How to Survive as a Vegetarian in a Dorm

(And not become anemic and spend four days in the hospital):

The idea to become a vegetarian came to me while I was sitting at a Brazilian restaurant for my mom’s birthday with a pile of indistinguishable meat in front of me. Thoughts of cute animals, their lives ended for this party, prevented me from taking a piece off the plate in front of me – or in the five years since.

I lived as a vegetarian for four years in the safety of my house, with my kitchen and my local Whole Foods grocery store only 10 minutes away. Having a mom around to dry, press and cook bundles of tofu didn’t hurt either.

But then I came to college, and my quaint vegetarian life came crashing down around me.

Two weeks before winter break, I woke up early one morning with a 103-degree fever, uncontrollable chills (at one point I was deathly cold even under four down comforters) and what I later found out, inflamed kidneys and anemia. When I was tested at the hospital, my iron levels were at a scant and severely weakening two percent.

I spent four days in the hospital, hooked up to IVs, pumping both kidney medicine and iron into my body. I had let myself slip. I had become a negligent vegetarian- one who forgot to take vitamins, search out more veggies and fruits than the dining hall offered and really focus on staying healthy.

Now, a month and a half after my stint as an invalid, I know what I need to do to maintain a healthy, meat-free existence within the confines of campus dining halls. Thanks to my doctor and mom, who have put up with and catered to my vegetarianism over the years, I have a list of things I need to do everyday in order to continue my animal-loving lifestyle.

Make big, protein-infused salads for every meal. Include lots of spinach, beans, broccoli and cheese. This is not hard to do, as each dining hall has full salad bars. The more green you can pile onto your plate from the salad bar, the better. Include hummus on the side for an iron kick.

Eat fruit every day. I’m not talking about fruit cups or canned stuff – make the effort to stock up on apples, bananas and pears from the dining hall and keep a stash in your dorm room. If anything, make a stop at People’s Place once a day and cough up a few cents for its fresh fruit.

Eat as much tofu and other high-protein products as you can. The dining hall salad bars are usually stocked with tofu cubes and Tofurkey (the circular tan stuff in plastic packages) and for dinner there are usually veggie burgers and varieties of seitan or cooked tofu. For snacks throughout the day, grab a handful of peanuts.

Take vitamins! Everyday! I take 65 milligram iron tablets, a multi-vitamin and cranberry pill every day, and a few times a week, I include a calcium pill (as I dislike most dairy products.)

I look forward to the day I have an apartment or house on campus with my own vegetarian-friendly kitchen, but until then, I have to survive in the dining halls. Follow these simple guidelines, and you’ll be a healthy, dorm-dwelling vegetarian too.

Published on January 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm