Soy Provides Options for Vegetarians and Dieters Alike
By Arash Arabasadi

Suffering from the dreaded freshman 15, even now that you're a senior? Want to eat healthy meals, but don't want to rob a bank to support your habit? Good news, you're not alone.

Many Triangle residents eat healthy meals they say are delicious, fun to make and don't break the bank. The common ingredient is soy, the other, other white meat.

Meet Kurt Richmond of Chapel Hill. He and his fiancée Beth sponsor a monthly dinner for local health nuts. The only requirement is that guests bring ideas or ingredients. That night, they ate imitation chicken strips with a side of couscous.

Richmond says he enjoys the process as much as the results.

"Just the whole cooking process has always been fun,” he said. “I don't know. Just cooking's always been fun."

Then there's UNC senior Rick Riccobono. He's far from a vegetarian.

"No... I'm not a vegetarian by any means,” he said. “Far from it -- meat and potatoes all the way."

But Riccobono says his mostly vegetarian diet helped him trim down.

"It's cheap and it's good for you,” he said. “If you know what you're doing, you can definitely make really nice meals with it, but it has allowed me to lose 38 pounds so far."

I checked the label of some of his ingredients, and most of them are fat free, high in protein and low in carbohydrates.

But what about the cost?

A soy-based meal for three cost less than $10 at a local Harris Teeter.

Although the meals are easy to make, some freshmen might have to carry those extra 15 until they have a stove.