You probably know that vegetarians don’t eat meat. You might not know that there are different
types of vegetarians, though.
- Ovo-lacto vegetarians eat eggs and dairy products, but no
beef, chicken, fish or other meats.
- Lacto vegetarians eat dairy products but no eggs, beef,
chicken, fish or other meats.
- Vegans eat no animal products at all, including no eggs, dairy
products or honey. Vegans, and
sometimes other vegetarians, try not to use animal products for things
other than food, too. For instance,
they don’t wear leather shoes or belts and don’t wear fur coats. They might try to avoid using cosmetics
and other products that have been tested on animals, too.
- Pescatarians aren’t really vegetarians, in my opinion, but
some consider themselves vegetarians so I won’t quibble over semantics
here. They eat fish but no other
animals. They usually also eat eggs
and dairy products.
There are a variety of reasons vegetarians might choose a
meatless diet:
- They believe it’s
healthier than eating meat.
- They believe it’s wrong to
kill animals.
- They don’t agree with the
way animals raised for food are treated (including the way laying hens and
dairy cows are treated).
- They are concerned about
the environment (raising meat for food is much harder on the
environment/creates much more pollution than raising plants for food).
- They are concerned about
world hunger (the amount of grain raised to feed one meat eater would feed
14 vegetarians).
- Some practice religions
that encourage a vegetarian diet (like Seventh Day Adventists, Hindus,
Buddhists and many pagans).
- They just don’t like meat.
- A few people become
vegetarian after weight loss surgery because they find they no longer
tolerate meat well.
Not all vegetarians believe all of these things. That is one reason some are stricter about
their diet than others and some eat no animal products at all while others eat
eggs or dairy products.
Aren’t vegetarians
skinny?
A lot of people expect vegetarians to all be skinny and
healthy. After all, vegetables aren’t
fattening, right? But vegetarians don’t
just eat vegetables. Trust me, if you
eat no meat but eat lots of pasta, bread, cheese pizza, potato chips and ice
cream (you can get rice milk ice cream if you are a vegan), you’re not going to
be skinny! Know how I know? Yeah, I learned that the hard way.
Vegetarians aren’t
all the same.
Maybe this is the most important thing I can say about
vegetarians. They are not all the
same. Some are skinny, some aren’t. Some eat a very healthful diet, some eat lots
of junk food. They choose not to eat
meat for different reasons. Some are
really strict about not eating meat and some are more laid back about it. Some are very into health and fitness, some
are couch potatoes. Some are very
involved in the animal rights movement, some aren’t.
In summary, what you
need to know is:
- Overall, the term
“vegetarian” refers to a person who chooses not to include meat in their
diet
- Some vegetarians eat no
animal product at all while some at eggs and/or dairy products.
- There are lots of
different reasons for becoming a vegetarian.
- A vegetarian diet is not
automatically a healthy diet.
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