Vegetarian Diets

People choose vegetarian diets for a number of reasons; an aversion to killing animals, a reluctance to eat meat, or a simple choice towards a different way of life.

There are a number of different vegetarian diets. Although it need not be a completely restrictive diet. The core theme across all vegetarian diets is the avoidance of all red meat (such as beef, lamb, and pork).

Types of Vegetarian

Vegan – Eats no food sourced from animals
Lacto-ovo – Includes milk and eggs.
Lacto – Allows milk but will not eat eggs.
Ovo – Eats eggs only – but no other animal foods.
Pesco – Eats fish but no other animal foods (pescetarian)
Pollo – Allows chicken
Fruitarian (sub-set of vegan – includes only fruiting portion of plant).

As vegetarian diets are based on consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains, these diets are high in fiber. They have other health advantages in that they are normally lower in calories, saturated fat, and refined sugars.

With the correct understanding and careful planning, all types of vegetarian diet can provide adequate nutrition.

Nutrients to be aware of

The main nutrients that must be emphasized are; protein, iron, calcium, zinc, riboflavin, and vitamin B12.

Lacto/ovo diets provide protein by means of milk and egg white.

On a vegan diet, protein needs must be met by legumes (nuts, peas, lentils, beans, etc). Combining beans and other legumes with various dishes can provide the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of protein – normally a gram per kilogram of body weight. While Soy milk is an excellent source of protein, it has high estrogen levels which, being a factor in the physical maturing process, is undesirable for the vegan child. Calcium for vegans is available in vegetables like broccoli.

Typical Vegetarian Eating Plan

LACTO-OVO	LACTO	VEGAN
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
Cereal / cooked oats / muesli (granola) with full-cream / low-fat milk. Grapefruit / grapefruit juice Wholemeal toast with butter (or margarine) Full-cream or low-fat milk Water, tea, coffees, herbal tea	Cottage cheese Wholemeal toast with butter (or margarine) plus other spreads. Orange or orange juice Low-fat milk, water, tea, coffee, herbal tea.	Muesli (granola) or oatmeal with soya milk and sugar. Wholemeal toast with margarine plus spreads. Orange or orange juice.
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Barley soup Mixed green salad with salad dressing Cottage cheese Wholemeal bread with butter (or margarine) Fruit	Bean soup Sesame crackers Salad Baked apple Low-fat milk	Split pea soup Wholemeal bread with margarine plus spreads Fruit and seed salad, and tofu ice cream
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Soya bean and brown rice casserole Bake pumpkin Coleslaw and mayonnaise Wholemeal bread with butter	Fresh fruit Vegetables Wholemeal bread roll with butter or margarine Fruit yogurt	Vegetable paella Spinach Pear
Snacks	Snacks	Snacks
Sunflower seeds Milk Popcorn Raisins Pear	Cheese Wholemeal crackers Prunes Roasted soya beans Wholemeal roll Buttermilk	Shelled almonds Peach Raisins

Veganism

There are many processed foods that are made specifically for vegans: hot dogs, burgers, taco filling, ground beef,
chicken strips, mayonaise, sour cream, ice cream, chili (Hormel). These products are made with meat substitutes – such as soy.

More sample vegan menus

Breakfast: Rice krispies with soy milk.
Lunch: Vegetable soup with crackers.
Dinner: Fajita salad with veggie chicken strips (by Morningstar Farms).
Snack: Peanut butter with carrot sticks.

Breakfast: Apple cinnamin oatmeal.
Lunch: Baked potatoes with Smart Balance.
Dinner: Spaghetti.
Snack: Tortilla chips and salsa.

Look for other tasty vegetarian meals here.

November 9th, 2009Maxx

Interesting site, but ‘Vegetable’ has no scientific meaning. It is a culinary and cultural term. By the way mushrooms, being fungi, are scientifically closer to animals.

Hey Vegans, I really don’t have a problem with you feeling superior to us BBQ loving meat eaters and saving the world. It is a noble gesture in today’s world.

