Graphic by Chelsea Bellomy/Old Gold & Black

There is an increasing number of people in America who are beginning to opt for vegetarian or vegan-based diets.

The most common reason to do so is to cut down on empty calories and fatty foods and to create a healthier lifestyle. As a vegetarian or as a vegan, it can be challenging to find meal options on campus that are both tasty and healthy or to find any options at all. The campus has definitely recognized the need for more vegetarian and vegan options at primary dining facilities like The Pit and there are more Old Gold options that allow vegetarians and vegans to buy wholesome meals. Check out this list of foods that are bound to please the taste buds of vegetarians and vegans alike!

Zicks Nestled on the ground floor of Poteat, not only does Zicks have a great ambiance for hanging out with friends, but it also has some great options for vegetarians. The Old Gold includes two slices of pizza and a drink. Of the two pizzas that are prepared throughout the day, one tends to be cheese-only, and the other is frequently a veggie-only pizza. Zicks also offers custom-made pizzas that are just as, if not more, delicious than the Old Gold option. As of last semester, mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce, garlic knots and delicious curly fries are also on the menu. Needless to say, for the vegetarian who doesnt want every meal to be salad, Zicks offers some scrumptious meal options.

Shortys Restaurant Gone are the days of the famous freschetta burger at Shortys. However, the restaurants menu is full of great vegetarian and vegan options. Vegetarians will love the Chop Shop custom-made veggie burgers, the mozzarella sticks, tomato basil soup, apple walnut salad and the ridiculously succulent triple cheese grilled sandwich (best paired with the soups). Dont forget the Nutella, peanut butter and banana sandwich! Whats more, Shortys includes vegan options like the vegan hummus platter with seasonal vegetables and chips, as well as the Shortys House Salad.

Bistro 34 The brunch menu is heaven for those looking for great vegetarian options. The Bistro provides excellent Belgian waffles, monkey toast, spinach and feta omelette and benedict florentine. Lets not even get started on the dessert menu. For lunch, the lentil veggie burger, hummus platter and vegan sesame Asian salad are excellent choices. For dinner, the vegan grilled portobello mushroom sandwich and falafel platter will take you straight to culinary nirvana.

The Pit and the Mag Room The Magnolia Room usually provides some vegetarian options from the Pit, but they tend to be varied and delicious definitely worth visiting for lunch between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.The Pit has made advances to cater to vegetarians and vegans. The salad bar has been diversified, the pizza and pasta section improved with healthy meal options and a soupright next to it. To top it off, the Brueggers bagels have been replaced with Bagel Station bagels (YES!). The omelet and sandwich/wrap line has always been a favorite, and the Mongolian grill definitely targets those who have a passionate love for the Genghis Grill chain of restaurants. There is a great amount of flexibility when finding a vegetarian or vegan meal option. Or, you could do what I do and head straight for the dessert section! The new Pit, formally known as the Hilltop Market, also offers a few limited vegetarian options. Apart from the salad line, the deli tends to have vegetarian paninis, pasta salads, hummus and assorted vegan meals from time to time.

Benson Food Court A quick shout-out to Moes: every time any of my friends or I get a hankering for a good vegetarian meal, we rely on either Moes Old Gold vegetarian nachos with liberally added guacamole and queso, or the Old Gold burrito bowl. You can choose tofu as your meat! If you have enough food dollars, it is definitely worth investing in the stacks and quesadillas that, if you pick the right ingredients, can transform your day from dull to fabulous. Furthermore, Boars Head has an excellent make-your-own sandwich/wrap option. Their caprese sandwich, grilled cheese and veggie burger are all excellent, too. Im sure most of us are familiar with Forest Greens Old Gold salad option and their awesome tomato florentine soup, renowned for curing a cold in less than two days (or is that just me?).

A quick 10-minute walk from campus For those who are willing to walk through Reynolda Trails to get to Reynolda Village, the caprese sandwich, Mad Hatter, Parisian Picnic and tiramisu at Silo are definitely worth it. The vegetarian and vegan options at Pane-e-Vino, such as their fish options, and the personal pizzas at Village Tavern are also worth the walk. And if none of these options please your soul, well, theres always Subway and even Dominos is just a phone call or online order away!

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Find great places to eat on campus as a vegetarian or vegan

While health-conscious individuals understand the benefits of eating fresh fruits and veggies, they may not be aware of the amount of pesticides they could be ingesting along with their vitamin C and fiber. A new study to be published in the Feb. 5 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives is among the first to predict a person's pesticide exposure based on information about their usual diet.

The study was led by Cynthia Curl, an assistant professor in Boise State University's School of Allied Health Sciences. She recently joined Boise State from the University of Washington.

Curl and her colleagues analyzed the dietary exposure of nearly 4,500 people from six U.S. cities to organophosphates (OPs), the most common insecticides used on conventionally grown produce in the United States. OP pesticides are linked to a number of detrimental health effects, particularly among agricultural workers who are regularly exposed to the chemicals.

Results showed that among individuals eating similar amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who reported eating organic produce had significantly lower OP pesticide exposures than those consuming conventionally grown produce. In addition, consuming those conventionally grown foods typically treated with more of these pesticides during production, including apples, nectarines and peaches, was associated with significantly higher levels of exposure.

