TaviaMaeBradshaw

UNHAPPY MEAL

For a growing number of girls, vegetarianism is a convenient veil for disordered eating.

Four years ago, when Jenna decided she needed to lose weight, she tried every diet from Atkins to Weight Watchers. When those didn’y work, she became a vegetarian. “I read somewhere that most of the fat you eat comes from meat,” says Jenna, now sixteen, from New York City. But when she stopped eating meat, Jenna started obsessing about everything she ate - and just couldn’t stop.

Jenna’s not the only girl whose conversion to vegetarianism led to an unhealthy relationship with food. A recent University of Minnesota study found that approximately 20 percent of current and former vegetarian teens engaged in extreme weight-control behaviours like calorie restriction or bingeing and purging - compared with slightly less than 10 percent of those who never practiced vegetarianism. The trend has been gaining ground for a while. A 2001 study found that the most common reasons teens gave for vegetarianism were weight loss or maintenance, and other studies suggest similar links.

“A lot of girls at my school, including some of my close friends, say they’re vegetarians to cover up their eating disorders,” says Shirley, eighteen, from Davis, California. “It’s hard not to notice when all someone brings for lunch is a tiny block of tofu. But it’s also hard to argue with someone who is justifying her eating habits on moral or political grounds.”

Living without meat can be healthful when it’s practiced in a balanced, mindful way. But the relationship between dieitng and eating disorders is causing growing alarm among nutritionists and adolescent psychologists. “Posing as a vegetarian is nothing new for those with eating disorders, but it is becoming more popular,” says Sari Shepphird, Ph.D., an adolescent psychologist and author of 100 Questions & Answers About Anorexia Nervosa.

Experts have noticed that teens with certain personality traits, like perfectionism, are more prone to using vegetarianism as a cloak for underlying eating disorder. “Generally, teens who develop these problems feel that they have little control over the circumstances of their lives, so they attempt to gain a sense of control through their food habits,” Shepphird says. “Some teens may use vegetarianism as a statement of independence or to seek approval or fit in with peers.”

Although being happy may be their ultimate goal, girls with eating disorders admit they’re anything but. “After six months of severely restricting my calories, I was always tired and I was always sick,” Jenna remembers. “I thought it would make me feel better about myself, but I was miserable in every way.”

“Cutting out foods is never going to work as a path to happiness,” says Jessica Setnick, a registered dietitian who specializes in treating adolescent eating disorders. “I had a patient who described herself as a vegetarian but ate only three foods with very little nutritional value. That’s not being a vegetarian - that’s being anorexic. But she restricted more and more because, in her mind, if she was ‘doing it right,’ then she would be happy.”

“I had issues with food in high school,” says Lina, 20, a vegan from Massapequa Park, New York. “The truth is that someone who is thinking about what they’re eating so often and analyzing every bite they consume is creating reasons to push certain foods away.” With vegetarianism as a cover, an eating disorder can go undetected for a longer period of time, Shepphird says. “That’s particularly dangerous because studies show the longer a person has an untreated eating disorder, the more difficult it may be to recover.”

But if the true impetus behind going veggie is getting healthier, not just thinner, the lifestyle can work, experts say, as long as you carve out a diet that provides sufficient nutrients. Some girls who cut out meat could gain weight from the extra carbs they eat to replace the filling protein that meat provides. To get the full benefit of a vegetarian diet, nutritionists suggest a plan that includes a wide variety of foods with adequate amounts of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals.

A diet that is loaded with salt, sugar, fat, or caffeine or that doesn’t provide enough calories for your body’s needs raises red flags for health professionals like Setnick. “It’s much easier to eat unhealthily as a vegetarian - like taking the meat patty out of your hamburger,” she says. “The meat patty is the most nutritious part of that meal.”

“Adopting a balanced vegetarian diet is a much larger undertaking than a lot of people think,” says Setnick. But it’s a commitment that, when done correctly, can have significant health benefits. Nutritionist Ramona Robinson-O’Brien, who worked on the University of Minnesota study, says the research she’s collected indicates that vegetarian teens in the study had the highest fruit and vegetable intake, which is associated with a decreased risk for obesity and chronic disease like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and some cancers.

“I’m still a vegan,” Lina says, “but I have a healthful diet, not a restrictive one.” Jenna also found her way back from the brink. “Slowly I realized that eating a cookie here and there wouldn’t kill me,” she says. “I decided to remain vegetarian, and I’ve been one for four years now. It took me a while, but I’ve learned to balance my diet with nutrients and occasional ‘splurge foods.’ Extreme diets are never the way to go.”

