From people jumping on the kale train to the quinoa bandwagon, health trends have never been so appealing. This new movement has become prevalent with people switching over to plant-based products from their typical dairy and protein sources. According to an article from The Washington Post, approximately 52 new milk substitutes—with the majority derived from plants— were created in 2014. The global protein market is expected to top $24.5 billion in 2015 with its greatest annual growth coming from plant-based protein ingredients, according to a study conducted by Food Product Design’s FoodTech Toolbox.

Sophomore Shannon McConnell is a vegan who only consumes items made from plants.

“I usually eat a lot of salads with different kinds of vegetables in it, lots of fruit smoothies. At dinner, I’ll usually eat something with protein in it—like a soy burger or something. It’s usually fake meat that’ll get me through the day,” McConnell said.

McConnell said the transition to eating solely plant-based foods was caused by her distaste for the cruel treatment of animals.

“I’ve been a vegan for nine months now, and it wasn’t really hard of a transition, because it’s sort of trendy now, so everything’s a lot more accessible and common. A lot of businesses are selling more (plant-based foods), and schools are offering more of these choices,” she said.

As this trend grows, people may consume more plant-based products for different reasons, including environmental, health, allergic and justatory, according to Dr. Jennifer Meta Robinson, professor of communication and culture at IU.

Robinson said, “People are very concerned about food and health today. They’re also pretty concerned about getting kids used to a lifetime of health. They think that if they’ll eat well from grade school to high school, (children) will become healthier adults for the rest of their lives. People aren’t sure how to do that, but they’re just testing different ideas—such as plant-based products.”

Although the craze for eating only vegetables has recently gained popularity, Senior Sophia Gould has been consuming plant-based foods habitually since she was little.

“I don’t really eat an insane amount of it,” Gould said. “My family tends to be really health-conscious because of my grandpa, who couldn’t really eat any of that stuff because of allergies, and we’ll eat a lot of tofu and drink soy drink regularly because of that.”

Gould eats plant-based products moderately and advocates incorporating them into a regular diet to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Robinson said, “You can grow plant-based food right in the city, which is a new urban development. Now people can localize all this food, rather than shipping them in from other countries.”

McConnell said it is  not difficult to find food that is entirely plant-based as it is now common for local grocery stores to have them on their shelves specifically for health enthusiasts and vegetarians.

McConnell said, “It’s actually pretty convenient for me to get everything I need; I don’t need to go out of the way just because I’m a vegan. I know in Carmel there’s a Whole Foods and Earth Fare that I go to where I can find everything I need,” she said.

“What people may not know is that as a species, humans adjust fairly well as far as their diets go,” Robinson said.

According to Robinson, people who are lactose intolerant tend to have ancestors in areas that did not have milk sources, such as cows and goats. As a consequence of this, these people adapted, developing lactose intolerance after a history of not consuming dairy products.

McConnell said she has become accustomed to eating only plant-based foods.

“What I eat is generally really healthy, so my body’s used to it. So whenever I cheat accidentally—like when I eat white bread, which is really fattening and not made entirely out of plants—I’ll actually feel physically sick right after. After a while, your body just doesn’t want that kind of stuff in your system,” McConnell said.

Although she mostly bases her plant-based diet on morals, McConnell also drinks dairy dervied from plants for their taste. 

“It wasn’t hard to be vegan with milk. I personally don’t like the taste of regular milk from cows; I find it a bit bland. Instead, I’ll drink soy or almond milk, which tastes a lot better in my opinion,” she said.

With new dairy substitutes revealed every year, it is a lot easier for people to still achieve their calcium intake and not rely on dairy Gould also uses soy and almond milk as a dairy replacement.

“It’s more of a habit, but I drink it mainly for the taste. I don’t like the taste of milk so we’ll have a lot of flavors of soy and almond milk—like chocolate and vanilla milk— in our fridge,” Gould said.

According to Robinson, another contributing factor for the trend is that it is environmentally driven. In Indiana, the majority of crops are used to feed livestock to provide food for humans instead of being consumed by people.

“For people that are more conscious of their environment, they may eat more plants than most to eliminate the middle man—which in this case, is the cows,” Robinson said. “There’s definitely a lot of resources—such as gas that’s used to transport their food—that can be saved from this, and could potentially prevent a lot of emissions in the atmosphere that pollute the air.”

Although the trend has become popular among the student body at CHS, this trend has not made its appearance in the cafeterias. 

“(I am) not sure at this time if plant-based products are becoming more popular here.  This would be a vegan diet, and vegan diets are very challenging to get the proper combinations to meet protein needs,” Theresa Quade, CHS Food Service Manager said via email. “Plant-based dairy alternatives we offer (include) soy milk in both vanilla and chocolate flavors.  We don’t offer a lot of these items due to their cost.”

Karen Patterson, CHS Assistant Food Manager said, “We don’t offer too many (plant-based products), but at the main cafeteria, we’re serving black bean cheeseburgers for the students (who) are vegetarian.”

McConnell, who brings her own lunch to school, said that it is definitely becoming a lot more popular for people to be healthy and eat healthier.

She said, “I definitely recommend transitioning to this because you’ll feel a lot better. I can see why it’s become popular now.”