Image courtesy of Tayler Jensen
Have an interest in going vegan? Fossil Ridge High School’s VegAlliance club can help you out!
Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, or ovo-lacto vegetarian, VegAlliance should be on your list of clubs to check out this year.
Tayler Jensen, a sophomore and leader of VegAlliance, demystifies veganism. “There’s a lot of people who put it as, ‘oh my gosh an extreme cult’, but really what it is as a lifestyle is avoiding eating any animal products or using them.”
Tayler stresses the idea that people should choose a lifestyle that is comfortable for you, whether that means being vegetarian (not consuming meat), ovo-vegetarian (no meat, but still eating eggs) or pescetarian (no meat but eats fish). “I’m most comfortable with veganism because it minimizes the amount of suffering and improves my health.”
VegAlliance aims to be a welcoming and informative place for people who are interested in learning more about their health and how it can be affected by nutrition. “A lot of western diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes can be prevented and reversed with veganism,” added Jensen.
Jensen herself became vegan three years ago, startled by the overwhelming quantity of research that backed up the lifestyle, “It wasn’t like oh my gosh I suddenly saw the light and a bunch of people dressed in kale and stuff like that,” said Jensen. After doing some research, the Jensen family decided to go on a 30 day challenge, replacing all food in their refrigerator and pantry with plant based products.
Veg Alliance meets every Tuesday after school in room 121, as well as Thursdays during B lunch in the main office’s conference room. Both upper and under classmen are encouraged to come learn something new about their nutrition. The goal of the club is to open up people’s eyes to the benefits of eating plant based food, as well as educating and giving them a chance to experience it first hand.
“I know I would have killed to have education – back when I was an omnivore, or more like an om-nom nomavore.” Being vegan is not a requirement in joining VegAlliance, and everyone is welcome.
A typical Veg Alliance meeting consists of trying out some free food, provided by the group’s sponsors, watching powerpoints and going out into Fort Collins to help promote veganism. The club often holds movie nights and potlucks to encourage people to try out vegan foods.
Jensen’s Top Three Tips to Becoming Vegan
1. Research and educate yourself
- Watch documentaries, try out Cowspiracy or Forks over Knives
2. Talk with your parents and family, educate them and try out small recipes to simulate for yourselves what it would be like if your family were to, as Jensen says, “Go cold tofu,” on veganism
3. Just veganize! It isn’t a crazy process, start simple by taking your favorite food and finding plant based alternatives for some of the ingredients.
Vegan foods are not that hard to find either; vegan alternatives can be found in stores such as Target or Wal-Mart. Jensen recommends checking out the Fort Collins Farmer’s Market in front of ACE hardware store and Kohl’s off of Harmony road for local foods.
VegAlliance can be another great way for students to get involved this year at Fossil, if you foster an interest in veganism or finding out how your nutrition can help the environment, go check out a meeting to get started!
Want to see more information? Check out the club website here:
