Paleo and vegan bring new meaning to diets

By Hannah Kintner, Staff Writer kintner13@up.edu

It's no secret that nutritionists, authors and TV doctors all have different ideas of what makes a healthy diet. So should we be surprised that students have differing views as well? See what students have to say about their health and experiences with the paleo diet and veganism.

Vegan on The Bluff

Junior Katrina Combs began a vegan diet as a sophomore in high school when her mother read about the health benefits of veganism, prompting her whole family to make the transition.

"It wasn't really my choice in the beginning, but now I choose to live with a vegan diet," Combs said.

The vegan diet eliminates all foods that come from animals and animal by-products, including meat, eggs, dairy and honey.

Regardless of how she adopted a vegan diet, Combs quickly noticed changes in her health.

"I feel more energized. I actually lost a little bit of weight, but that wasn't something that I was interested in doing," Combs said. "That's just what happened from avoiding all that dairy and meat."

Combs said the new diet was difficult at first, but her body began to adjust to veganism after two weeks. Cheese was the hardest thing for Combs to give up, but she believes the positives of a vegan diet outweigh the negatives.

"A lot of people have the idea that it's more expensive. If you think about it, you've got your beans, you've got veggies and then your fruit, and those are all pretty cheap," Combs said. "You go and buy meat and that's super expensive, so I mean it depends."

Combs said soy products are the biggest expense. Combs recommends the vegan diet to students looking for healthier eating options.

"There's research that show it helps with weight loss, helps lower your cholesterol, helps with your kidneys," Combs said. "It's kind of frustrating I guess to see people go on these fad diets, like the Atkins diet, when they're not willing to just eat more veggies, you know?"

Combs took vitamin supplements when she started eating vegan but has since learned how to fulfill her nutritional needs through the vegan diet. For example, she is often asked how she gets her omega-3 fatty acids with the absence of fish in her diet.

"I get to chew walnuts and flax seeds and avoid those harmful toxins like mercury that come with fish," Combs said. "So it's kind of like, why would you risk your harmful toxins for your omega-3 fatty acids?"

Katrina's Typical Vegan Day
Breakfast: granola with soymilk, or banana and toast with peanut but- ter, jam or soy cream cheese
Lunch: brown rice, veggie and bean stir fry
Dinner: pasta mixed with vegetables

 

Paleo Pilots

The paleolithic or "paleo" diet is based on the dietary habits of hunter-gatherer communities and focuses on the consumption of unprocessed and unrefined foods. Researchers in support of the diet claim hunter-gatherers were free of many chronic illnesses and diseases of the modern era and that their diet may be key to healthy living.

Students Maile Kamisugi, Jhana Young and Tara Benavente follow the paleo diet and have found that they have extra energy and better health.

The paleo diet cuts out dairy, legumes, wheat, refined sugar, iodized salt, refined vegetable oils and processed foods. Nuts, grass-fed meats, eggs, seafood, fruits and vegetables and healthful oil are included in the paleo diet.

Benavente was vegetarian for three years prior to going paleo, but as she became more physically active she realized her diet needed to change.

"At one point I started getting underweight because I lost too much weight on a vegetarian diet and was being too active for that type of diet to sustain me," Benavente said.

She began to spend more time with Kamisugi and Young, who told her about the paleo diet, and after reading some books about paleo she decided to try it out. Five months later, she is back to a healthy weight.

"I feel energized throughout the whole day and I get much better sleep now, but before when I was underweight I had a lot of health problems," Benavente said. "I would wake up in the middle of the night, or I would feel pretty weak even though I was working out a lot."

Kamisugi and Young are housemates and have fun experimenting with new recipes and finding ways to make paleo versions of otherwise unhealthy foods.

"Bread was the hardest thing I had to give up, and my favorite food in the whole world is Italian food, which has all wheat products," Young said. "Now I just find alternatives."

Young said that she was surprised to find that once she cut bread out of her diet, she didn't crave it anymore. Kamisugi said the same for sugar.

"Guys would like the paleo, because there's so much meat in it," Kamisugi said.

Tara's Typical Paleo Day
Breakfast: two eggs, three ounces lean meat or ground beef and a side of sautéed kale
Lunch: avocado and salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing
Dinner: ground beef cooked in coco- nut oil and simmered in coconut milk

 

Try out the Paleo or Vegan diets at one of these Portland Eateries:
Paleo: Cultured Caveman (food cart) 1477 Alberta St, or Dick's Kitchen 3312 SE Bel- mont St
Vegan: Blossoming Lotus 1713 SE 15th St., or Vita Cafe 3023 NE Alberta St.