Friday, 16 January 2009
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The Types of Vegetarians, For The Confused
Guest blog by Beautifulwithoutreason
Non vegetarians or those just starting out in this lifestyle get confused about the different types of vegetarians. We are categorized and labeled by our food choices.
Sometimes our choices are grouped under the title "veg*n" which is a shorter way to type "vegetarian and/or vegan". That seems to throw people off too. It's just a short cut, nothing censored.
To help clear things up, I'll give you the run down from "light" to "hard core"
Flexitarian ~ This group are people that choose to eat vegetarian most of the time but still have no issues eating meat when options are limited. I find that most of this group do it for health or monetary reasons rather then ethical. Or they are easing their way into the vegetarian life style.
Pescetarians ~ A pescetarian eats fish and other sea food, but no other meat product. Again, usually motivated by health reasons rather then ethical. These also usually fit into the next group...Lacto-Ovo vegetarians ~ Vegetarians that consume dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc) and eggs. This is the most common vegetarian group and what most people consider when they encounter a vegetarian.
On the same note there are just lacto vegetarians or ovo vegetarians. Usually ovo vegetarians are lactose intolerant.
There is debate on whether one can eat eggs and still be considered a true vegetarian. It really depends on how you think of it. Some consider eggs a diary type product, others consider it meat. In a sense, when you eat an egg you are eating a chicken's ovulation.Small science lesson: Like a human woman, a hen will ovulate. Unlike the human woman, that egg will not be absorbed by her body. An egg will be laid whether it's fertilized or not.
So while the egg is technically a meat product, an unfertilized egg (like the ones in your grocery store) would not be capable of life even if they were left alone. It is a mass of useless tissue. It's that reason that many vegetarians will still eat eggs.
Vegan ~ This is the hard core of the vegetarian world. Vegans will not consume any animal product, whether is it a part of the animal itself or something it produced. No meat, diary, eggs, honey. If it came from an animal or it is made with something that came from an animal. it is a no go.
There are also vegans that take it further and refuse to own, use or wear animal products, like leather, fur, snake skin or feathers and as well as anything that uses animal products, for example milk or honey in facial masks and other beauty products.
Some even refuse to spend money where animals are used as entertainment, like zoos and the circus.
There is also another branch: raw vegans. The diet consists of unprocessed vegan foods that have not been heated above 115º F (46º C). They believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost a significant amount of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body.
Are you a vegetarian? Which category do you fall under? If not, have you ever considered it?
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About the Author
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- From: Beautifulwithoutreason@xanga
- Name: whisper
- About Me: I am Jack's temper tantrum.
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Comments (58)
I would've never classified myself as being vegetarian, but now that I know what "Flexitarians" are, I think I'm part of that category. Like you said, I eat like that for my health and not necessarily from an ethical basis.
Haha. I didn't know it, but technically I'd be the first one. But I just eat more vegetables than meat because..I don't know. Don't really like meat that much, I guess?
It's "dairy"... not "diary". A diary would be hard to eat...
Anyway, I'm a vegan. Or... um... a "dietary beegan". Meaning that I will eat honey, and that I do own wool sweaters and leather shoes (I'm not going to toss the shoes now... that's just a further insult to the cow that died to make them!).
I've also tried raw veganism, but it's pretty difficult to do. It also makes you lose weight (whether you want to or not) because it's difficult to get enough calories in a day due to the volume you need to eat.
Omnivore to the core.
I've got a lot of respect for someone who can diet (by whatever guidelines, for whatever reason) consistently and healthily.
I guess I'm a lacto-ovo vegitarian. I have been for about 4 years. I guess I would eat eggs or milk or any dairy products if I had to but I usually try not to. I only have cereal with soy milk, I'll cook with milk and eggs but other than that I try to avoid eating it, not really for health reasons, I'm just not comfortable eating a "chicken's ovulation" as you put it. Interesting blog anyways.
and I seriously doubt a flexitarian is a vegitarian at all...once u eat meat, your not a vegitarian. I'm thinking you made up that word.
I eat meat.
I eat vegetables.
It would be very difficult for me to be solely either.
