Is being Vegan or Vegetarian at Coronado easy? Our students here struggle every day with little to no vegan options! Astro Sullivan, Class of 2026, says, “As a vegetarian at Coronado there is rarely ever food options at lunch for me to eat so I don’t eat lunch here. I’ve only seen one vegetarian option one time, and that prevents me from eating lunch every single day, and it’s a huge struggle being a vegetarian because then I can’t get the nutrition or the food I need, so during the day I get very tired, and it affects how I learn.” Not only does it affect how she eats but it also affects her ability to learn.
The little to no options bring some students to not eating at all, but how does that affect the brain? Kristen Beck, a writer for ‘Beck Health & Nutrition’ says, “When you under eat, your brain is the first organ to panic. When you do not eat enough to keep your body fueled, your brain flicks into survival mode – essentially switching off the parts of our brain responsible for conscious, intellectual, logical reasoning. . . Your ability to think clearly, set priorities and switch easily from one task to another is severely impacted if you consistently under eat. Your thinking can become inflexible, obsessive, and irrational.” With students unable to eat just because they are vegan, how do we expect them to function and learn when they are mentally and physically affected?
“It’s hard to be a vegan because there is no lunch that I can really eat and when there is people take it and so there is none left and so I have to sit there hungry seeing others eat food,” says River A., Class of 2026. Being hungry and unable to eat while watching others enjoy their meals can be rough! With all things considered, I hope Coronado staff takes more action on this topic.
