Veggie Lifestyle

Vegetarian is a catch-all term that encompasses different diets and styles of eating. It may include people who eat no animal products whatsoever or people who eat no meat, but do enjoy dairy and eggs. Some who consider themselves vegetarians even eat fish from time to time. The word “vegetarian” doesn’t give us the fine details, so here’s a rundown of some of the vegetarian diets you may encounter:

• Lacto-ovo vegetarian

A person who eats plant foods, eggs, and dairy, but no meat, poultry, seafood, fish, pork, or other animal foods.

• Vegan

A person who eats only plant foods; vegans eat no animal foods at all – no honey, dairy, eggs, fish, poultry, pork, or meat.

• Lacto-ovo pescatarian

A person who eats plant foods, eggs, dairy, and fish, but no meat, poultry, pork, or other animal foods.

• Flexitarian

A semi-vegetarian is a person who eats a vegetarian diet much of the time, but will include animal foods in the diet when convenient or because he/she enjoys these foods occasionally.

• Fruitarian

A person who eats a diet comprised only of fruit, nuts, and other self-reproducing plants that are not destroyed in the process of being eaten; for example, when we eat a carrot, we eat the whole plant and the carrot cannot reproduce itself, but when we eat an apple, the apple tree continues to live and produce more fruit.

• Raw Foodist

A person who eats only food that is not heated above a temperature of approximately 115º Fahrenheit, roughly the temperature of hot (not scalding) tap water, and the temperature at which raw foodists believe that enzymes and other vital components of plant food are destroyed by heat; raw foodists may be vegan as well.

Thinking of switching to a Veggie Lifestyle? Read simple steps in our Value in Vegeterian newsletter.