However, I prefer a balanced diet and nothing goes better with smoked BBQ than a good coleslaw and beans.

Regards.
October 27th, 2009Victoria

Today It’ll be 5 months of being vegetarian. I know its not long but im proud of myself. and im only 13
June 28th, 2009Lindsey

Becoming vegetarian is so, so healthy.

I am an ovo-pescetarian, and I have never felt better in my life. Becoming vegetarian requires a lot of research, but it’s worth it.
May 14th, 2009Mimi

The last time I checked vegetarian meant one who consumes vegetation. If you are consuming eggs, milk or any other animal products, you are not a vegetarian!
April 4th, 2009Ash

Uhm. I just decided that I wanted to become a pescetarian(for those who may not kniw what this means: its someone who eats fish and veggies, fruit, dairy; no other animals) and yea I know it’s not a vegetarian. That’s why it’s NOT called a vegetarian. So calm down people.
March 23rd, 2009Dixie

I have been a lacto ovo vegetarian for 38 years and always laugh at the absurd concept when someone calls themselves a vegetarian but still eats flesh. Chicken and fish have to be killed for consumption and violates the basic premise of why people are a vegetarian after all. A carnivore is a carnivore, there is no kinder and gentler meat eating vegetarian. Let’s get real.
March 21st, 2009RedsterLA

To be a vegetarian you cannot eat flesh — any creature that has a face or has babies. Period. Eating fish, fowl or any other flesh automatically disqualifies you as a vegetarian because you are consuming flesh.

I’ve been a vegetarian since 1986, am in good health and get plenty of protein. Vegetarian and vegan sources of protein include legumes, nuts & beans (for both) and milk & non-fertile egg products (vegetarians). The fallacy of becoming weak & diseased by a vegetarian or vegan diet is an antiquated notion that continues to be perpetuated by those who profit from selling and serving corpses as food.

What we today call “meat” was, in days of yore referred to as “flesh” and what, in days of yore was called “meat” merely meant “food” — going all the way back to the time of Pythagoras.

In 1924, Archibald Henderson, asked of the then 68-year-old George Bernard Shaw:
“So be a good fellow and tell me how you succeeded in remaining so youthful.”

To which Shaw replied:
“I don’t. I look my age; and I am my age. It is the other people who look older than they are. What can you expect from people who eat corpses and drink spirits?”

Shaw lived to the ripe old age of 94. Albert Einstein worked until the day he died at age 76 (literally, since he took a draft of a speech to the hospital to work on). A pretty good run for someone born in 1879.

And consider this… in addition to the above-named folks, other bright, significant minds in our history were vegetarians — including Socrates, Plato, Da Vinci, Tolstoy, Tagore, Buddha, Rousseau, Shelley, Thoreau, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer.

Yeah… what a pack of weak, soft, disease-ridden do-nothings.
March 16th, 2009lavone

Of course, vegetarians eat NO animal, fowl, or fish flesh.
If you eat flesh, you are no vegetarian.

brian, exactly why do you make such a generalized, false statement concerning ALL vegetarians??
I could counter with an equally false generalization, “all carnivores have plaque-packed arteries, and are heart attacks waiting to happen.”
March 11th, 2009brian

vegetarians are weak, will acquire diseases such as rickets, iron deficiency anemia, have decreased energy levels, loss of skin pigment and overall become soft if they do not eat meat. if you are concerned about the welfare of animals buy from local farms that do not mistreat animals with small living conditions, chemically induced fattening agents and other inhumane variables. it is part of evolutionary nature to consume animals
January 20th, 2009Lillian

Uh, as has been mentioned by others, you CANNOT be a vegetarian and still eat chicken and fish – since when did chicken and fish become fruits and vegetables? They are animals, not plants! I repeat, you CANNOT be on a vegetarian diet or be a vegetarian and still eat animal flesh!
January 7th, 2009mary

thanks , best search all day
January 4th, 2009deepti

I want to know which vegetable contains protien
December 20th, 2008Vegan Eating Out

