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Thirteen years ago Shelley Rohl was shocked and disgusted into becoming a vegetarian.

She went cold turkey (no pun intended) from being a lifelong carnivore to a strict vegetarian, or vegan, after she got a firsthand look at how cows live on dairy and cattle farms when she was a veterinary student at Auburn University.

"With my experiences at vet school, actually having to go there and getting behind the scenes, it was just too much for me," Rohl said.

But Rohl discovered that her new diet not only helped animals and the environment, it improved her health too.

"My decision to change was completely ethical at first. Everything else good that has come with it since is just an added advantage," she said. "My energy level went up, I lost 40 pounds in the first year I went vegan, my cholesterol went down." And though going vegan was a challenge at first, Rohl says as the number of vegans has grown, the number of vegan food products readily available has increased.

"It's become a lot easier since I became a vegan in 1989," Rohl said. "The number of products available out there has increased dramatically."

GOOD REASON

About 4 percent of Americans are vegetarians, according to Mary Beth Campbell, Blake Medical Center's Nutrition Services Manager and a nutrition columnist for the Herald.

"People do it for ethical, health and religious reasons," Campbell said. "The people I see here at the hospital are looking to do it for health reasons."

There are three main types of vegetarians, according to the American Dietetic Association (ADA): strict vegetarians or vegans, lactovegetarians and lacto-ovovegetarians.

* Strict vegetarians or vegans eat no animal products including meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese and other dairy products. Many vegans also exclude byproducts like honey and gelatin from their diets.

* Lactovegetarians don't eat meat, poultry, fish and eggs, but include dairy products.

* Lacto-ovovegetarians exclude meat, poultry and fish, but include eggs and dairy products in their diets. This is the category most vegetarians in America fall under.

Like Rohl, many doctors and researchers have noticed the healthful advantages of going meat-free.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) publishes a 16-page guide to going vegetarian called the "Vegetarian Starter Kit." The group says there are several health benefits to cutting meat out of your diet.

According to PCRM:

Because vegetarian meals are usually lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels than meat-eaters and fewer are diagnosed with heart disease.

Studies show vegetarians have lower blood pressure because of the reduced sodium in most vegetarian diets.

Vegetarians are about half as likely to die from cancer as the general population. Breast cancer rates are dramatically lower among nations with typically plant-based diets. The incidents of colon cancer are also lower among vegetarians and meat consumption is more closely associated with colon cancer than any other dietary factor.

People following a vegetarian diet are less likely to form kidney stones and gallstones and are at little risk of developing osteoporosis because too much animal protein can encourage the loss of calcium.

GROWING DEMAND

At New College in Sarasota about 60 percent of the students are vegetarians. About 18 percent of the campus population is vegan, compared to about 4 percent at most of the nation's colleges, according to dining services general manager Jerry Dixon.

"The problem is, if you just throw in tofu the dish doesn't taste like much -- you have to do something to it," Dixon said.

The demand for vegetarian and vegan dishes called for more creativity and input in the kitchen, executive chef Melvin Hester said.

"You can come up with a lot of things, but the question is 'Will they like it?'," Hester said. "I had 15 cookbooks up there and I said 'they're not doing any good on the shelves' so I grabbed them and started asking the students for their suggestions."

Hester said some of his favorite dishes include winter vegetable stew with mushrooms, tofu, peanut butter and parsnips, all served with brown rice, and Thai wraps with snow peas, purple cabbage and peanut sauce.

They also serve spring rolls and egg rolls, Boca burgers, hummus, taboule and tofu scramble. Tree of Life mail order vegetarian items are also available through the school's convenience store.

Texturized vegetable protein is one of the most commonly used vegan ingredients in Hester's kitchen.

"It will turn into anything that ground beef will turn into," Hester said.

But being truly vegan means everything in the kitchen -- such as serving spoons, spatulas and friers -- is segregated.

"That's essentially how we try to maintain the integrity of the vegan and vegetarian meals," Dixon said.

They even employed a "watchdog" student at one time to keep an eye out for vegan violations, Dixon said.

"It gets you to look at things a little closer," Hester said.

Dixon added, "You can't just grab any can of marinara sauce, you have to look at the label and see what's really in there."

"We've developed more trust now and they don't question it as much," Dixon said.

ENDLESS OPTIONS?

About 300 of New College's 570 students eat at the cafeteria for brunch, lunch and dinner, Dixon said. Each day the school's cafeteria offers 3 vegetarian items, two of which are usually vegan. The average vegetarian meal -- including a main dish, side dish and drink -- costs about $5.

Whether it's tofu pumpkin pie or some soy ice cream, the options are endless for vegans who are willing to shop around and try new things, Rohl said.

"You have to work at it and you have to strike a balance for yourself, otherwise, you can drive yourself crazy," Rohl said. "A lot of people take it in small steps."

Now a stay-at-home mother of 2-year-old Emerson, a vegan baby since birth, Rohl and her husband, Chad, live on the 6-acre Blue Heart Sanctuary in Myakka City.

While Chad puts in 14-hour days as the director of the Blue Heart School in Northwest Bradenton, Shelley cares for Emerson and the more than 30 rescued animals the family has collected over the years including three pigs, two horses, seven goats, two lambs, three dogs and six kittens.

Rohl remained a vegan while pregnant.

"We got a lot of raised eyebrows when I was pregnant, but it was a perfect pregnancy and delivery," Rohl said.

According to the ADA, vegetarian diets are healthful for pregnant and breast-feeding women, if the diet is balanced includes enough calories to sustain the body's additional demands.

But there are some things vegetarians have to watch out for, such as maintaining a balanced diet.

"Generally it's a diet that is lower in fat, higher in fiber," Campbell said. "They can be high in fat if you have too many fatty snack foods, fried foods of any kind or whole milk dairy products."

"Protein is necessary and meat is a source of protein, but meat itself is not necessary," Campbell said. "It may be easier to get protein from meat, but there are alternatives. You just have to plan a little more."

Campbell said vegetarians need to keep a close eye on the nutrition guides on some of the widely marketed vegetarian frozen foods.

"They have made it a lot easier to be a vegetarian," Campbell said. "But you have to watch them. Some have a lot of sodium or high protein. It all depends on how you fix it and what you add to it."

If you're considering making your diet meat-free, Campbell suggests you discuss it with your doctor first, but says it's a safe diet for most people.

"The only people who shouldn't be vegetarians are some people with digestive disorders because they might not do well with the increased fiber in their diet," Campbell said.

The greatest challenge for some vegetarians is giving up the animal-based diet they've grown up with, Rohl said.

"It's about willpower. You go to parties and it's hard. You have to say 'no thanks' and bring your own food. I'm the butt of all the jokes, but I'm used to it," Rohl said.

Campbell said most people who are becoming vegetarians are committed to a totally new way of eating.

"You generally don't find people going vegetarian who are looking for an easy way out," Campbell said. "They generally believe it will make them feel better and be healthier."

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