A Deeper Look Into Veganism's Delicious Benefits

From pad thai to creamy white truffle pesto pasta, the list of delicious vegan meals is endless and per dietary specialists, the number of health benefits of eating a plant-based diet are almost as great.

“Weight loss is definitely the number one health benefit, but going vegan also helps to boost immunity which decreases the chance of illness,” said Sheila Gallagher, a dietary specialist at Southern Maryland Regional Hospital. “It also just helps you lead a more holistic lifestyle with many overall health benefits including weight loss and helping with diabetic issues.”

Older, overweight individuals with chronic illnesses can benefit the most from switching to a plant-based diet, Gallagher said. Although the vegan lifestyle might help those types of individuals the most, everyone can greatly benefit from eating more vegetables and slowly transitioning to veganism.

“I used to have chronic migraines and high blood pressure issues before I became vegan about a year ago,” said Eva Mireles, chef at Present Moment Café, a vegan-friendly restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida. “Now my blood pressure is back to where it should be and I rarely get migraines. When I do get them, there’s different things that are vegan friendly that I can eat that help to make them more bearable.”

Mireles began working as a chef at Present Moment about a year ago in November 2016 and she truly is the perfect picture of a die-hard vegan. With a tattoo on her forearm of the word “vegan” and shirts that promote healthy eating, Mireles spoke about the main reasons why she started her vegan lifestyle and her desire to help the environment and the animals.

“By going vegan, we’re not contributing to unnecessary farming and mass production of animals and animal bi-products,” Mireles said. “There’s tons of documentaries that really go in depth about the effect our diets have on the environment. ‘Forks over Knives’ and ‘What the Health’ are both really good examples that are on Netflix.”

Veganism has been a trend across social media for the past few years with different popular YouTubers creating videos titled “What I Eat in a Day: Vegan Diet.” This jump in popularity has helped boost local St. Augustine vegan restaurants’ business as well.

“Going vegan is absolutely trending now, especially with younger people,” said Tabitha Mays, another employee at Present Moment. “We’re seeing a lot more of an interest in this vegan lifestyle. Doctors from around town are actually referring people with heart and cholesterol issues to us so they can start eating better.”

Unfortunately, there isn’t a large selection of fully-vegan restaurants in St. Augustine, but more chain restaurants and local eateries are slowly starting to incorporate vegan-friendly options into their menus.

“Planet Sarbez has a really great vegan grilled cheese that a lot of people don’t know about. The Floridian, Manatee Café and Back 40 all have pretty good vegan options too,” Mireles said. “Larger businesses like Tijuana Flats also have different things on their menu that you can customize to make more vegan-friendly.”

As is with any other change in diet, people struggle with transitioning into veganism, focusing on the all the foods that they can’t have while not thinking about all the delicious new meals that they can incorporate into their daily lives.

“It takes more focus and time to eat vegan. It really is a step-by-step transition,” Mays said. “You really just have to be more creative.”

Present Moment Café offers a variety of creative dishes, including a DLT, which is a vegan play on the classic BLT sandwich, served with smoked dulse, a type of seaweed, in place of bacon.

“People are so afraid to eat healthy food because they think it’s going to be bland,” Mireles said. “Vegan food is a lot of fun and you feel so good after eating it.”

Liberation Through Literature: Helping to Educate the Forgotten

Flagler College, in St. Augustine, FL, has over 40 different clubs available on campus for students to participate in, not including the academic clubs available as well. This semester, one club in particular has been attempting to not only give back to the community, but raise awareness for a large group of people that are often neglected.

Flagler’s Black Student Association started the Liberation Through Literature book drive that collects books for inmates in the Florida Department of Correction’s system. According to Dr. Michael Butler, the club’s faculty advisor, the book drive was one way that BSA could give back to the community in a way that not many people would consider.

“The prison system in America is often forgotten about, thrown away, or people look at prisoners through one set of prejudiced eyes or another and many times they are people who have made mistakes and want to improve their lives after their release,” Butler said. “I think it’s a small thing to donate books that we may or may not read anymore. It’s something that can make a substantive difference in their lives that we’ll never understand.”

Near the beginning of this semester at Flagler College, Dr. Butler proposed the idea for the book drive to the students active in BSA and he was met with excitement from the students to start a program that could last beyond their time at Flagler.

“I think the book drive is really important for not only the correctional facilities but also for the club,” said Kayla Lloyd, a senior at Flagler College who started BSA again after a few years of it not being an active club on campus. “Roughly, I think we’ve already gotten about 250 books donated. It’s something that we can continue to do forever for the inmates, I think it’s really great.”

Dr. Butler reached out to Jennifer Shullih, the Region II Library and Volunteer Services Coordinator for the Florida Department of Corrections, and has been working with her to help facilitate the distribution of the books collected throughout the entire state correctional system.

            As of March 2016, the Florida Department of Corrections housed over 97,000 inmates in their 151 correctional facilities across the state, according to the department’s website. These inmates are offered the opportunity to participate in educational programs but are often lacking the means to do so.

            “I learned that they have no funding, none, for their libraries. They solely rely on donations, which they don’t get many of,” Butler said. “If one of the things that we are trying to do is rehabilitate, educate and release more productive members into society once their time has been served, it seems to me kind of ridiculous that they don’t have any type of institutional funding for their library system.”

             The success of the book drive started when BSA students accepted the idea, said Butler. One of the main reasons why the club was so adamant on following through with the drive was because they knew it would help to start a conversation about the incarcerated that needed to be had.

            “The idea may have been mine, but the initiative comes from the students,” Butler said. “We wanted to have a program that would make a difference and was misunderstood or not your typical fundraising type of social awareness drive. Hurricane victims and the Humane Society, things like that they’re all really valuable, but they have support. One of the things that we hoped would start a discussion with students would be to start this book drive for the incarcerated.”

            Dr. Butler expressed that anyone on campus is welcome to get involved with BSA and become a member if they are interested in continuing to help members of the community who can’t help themselves.

            “BSA is not just a club for students of color, it’s a club that supports all students, particularly those of color. You just have to be someone who really believes in the club mission,” Butler said. “We want to make Flagler a multi-ethnic diverse campus, we want to be inclusive. It’s everyone’s campus.”