Tag Archives: vegetarian

General Nutrition Info, Weekly Health Tips

Resources for Dining on Campus

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New to Penn State this Fall? Check out some of the helpful resources we have for dining on campus! Whether you have a dietary restriction or are just looking for a healthy way to avoid the Freshman 15, Campus Dining is here to help.

Do you have a food allergy or intolerance?

Check out the entrée cards displayed by each menu item in the dining commons. They will tell you if the food contains one or more of the 8 most common allergens. You can also access the menu online to view the daily offerings and uncover allergen information for individual items. Finally, send a quick email to our Campus Dining nutrition team (foodallergies@psu.edu), who can offer individual assistance and support in finding safe options for your specific dietary restrictions. 

Do you follow a Vegan or Vegetarian diet?

We offer a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan options on campus ranging from cauliflower Buffalo wings to vegetarian tikka masala! Simply look for the meatless and vegan symbols on the entree cards and online menu for help finding them! Some dining locations may also offer additional options like vegan yogurts, soy milk, almond milk, or veggie burgers.

If you’re at the University Park campus, consider attending a Vegetarian Advisory Board meeting to provide input and suggestions about our current vegan and vegetarian options. Follow the “Penn State Vegetarian Advisory Board” on Facebook for more information, meeting reminders and updates! If you’re at another Penn State campus, consider bringing your concerns to a Food Advisory Board (FAB) meeting. Visit your campus Housing and Food Services website for details!

Interested in eating healthy?

Download the Dining@PSU app in the App Store to view menus for the dining commons and pull up nutrition facts for all food items! Look for the “RHEAL” carrot symbol on the entrée cards and online menu to find healthy foods that meet the RHEAL (Residential Healthy Eating and Living) standards for calories, saturated fat, and sodium content.

Vegetarian/Vegan

Celebrate National Vegetarian Awareness Month: 10 Ways in 10 Days

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With only 10 days left in October, we are quickly nearing the end of Vegetarian Awareness Month. If you haven’t yet had a chance to join in on the fun, don’t worry! Here are 10 ways that you can still get involved to celebrate the vegetarian lifestyle (even if you eat meat):

  1. Go Meatless.

Challenge yourself, if only for one day within the next ten, to go meatless. Whether it’s just for one meal or for the entire day, do what works best for you. You may be surprised at just how easy it can be! Not sure where to start? If you dine on campus, you can use the online menu for help. Locate your campus menu and set filters to search the meatless or vegan (or both!) options being served that day. If a particular item sounds interesting, consider giving it a try! If you’re a little nervous to step outside of your comfort zone, challenge a friend to split the dish with you!

Menu Filter Screenshot

 

  1. Educate yourself.

Simply take a few moments within the next ten days to learn more about the vegetarian lifestyle. Lucky for you, we’ve already shared two posts this month to get you started! Learn about the variations of plant-based eating in “World Vegetarian Day,” as well as how to maintain a well-balanced, nutritionally sound diet in “Vegetarian? Vegan? What Should You Be Eating?”

  1. Donate to a non-profit.

Whether it’s a national organization, like The Humane Society of the United States, or a local non-profit in your area, take some time to learn more about the efforts to stop animal cruelty, which can be a major driving factor behind the decision to adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet. If you find an organization that speaks to you, consider making a small donation for yourself, or as a gift for someone else, in support of the cause.

  1. Visit a Farmer’s Market. 5106002427_1ea6fa8fb4_m

What better way to try a plant-based lifestyle that to take advantage of the bountiful produce this season! Aside from pumpkins, fall brings with it many other delicious fruits and vegetables including apples, pears, squash, carrots, cauliflower and kale. Consider gathering a group of friends together and heading to a local farmer’s market this weekend to do your grocery shopping. Unsure of where to find a farmer’s market in your area? Check out Local Harvest for help!

  1. Re-vamp your grocery list.

Economically speaking, choosing to follow a plant-based style of eating can have its perks when it comes to your grocery bill. In fact, according to a recent study in the Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, adopting a vegetarian diet could save you up to $750 dollars a year compared to a meat-centered diet. Wow! Of course, this does require some careful and thoughtful planning to ensure the foods you are selecting are nutritionally balanced, but with a savings comparable to a month’s rent- it may be worth a shot.

  1. Cook a Vegetarian meal.

Sure, in the age of convenience, you can simply purchase a frozen, prepacked vegetarian dish, heat it up and call it quits. However, one of the enjoyable parts really comes with cooking the meal yourself! A large part of vegetarian cuisine is centered on creativity and on learning how to substitute plant-based foods in where animal foods are typically used. Do a simple web search for easy vegetarian recipes or stop by your local library or bookstore and pick up a vegetarian cookbook. For the visual learners, check out this easy, step-by-step video from the Penn State HealthWorks team on how to make a vegetarian black bean burger!

  1. Host a Potluck.

Invite a few friends over for a vegetarian-themed potluck. Challenge everyone to bring a different meatless dish and enjoy the fruits of your labor together! Take it a step further by following your meal with a documentary focused on plant-based diets. I’d personally recommend Forks over Knives, which is available to stream through Netflix.