"For most Americans, diet is the primary source of OP pesticide exposure," said Curl "The study suggests that by eating organically grown versions of those foods highest in pesticide residues, we can make a measurable difference in the levels of pesticides in our bodies."

This study included dietary data collected from participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a large, multi-institutional project funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that is investigating factors that influence the onset of cardiovascular disease.

The researchers were able to predict each participant's exposure to OP pesticides based on the amount and type of produce each participant typically ate and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's measurements of pesticide residue levels on those foods. The researchers then compared these predictions to pesticide metabolite levels measured in urine samples from a subset of 720 of these people.

While Curl's study is not the first to link organic produce with reduced pesticide exposure, the method she used may have significant implications for future research. By combining self-reported information on typical food consumption with USDA measurements, researchers will be able to conduct research on the relationship between dietary pesticide exposure and health outcomes in bigger populations, without needing to measure urinary metabolites.

"If we can predict pesticide exposure using dietary questionnaire data, then we may be able to understand the potential health effects of dietary exposure to pesticides without having to collect biological samples from people," Curl said. "That will allow research on organic food to be both less expensive and less invasive."

"The next step is to use these exposure predictions to examine the relationship between dietary exposure to pesticides and health outcomes, including neurological and cognitive endpoints. We'll be able to do that in this same population of nearly 4,500 people," she said.

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Organic food reduces pesticide exposure

GULFPORT The Venerable Lama Losang Samten, a former personal attendant to the Dalai Lama, is coming to Pinellas County to share the Tibetan spiritual leader's teachings of tolerance and love.

"Tibetan Buddhism is not necessarily a religion," he says. "Tibetan Buddhism is more a way of life."

Samten who was born in Tibet, but grew up in Dharamsala, the Indian town that is the headquarters of Tibet's exile government, will offer healing and purification ceremonies and Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices in Gulfport and St. Petersburg this week.

Lyn Dean, who studied with the former monk in California, invited him to Florida.

"He is very open-hearted and welcoming. A big part of his practice is welcoming everyone from every tradition and looking at the similarity of our traditions," she said.

Samten, whose monastery studies included Islam and Hinduism, said one of the reasons he came to the United States more than a quarter-century ago was to learn about Christianity and Judaism.

Knowledge fosters understanding, he said.

"In the 21st century, we have to live side by side. There is no way we can make another boundary, another wall, another fence," said Samten, author of the book Ancient Teachings in Modern Times: Buddhism in the 21st Century.

Born in Chung Ribuce, in central Tibet, he and his family fled their homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against China's rule. Samten said he became a monk at 11 and joined the Dalai Lama's monastery in Dharamsala for intensive studies at 16. Chosen as one of four personal attendants to the spiritual leader, he went on to serve him for five years.

"That was wonderful for me," said Samten, now 61.

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Former aide to Dalai Lama to appear this weekend

Story highlights The Dalai Lama will attend the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday with President Obama Buddhists were viewed with suspicious by the U.S. government during World War II

Yet it might also serve as a reminder that a religion now considered universally benign once endured suspicion, vocal protest and even government surveillance -- much as Islam has in recent years.

Already, 2015 has seen threats of violence canceling a call to prayer in North Carolina, anti-Muslim demonstrations in Texas and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal comparing non-assimilating Muslims to an "invasion."

All of this would have been familiar to some Buddhists not so long ago.

Today, Buddhism is the model of a minority religious tradition that exerts an influence far beyond what its numbers would suggest. While the Buddhist population of the United States is not much larger than a million -- less than 1% of the population -- the number of Americans inspired by the Buddha is estimated to be more than 10 times that size.

The cultural position of Buddhism 73 years ago could not have been more different.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, authorizing the evacuation of all those of Japanese descent from the West Coast to war relocation centers, the Buddhist faith practiced by many Japanese Americans was itself regarded as a potential threat.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the formal entry of the United States into World War II, the FBI compiled a list of suspected collaborators that included not only members of groups with political ties to Japan, but the leaders of Buddhist temples.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's Custodial Detention List used a classification system designating the supposed risk of individuals on an A-B-C scale, with an "A" assigned to those deserving greatest suspicion. In Hoover's system, Buddhist priests were designated "A-1": "dangerous enemy aliens" whose arrest was considered a matter of urgent concern.

Even before the war, Japanese Buddhists were thought to be less "Americanized" than their countrymen who had converted to Christianity, and in some ways this was true.

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When Buddhists were Public Enemy No. 1

adopt a beginner's mind that is open to new experiences give yourself completely to whatever you are doing in the present moment experience the balm of stillness and a calm mind through meditation explore how your mind works and discover your Buddha-nature enjoy the challenges of koans and teaching stories of the Zen masters let go of unhelpful things, ideas, and habits cultivate single-minded attention and avoid distractions cherish "not knowing" and acknowledge the mysteries of life accept the transitory nature and fragility of life be a peaceful presence in service to the world move beyond an "us" versus "them" dualism to an affirmation of oneness experience the beauty of the Zen arts of flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, haiku, calligraphy, and martial arts

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