I fall under the first one... "Flexitarian". I had never really thought about until you posted this. I don't mind meat, but I prefer more fruits and vegetables.
i think flexitarian is a made up word too...but either way i guess that is what i am. i would eat meat if it was a properly raised, free range, grass fed animal, and those are my conditions for dairy and eggs as well. I guess money is part of it because healthy meat and dairy are quite expensive but i also rarely eat them because it is hard to find. i buy my eggs from a local farmer, and there are only two people i would consider buying milk or meat from - both also local. i do still buy organic cheese, butter and cream from the grocery store.
@BeautifulB_227@xanga - They didn't make up the word "flexitarian", but it's not really a form of vegetarianism.
oh and i try to eat as much raw foods as possible because i believe too that to some extent cooking sucks out all the nutrients. and anyway i thought a raw vegan ate foods under 104 degrees, not 115.
@quiet_strength@revelife - It depends on the raw vegan. Some use a lower heat threshold. But it really only matters if you're dehydrating things. You don't need heat to eat raw veggies.
I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian for dietary reasons, but I tend to avoid dairy and eggs when I can. For instance, I use rice milk in my cereal and drink chocolate soy milk instead of cow's milk.
Another issue you didn't bring up is gelatin. I'd like to know what people's opinions are on that.
@quiet_strength@revelife - lol at "properly raised" It just made me laugh, like what do u want, your chicken to have good morals and a good head on its shoulders? I'm just saying no matter what you do the animal, its still a poor defenseless animal that your eating and let alone the fact that its cruel to eat an animal, its also pretty disgusting if you think about it.
How many times must one eat fish to cross over from vegetarian to pescatarian?
(Note: In a sense, I do eat this way for ehical treatment. I am merely more eduacated on the cruelty of factory farms than I am of those on fish farms.)
I eat chicken. fish, and eggs. but I avoid red meat for the most part. If I eat burgers they are turkey burgers. I also do not eat dairy such as cheese, milk, etc.
I'm solidly in the flexitarian label. I try to avoid meat, and go about half the days of the week without any meat, but it's just too tasty & convenient of a way to get my vitamins.
I mainly do this for health & financial reasons - you can't get meat that's cheaper than beans & celery.
One of my roommates is a vegetarian. However, the only meat she eats is chicken. Something about that it's not consider a land animal.... someone explain please?
@methodElevated@xanga - Ah gelatin. The jellefied bones, connective tissues and organs of farm animals. That was a horrific day for me, I had been a vegetarian all of 2 days and was doing research. Becoming vegetarian really opened my eyes to a lot of truly disgusting things they put in our food.
I didn't mention a lot of different animal products in foods like whey, rennet, gelatin, glycerides, etc because that would be a post all by itself. Plus I didn't want to gross people out and have them hate me. The whole "Just because they want the burger doesn't mean they want to meet the cow" mentality of some makes it just better to keep my mouth shut. I assume anyone making the switch would do their research.
A really great resource for figuring out if a processed, packaged food is vegetarian is Beginner vegetarian food shopping.
@laytexduckie@xanga - She's not a vegetarian. Unless chicken is a vegetable.
@methodElevated@xanga - Gelatin comes from bones and tissues of animals. I'm a vegan, so I don't eat it. I'm not sure where a vegetarian would stand on the issue, though, since it's not classified as dairy or eggs.
@NoMoreThinSpos@xanga - You can get wild fish. Some varieties of farmed fish are pretty sickly due to things like sea lice. Ewww...
@LadyLibellule@xanga - Ha! Of course my spell checker didn't catch the dairy/diary thing. I've been sick all week and bound to goof up somewhere. Y'all understood anyway.
i never really thought of myself as a vegetarian
but the only meat i eat is chicken
if i am a vegetarian of any sort, i guess i'm a flexitarian.
i don't eat meat a lot.
but i will eat it when it gets down to the core of it.
I used to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian but found my body incapable of existing on just those foods when I became pregnant. Guess right now, I'd be closer to a pescetarian, but I do also eat chicken every once in awhile.
i do not eat eggs but dairy is okay. i am a lacto vegetarian?
pescatarian... for ethical reasons. i'm weird ayy
I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian who avoids gelatin. I won't go out of my way to not consume it but if I happen to read or know that a product has it, then I won't eat it.