If you’ve fallen into bad patterns, then the best thing you could do is to tell your parents you’d like to see a nutritionist. (Get a recommendation from your doctor or go to eatright.org and click on “Find a Registered Dietician” for one in your area). “Healthy eating is not just about what kinds of foods you choose or how much you consume,” Shepphird says. “It’s also about a good attitude - being comfortable with food and being able to eat without fear, judgment or shame.” - MARINA KHIDEKEL

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“A recent University of Minnesota study found that approximately 20 percent of current and former vegetarian teens engaged in extreme weight-control behaviours like calorie restriction or bingeing and purging - compared with slightly less than 10 percent of those who never preacticed vegetarianism.”

Well… YEAH! How many vegetarian teens do you think their are? Especially compared to the population of teens who aren’t! 20% of vegetarians is probably an insignificant number to 10% of non-vegetarians. You can’t compare to percentiles when the numbers are so uneven! The study should have taken 100 vegetarians and 100 non-vegetarians, tallied up the numbers from each group who have had eating disorders and then compared them! The numbers will always work out when you force them too…

“Cutting out foods is never going to work as a path to happiness,”

Wanna bet? Over-all I’ve been a vegetarian for about two years and a vegan for just under one and everytime I cut out another animal bi-product, I was a little bit happier, a little bit more satisfied with what I was doing to help these poor innocent animals! Never is a word like Can’t. It should not be in a persons vocabulary. What makes me happy and what makes you happy can be very different. - I know a boy who told me I would never run into a burning building to save my animal companions because it was against human nature. I can tell you now, if I didn’t do everything I possibly could to get my animals safely out of that burning building I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. So don’t tell me, what I would or would not do, I am capable or am not capable of doing, or what will or will not make me happy, because really, you have no idea what you’re talking about.

“It’s much easier to eat unhealthily as a vegetarian - like taking the meat patty out of your hamburger,… The meat patty is the most nutritious part of that meal.”

I think this is one of the STUPIDEST comments I have ever read in my life. Vegetarianism is a CHOICE! Eating unhealthily is a DIFFERENT CHOICE. Both are choices, but not the same one! I know this was only supposed to be an example but nobody would take the meat patty out of a hamburger and eat the rest of it. You either replace the meat patty with a meat-less one, or you eat something else. When you replace meat with a meat substitute, you are getting the same nutrition as you would from the meat. My brother is NOT a vegetarian. The most common foods he eats are : breakfast cereals, chips, pogos and chicken wings. < Notice anything about that list? NO VEGETABLES! Vegetables are just as important in a diet as anything else. So don’t tell me that it’s easier to eat unhealthily as a vegetarian, because I will call you on your bull-shit!

“Adopting a balanced vegetarian diet is a much larger undertaking than a lot of people think,” says Setnick. But it’s a commitment that, when done correctly, can have significant health benefits.”

While that is undeniably true, I’d just like to point out that I personally have never met a vegetarian who’s number one reason for converting was for their health. Yes the health benefit is a plus, and yes it has become one of the reasons I still do not eat meat or animal bi-products. But my and most other vegetarians I know, do it for the animals. I did however, meet one person who was a vegetarian because she just simply did not like meat.

“…the University of Minnesota study says the research collected indicates that vegetarian teens in the study had the highest fruit and vegetable intake…”

:O NO! YOU’RE KIDDING ME! I NEVER would have guessed that a group of teens who no longer eat meat, turn to fruits and vegetables to fill their empty bellies! Are you honestly telling me they had to do a study to figure that out? Because I could have told you that anytime after I turned twelve. So stop wasting your money on pointless studies. Spend the money on converting the way we treat our animals and kill our meat. Or go ahead and send it to starving children in third world countries, but don’t tell me you’ve wasted money on something a idiotic as this.

While Teen Vogue’s intentions were possitive, I am very disappointed that they would publish an article like this. They have slandered the image of vegans and vegetarians everywhere, who’s main goal is usually to speak up for those who do not have their own voice! So way to go Teen Vogue! Not only have you turned people off from vegetarianism and mostly likely ensured the horrific slaughtering of some more defencless animals, but you’ve also got people questionning my choice of life style everywhere I go.

You’re article is titled “Unhappy Meal” but it’s not my meal that’s unhappy. In fact, my meal never even had emotions. Think about that next time you slice your knife into a juicy stake and the blood of an animal, who should be catering to their young, spills out all over your plate. Enjoy your cruelty.