CHAPTER ONE Pesco, Ovo-Lacto, Vegan Defining the Types of Vegetarians

To most nonvegetarians, the vegetarian lifestyle is mysterious and confusing. They have a hard time visualizing what a vegetarian’s plate of food might look like. To nonvegetarians, the plate looks empty and unappetizing as they imagine it filled with leaves of lettuce and radishes. Of course, vegetarians eat a variety of plant-based foods besides lettuce and radishes. Still, the meat eater remains puzzled, and numerous questions often arise in his mind. Do vegetarians totally shun animal protein? Does that include eggs and milk? Is it something they do for health reasons or because they love animals? And how do they get enough protein in their diets if they don’t eat meat? Relax. Take a deep breath. The answers to these burning questions (and many others) will most likely be answered in this book. We just need to take it one step at a time, starting with the definition of a vegetarian.

According to the dictionary, a vegetarian is defined as “a person who does not eat meat, and sometimes other animal products, especially for moral, religious, or health reasons.” However, if you take a poll of vegetarians, you’d quickly discover that there are almost as many ways to be a vegetarian as there are, well, vegetarians. Some people claim to be vegetarians when really they’ve just cut back on the amount of animal products they consume. On the other end of the scale, there are vegetarians who eat no animal protein at all, or anything produced by animals—such as milk, eggs, and honey. So the first thing to consider when approaching the vegetarian lifestyle is exactly what kind of vegetarian you plan to be.

Vegetarian Diets—the Big Three

There are three main vegetarian diets, although variations abound in each category: ovo-lacto-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, and vegan. Let’s take them one at a time and look at the differences:

An ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet means eating mostly plant foods, but also having eggs and dairy products including yogurt, milk, cheese, and ice cream. This is the first step most people take when they switch to a vegetarian diet, because it’s easy to fulfill all your nutritional requirements and, well, everything tastes good when you cover it with cheese! It’s also an easy diet to maintain in the real world, as there are always restaurant choices—including fast-food options—so no matter where you are or who you’re with, you can always find something to eat.

Lacto-vegetarians eat no animal protein or eggs; instead they consume dairy products. While acceptable dairy substitutes have become much more palatable in recent years, it can still be difficult to avoid dairy entirely; this makes cooking much more challenging. Many lacto-vegetarians don’t eat eggs because, as a growing ovum, they’re potentially animals. Or they choose not to eat eggs because they’re uncomfortable with egg-farming practices. Conversely, there are ovo-vegetarians, who eat eggs but don’t consume dairy products.

Vegans eschew all animal proteins and animal by-products. This is the most extreme form of vegetarian diet, as vegans get all of their nutrition
from grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and seeds. And vegans must avoid a large number of commercially produced foods that contain animal proteins; most breads are made with eggs, for example, and many nondairy products are thickened with casein, a protein extracted from milk.

Even vegetarian burgers often contain eggs! It can be difficult in today’s society to maintain a vegan lifestyle. But simply educating yourself on where, when, and what animal products are being used can make all the difference. Learning about alternatives to animal products is especially useful. Most animal rights groups will have information available for you to use. Despite the challenges, the vegan diet has steadily grown in popularity in recent years as more and more vegetarians have become savvy label readers and vegan-friendly food companies have created more products for them to enjoy.

In addition to the three basic vegetarian diets, there’s also macrobiotics, a diet inspired by the ancient Chinese principle of yin and yang, which relies primarily on locally produced, seasonal foods. The basic macrobiotic diet includes fish. Remove the fish and the diet is vegan, with most macrobiotic cookbooks heavily favoring Asian-influenced cuisine and the use of ingredients like pickled vegetables, daikon radishes, and sea vegetables like kelp and nori.

This isn’t to say that you’re required to sign up for any one style of vegetarian diet and follow it to the letter. Pesco vegetarians, for example, don’t eat poultry, beef, or pork, but they do eat fish. (Fish offer many nutrients, including omega-3.) The so-called semivegetarians have cut back on their intake of meat overall, but they still eat it occasionally—if you’re reading this, that’s probably where you are already! Pollo vegetarians avoid red meat and fish but eat chicken, while the pesco-pollo vegetarians avoid red meat but consume both chicken and fish. There are even fruitarians, who only eat seeds, nuts, and fruit, plus vegetables that are botanically classified as fruit like zucchini, eggplant, squash, and
avocados. And there are other diets that, while vegetarian in nature, further restrict consumption of certain foods depending on the diet’s purpose—the raw food diet requires that you only eat uncooked foods, and the natural- hygiene diet, while making limited use of animal products, is designed to cleanse the body of toxins and chooses the allowed foods accordingly.

But don’t let all of that confuse you. As a newcomer to vegetarianism, you should first set your sights on the three primary types of the vegetarian diet: ovo-lacto, lacto, and vegan. Once you’ve discovered which of these best meets your needs, you can decide if you want to adapt them even further, adding or subtracting as you see fit. For the most part, labeling your diet is less important than figuring out how to transition from a nonvegetarian diet to a vegetarian one. Remember, becoming a vegetarian is an evolutionary process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Adopting a new mind-set when it comes to food and how you eat it takes time. Be patient and enjoy the journey