Vegan Diets on the Rise

AUBURN, Wash. – The demand for vegan menus is continuing to rise and catching people’s attention.

            With a recent boom of healthy diets in the U.S., an increasing number of people are interested in vegan menus that use plant-based foods. The Gallup Poll Social Series said in 2018, 3 percent of American people are vegan, and 5 percent are vegetarian. 

The figure seems lower than some might expect, however, GPSS reports the data of growing sales of plant-based foods. The movement encourages restaurants to adopt plant-based foods. 

“I see a lot of restaurants provide vegan options to customers in Washington,” said Kanata Hara, who is a Green River College student majoring in gender study and has been a vegan nearly for 1.5 years. 

One example is a vegan burger at Red Robin, which has a patty that is made of beans.

              The college cafeteria, which is open from 9-2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, also has some vegan options. Vegan students can choose salads, made-to-order sandwiches and a variety of bottled beverages.

         These plant-based foods block the harmful effects of excessively consuming animal products that can contribute to heart diseases. 

Furthermore, a vegan menu helps a patient who limits certain nutrients to keep conducting diet therapy. This can improve their skin conditions, said Hara.

         However, there is a downside to a strictly vegan diet.

         Tsugiyo Hika, who graduated from Toyo University in Japan, got a national license and started working as a nutritionist this year, offers this assessment:

“Animal products are important to efficiently ingest 50 to 60g of proteins that a person needs to consume in a day,” said Hika. “So, it’d be hard to meet the required amount of them by eating only beans.”

           Essential nutrient deficiencies for health as protein, calcium and B12 which only meats contain make the function of various parts of the body worse. These risks of chronic malnutrition generally don’t show up for years.

           “If you aren’t familiar with vegan, it’d be healthier to balance the consumption of plant-based foods and animal products,” she said.