarians also generally have lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and lower rates of type two diabetes, prostate and colon cancer. Meat eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegetarians, according to the Web site.

While vegetarianism does result in overall healthier lifestyles, there are also drawbacks. Vegetarians must concentrate on eating a balanced diet. A diet saturated in candy and cookies, though absent of meat, does not provide the nutrients the body needs to survive.

According to FoodNetwork.com, "All vegetarians need to make sure that they are consuming adequate amounts of protein, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12, calcium and vitamins A and D."

Another reason many people are becoming vegetarians is to help fight global warming. Stegura said she first learned her vegetarian diet was helping the environment when she started college.

"When I got to college, I started learning about global warming and how I was helping the environment because I was not eating meat," Stegura said.

According to GoVeg.com, being a vegetarian is an effective way to right global warming.

The Web site describes how the meat industry negatively affects the environment. For example, more than half the water used in the U.S. goes toward animal agriculture. Farmed animals produce 130 times more waste than humans, which sometimes finds its way into our waterways.

Also, raising animals requires the use of tons of food and raw materials.

Proponents of vegetarianism claim you can help reduce global warming by going vegetarian or limiting your meat intake.

Nick Kruse, '08, an occasional meat eater, has done research on how being a vegetarian can help eliminate global warming.

Kruse said he decided to reduce his impact on the environment by seriously considering the impact meat has on the environment every time he eats it.

In an e-mail interview, Kruse explained how he decides if he should eat meat or not.

"If and when I eat meat, I consider the impact it has had," Kruse said.

Eating chicken or fish has about double the impact of vegetables, Kruse said, while pig or salmon has about four times the impact. Animals that are higher are the food chain have the greatest impact, Kruse said.

"Chickens and fish, bottom feeders, are pretty low," Kruse said. "Pigs and salmon are higher. The big exception is beef. Beef is the hummer of the kitchen. Each cow gets fed eight times its weight in corn before it is slaughtered."

Beef is half as efficient as pork and only a quarter as efficient as chicken, Kruse said. Also, cows burp out methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as part of their digestion process.

"The long and short of it is four percent of greenhouse gases may be a direct result of farming cows," Kruse said.

Kruse suggests if you want to eat meat, consider how many more vegetables or soy-substitutes you could be eating instead.

"When you want to eat some meat, and you need the protein from it, imagine what your plate would look like if it were overflowing with twice or four times as much beans or tofu," Kruse said. "If your imaginary serving still seems appropriate, eat it."