Thank you for including a vegan diet. It’s becoming more popular and much easier to sustain than people think. http://www.veganeatingout.com
December 8th, 2008nadine

I’ve been vegetarian for 3 yrs this week. I stopped eating meat while pregnant with my second child. I chose this way of living for many reasons, but mainly for my own preference. I don’t like eating meat. My meals sound a lot like the vegan menu. I have not lost weight, in fact I’m about 60 pounds overweight (and now pregnant with my 3rd child, but have not gained any weight yet). Most unhealthy foods are meatless-potato chips, homemade cookies and french fries are my downfall. I still believe that this is the most wholesome way of eating-no chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, etc in the food-esp if you include whole grains and lots of fresh fruits and veggies.
I agree with Moogy. It’s easy. You don’t miss what isn’t there. My food tastes like food (which is why I eat too much of it. YUM!) You don’t need degree in nutrition or a lot of complicated menus, recipes exotic ingredients or cooking techniques. Just get a simple cookbook with recipes that use fresh veggies and whole grains and start cooking.
November 20th, 2008CLARA

i like this diet it helped me alot
November 6th, 2008Mel

I am looking for a vegetarian diet, where I can eat eggs, fish, vegetables and fruit.
Is it possible that you can give me an example of a free menu diet.

Many thanks
October 28th, 2008HndR

i have been a lacto ovo vegetarian for like two months, but i didnt do it for the the diet benefits. I did it for the animals.

but yes the diet benefits are a bonus!
October 20th, 2008gonatomigratesoon

The listed food list seem alittle diff from what I’ve been eating ;Am from Asia thus the above menu seem like western. Moogy’s comments are very useful and encouraging esp the part whereby it says “you’ll learn to love food as its supposed to taste”. And that’s what I’d experienced after I’m on such diet. But am lazy to learn nutrition thus am now a lacto-ovo at times and a vegan at other times. Well as i worried i’ll be mul-nutrition. But i’m definetly against eating animals and its any product; too cruel!
October 16th, 2008BB

i never been a vegitarian but i might try it now….
October 11th, 2008Moogy

I have been a vegetarian for 14 years and a vegan for the last 4. It is EASY. To do it properly you have to pay attention to your body – eat whole foods in their natural form as much as possible and stay away from anything that is processed with copious amounts of bleach (white bread, bagged salads), sugar (white bread again, packaged cereals and granola bars), salt (canned foods, most frozen and otherwise packaged foods).
Again, you’ll learn to love food as its supposed to taste, your body and digestion will reward you. It’s easy, just learn a little about REAL food and nutrition.
August 17th, 2008EL PANDA

IVE TRIED GOING VEGAN I ONLY LASTED 6 DAYS.. I WAS CLOSE TO A WEEK!! BUT ON THIS MONDAY IM GOING VEGAN FOR SURE. SILK LIGHT VANILLA WITH WHEATIES.. IS THE BEST BREAKFAST !!
August 8th, 2008Tish

This is ridiculous, me and my family have been vegetarian all our lives (because of religion) and we don’t eat diets anything like the ones listed, and I don’t know any vegetarians that do. Its not a health food diet, I know heaps of overweight vegetarians, becasue most unhealthy foods are not meat. also peco- and pollo- cant be added to vegetarian because the definition of vegetarian is someone who doesnt eat meat
July 23rd, 2008Isha

any body knows how many pounds you’ll lose???????????
June 26th, 2008Kiki

Going vegan is the best thing you can for yourself, the planet, and the animals.
May 18th, 2008Anne

Many thanks, I was tempted with Idiot diet but you changed my mind.
May 13th, 2008Cit…

Thanks it is very good diet!
May 11th, 2008Tina

thanks for the help on my project!!!
May 10th, 2008Joe

Great diet… Will try.
May 6th, 2008Kyle

thanks a lot it really helped
May 6th, 2008Kyle Malec

This is what vegetarian people eat, my sister TIFFANY will since she wants to be a vegetarian so much.
April 28th, 2008kindra

This site was very helpful thanks!!!
April 12th, 2008vanessa

thanks tons, best search all day