A Beef With Disease : EarthSave promotes vegetarianism, seeking a healthy population and a healthy planet.

“I think what’s interesting about being a vegetarian is that people often focus on what we can’t eat rather than what we can,” said Christie Wood of Anaheim, a vegetarian for 12 years. “Every once in awhile someone will wave a hamburger in front of me as if to show me what I’m missing. The truth is, I don’t miss it. I’m completely uninterested in eating meat.”

Wood is one of 300 members of the Orange County chapter of EarthSave, a national group promoting vegetarianism. Members say they have joined for one of three reasons: to promote their own personal health by switching to a vegetarian diet (or at least, a modified vegetarian diet); to show their concerned about the environmental effects of trying to feed the world’s population with a finite resource, or to express how uneasy they are about the way animals are used to feed people.

Most recently, EarthSave merged with the Orange County Vegetarian Network.

Shari Goodman, the chairperson and founder of EarthSave’s local chapter has been a vegetarian since 1986 when she read the book “Diet for a New America,” by John Robbins. “That convinced me to give up all meat and dairy products,” she said.

The growth of EarthSave paralleled the fervor created by Robbins’ book, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was the basis of a PBS program.

“When I read the book, I called the EarthSave office in Santa Cruz and asked how I could get involved,” Goodman said. “They suggested forming an Orange County Chapter, and that’s what we did. Our first meeting attracted 60 people, so the interest was obviously here but untapped.”

According to Goodman and other members of EarthSave, what vegetarians need to succeed in their way of life are support and advice: recipes, where to shop, what restaurants offer vegetarian selections and how to deal with social situations.

“Within the past decade, people are becoming much more aware of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet,” Goodman said. “The incidence of vegetarians dying of heart disease, stroke, arteriosclerosis and cancer are minuscule.”

And articles in journals such as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition do give vegetarian diets high marks for reducing the incidence of heart disease.

Studies published in these journals indicate that by reducing the consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs by 10%, the risk of heart attack is reduced by 9%. Reduce the consumption of these products by 50% and the accompanying heart attack risk is lowered to 45%. Reducing these items by 100% and the heart attack risk is reduced by 90%.

“According to articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Assn., heart disease is the most common cause of death in the United States,” Goodman said. “A heart attack occurs about once every 25 seconds and the risk of death from a heart attack for the average American man is 50%. Yet the risk of death from a heart attack for an American man who consumes no meat, dairy products or eggs is 4%.

“Vegetarians also seem to have an increased sense of well-being,” said Goodman. “Members of our group have all eaten meat, and we find that a vegetarian diet gives us increased energy. We rarely get sick and we don’t feel sluggish or tired.”

Even though more people are cutting down on red meat and acknowledging the health benefits of adding more fruit and vegetables to their diets, promoting a vegetarian diet can still be difficult.

“Ever since we were children, we’ve been told to eat meat and drink our milk,” Goodman said. “We face the same sort of problems that the American Cancer Society faced when it first told people to quit smoking. For so long, smoking wasn’t portrayed as the health hazard it is. We have the same sort of battle when it comes to encouraging a vegetarian diet.”

But how do you know if a vegetarian diet is supplying you with all the daily nutrients that are needed?

“Actually it’s generally pretty easy to get all the nutrients you need from a diet based on fruits, vegetables and grains,” Goodman said. “The key is to eat a variety of items: tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, fruit . . . there’s actually quite a bit you can eat.”

Sandy LaBetz of Seal Beach added: “Non-vegetarians always seem to think we’re making such a sacrifice, yet, when you give up meat you tend to discover a whole world of fruits and vegetables you didn’t know were out there.

“I stopped eating meat for health reasons, and I don’t miss it at all. I also don’t eat or drink any dairy products. My husband is a physician and he’s very supportive of my diet. The truth is, I eat much better now than I ever did when I was eating meat.”

Another member, Don Walker of Huntington Beach, is a retired police officer who became interested in a vegetarian diet after following the Pritikin Plan for about three years.

“I used to weigh 100 pounds more than I do now,” he said. “I became interested in my diet following my father’s second heart attack.

“We were having a family conference with the cardiologist and afterward the doctor called me over. He recommended that I lose about 100 pounds since I was quite overweight at the time and had a family history of heart problems. I took his advice to heart and began the Pritikin Program. After awhile, I became more interested in a purely vegetarian diet, so here I am.

“I never would have believed that diet could make such a change in my health and how I feel,” he said. “I feel like I’ve really evolved to a stage where I have more energy and feel stronger and more active.”

Now the only problem, Walker claims with a smile, is that others feel guilty eating meat in front of him. He hastens to point out, however, that he isn’t judging others.

“I’ve simply found something that works for me. I don’t presume to tell others how they should live. Of course, I’ll espouse the benefits of a vegetarian diet, but that’s a personal decision that each person must make.”

Goodman said it’s difficult to get off the soapbox sometimes.

“I’ve found something that I think is wonderful and it’s hard for me not to want to change the world. When I hear about problems such as children starving because the grain produced is feeding cattle, the environment is being harmed because of the land and energy used to supply beef . . . it just doesn’t make sense.

“But people don’t change by being forced. We’re seeing that people are gradually becoming more attuned to their personal health and the environmental factors, and they are wanting to make a change. Whether it’s a full vegetarian diet or saying ‘no’ to beef more frequently, it’s a start.

“Becoming a vegetarian is often a gradual process,” said Goodman.

Most new vegetarians begin by substituting meat for meat-flavored products. One product found in most health food stores, TVP (texturized vegetable protein) tastes like meat. Other vegetarians eat a lot of pasta and rice.

“I was never aware of all the different kinds of rice available until I became a vegetarian,” Goodman said. “It’s really a very delicious diet once you get used to it. You’ll find you don’t miss meat at all.”