What is Vegetarianism?

Just read that Beyoncé and Jay-Z are going on a 22-day vegan diet.  People choose to be vegetarian because of religious, health, environmental, political, aesthetic, economic, or cultural reasons.  There are different types and variations of plant based diets that people adopt, but the vegan diet is the strictest one of all.  Let's take a closer look to see what these various plant based diets are about. 

Vegetarianism is defined as not eating meat of any type which includes, red meat, poultry, seafood, and the flesh of any other animal.   Where it gets fuzzy, is some vegetarians will eat by-products of animals, such as eggs, milk, honey, etc., whereas others will not.  Part of being a vegetarian includes reviewing processed foods to check whether it contains any animal-derived ingredients prior to consumption.  Some vegetarians mind whereas others may not mind so much about animal-derived additives. 

There are varieties of vegetarianism.  For instance, an ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs, but not dairy products.  A lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products, but not eggs.  A person can be an ovo-lacto-vegetarian and eat both dairy products and eggs.  A pescatarian diet is a term you do not hear often and is not technically a vegetarian diet because it includes eating fish and all fish products such as fish oil.  Many people adopt this way of eating, but they are not true vegetarians.  The same can be said about semi-vegetarians since they eat poultry and meat as long as it is not associated with mammals.   

A vegan diet is essentially a strict vegetarian diet.  This diet excludes all animal products, including eggs, milk, honey, and beeswax.  Ethical vegans are individuals who not only adopt a strict vegetarian diet, but also exclude the wearing of leather or using any product that contains animal products.  Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron and phytochemicals, and lower in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc and vitamin B12.  Heart disease appears to be much less of a problem associated with a vegan diet. 

Part of living a healthy lifestyle includes making diet choices and this is just one type of diet that can help you get there.  Vegetarianism can be drastic for some people to undertake, but including more plants in your diet would be an excellent thing to do in general.  Remember what was posted on the Deja Soleil blog recently about great looking skin and being bikini fabulous?  A lot of those food items were fruits and vegetables, so give it a try.