8. Let Campus Dining do the work!
Maybe you’ve overcommitted too much this semester and aren’t able to take the cooking into your own hands. No worries, Penn State Food Service has you covered! As mentioned, there are a variety of meatless and vegan dishes served on a daily basis. No time to check the online menu? No problem. We’ve made them easy to find by printing an M for Meatless (Vegetarian) and V for Vegan items right on the entrée cards. Easy enough, right!

  1. Join a club (or start your own.)

If you’ve just recently made the switch to a plant-based lifestyle, or are seriously considering it, it can help to build up a support network of people who share your same interest. Check the listing of clubs and student-run organizations at your campus to see if any relate to being a vegetarian on campus. If you can’t find a club that fits, consider starting your own! Starting a new student organization does take a lot of work and planning, so be sure to check your campus website for more information. If you find this is too much of a time commitment, consider having informal gatherings to discuss your shared interests. (For ideas, see #7!)

  1. Keep an open mind.

Maybe going meatless isn’t your thing, but the main point of Vegetarian Awareness Month is to simply acknowledge and learn more about a different lifestyle. Keeping an open mind can help you to better understand why certain individuals choose to stop or reduce their consumption of meat. You may even learn a few new ways to incorporate more plant foods into your diet, which is never a bad thing!

 

Photos adapted by: Cliff

 

Vegetarian/Vegan

Vegetarian? Vegan? What Should You be Eating?

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As promised earlier this month, I’m going to dive into the topic of how to create a ‘well-designed’ diet as a vegetarian or vegan. There are five nutrients that vegetarians and vegans must always be thinking about when creating their meals. These are protein, calcium, iron, zinc, and Vitamin B12. Despite what many people think it is actually quite easy to fit these into your diet.

Protein: If you didn’t already know, protein is essential to your body’s growth andVN maintenance. To some people’s surprise, you can get plenty of protein from plant based foods. Beans, nuts, and soy products are all excellent sources of protein for individuals that don’t eat meat. Although these food provide adequate amounts of protein, they are not complete or ‘high- quality proteins.’ Complete proteins are protein sources that provide all of the 9 essential amino acids. Amino acids are classified as essential if they cannot be made within the body and must be obtained by eating certain foods. Some examples of plant-based complete proteins are quinoa and edamame. Other VG2options to ensure you are getting all of the essential amino acids is to try and mix up the protein foods you choose.  All plant-based protein sources have different combinations of amino acids, so eating a variety of foods will ensure that you don’t miss any. A classic combination of foods that creates a complete protein is rice and beans.

VG3Calcium: Calcium is essential for bone and teeth health along with tissue maintenance. The majority of calcium obtained from the diet comes from dairy products. For vegetarians that consume dairy, this is still an excellent source. For individuals who do not consume dairy, other sources of calcium include orange juice, fortified soy milk, some tofu, and dark leafy greens like collard greens and bok choy. If you do not consume milk products it is important to remember that the amount of calcium your body absorbs from each of these is different. Despite this, it is still possible to meet the daily calcium recommendations through non-dairy sources, it just requires thoughtful meal planning. In some cases supplements may be beneficial to ensure that needs are being met.

Iron: This mineral is essential in the production of blood. Most of the iron in your body is found in red blood cells and muscles and is responsible for transporting oxygen from your lungs to surrounding tissue. Iron is found is VG4food in two forms, heme and non-heme. Heme iron is more readily available for the body to absorb and is found in animal foods such as meat, fish, and poultry. Iron can be an issue for some vegetarians because the plant-based products contain only non-heme iron. As a result, the recommended daily allowance (RDA)
is almost double for non-meat eaters than meat eaters. Non-meat eaters need approximately 16 mg for males and 36 mg for females compared to 8 mg and 18 mg for meat eaters. To make sure you’re meeting your iron needs include foods like spinach, lentils, kidney beans, whole wheat bread, and fortified cereals in your diet. To give your iron absorption an extra boast pair these foods with a glass of orange juice. Vitamin C enhances iron absorption.

 Zinc: Some of the many roles zinc has in the body are wound healing and helping VG5your immune system function properly. Typically zinc is obtained through red
meat and poultry but there are lots of plant-based sources as well. Good sources of
zinc include fortified breakfast cereals, baked beans (and many other beans), cashews, wheat germ, and pumpkin seeds.

Vitamin B12: This B-vitamin is necessary for blood cell formation, proper neurological function, and DNA synthesis. Vitamin B12 is only present naturally in animal products. If you don’t consume any animal products (Vegan) you can get this vitamin from fortified foods such as nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, soy milk, and breakfast cereals. Vegetarians can also use milk and eggs as sources for vitamin B12.

Choosing to remove animal products from your diet does require you to put more thought into each meal but the challenge to get all of these nutrients can lead to trying exciting new foods and meals. It is possible to get all of your nutrients from an animal- free diet if you are willing to open yourself up to the variety of food choices out there.

Resources:

“Hemoglobin and Functions of Iron.” UCSF Medical Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/hemoglobin_and_functions_of_iron/>.

“Iron.” Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: — Health Professional Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/>.

“Tips for Vegetarians.” ChooseMyPlate.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 July 2015. <http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-tips/tips-for-vegetarian.html>.

“Zinc.” Health Professional Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015. <https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/>.

Photo adapted from gamene

Photo adapted from goblinbox_(queen_of_ad_hoc_bento)

Photo adapted from Cy-V