Different Types Of Vegetarian Food Diet For Healthy Lifestyle

Different people have different food habits. Some people prefer having plant-based food items. Some people eat both animals and plants. While others are born into vegetarian families and opt for non-veg foods or eggs. Also, someone who is born a non-vegetarian turns vegan to not harm animals. It all depends on the people and their surroundings. Today, due to commercialization, many companies focus on producing more meat for less amount of money to gain profit. They grow more chickens faster by genetic selection. Take the fastest-growing chickens in your coup. Breed them with the rooster. Repeat selection and breed again.

Companies also spend less on factories and try to keep chickens in congested cages to cut costs. Cheaper labor and an unhygienic environment are also something companies do.

Following are different types of diet preferences:

Fruitarian

Someone who eats 75% fruits is a fruitarian. They mostly eat fruits in their diet. Fruitarian doesn’t eat animal products or animals. They do intake nuts, and seeds though. (Many people when they are fasting, just eat fruits.)

So, every fruitarian is a vegetarian but not every vegetarian is a fruitarian.

Vegan

People who eat just plant-based items are known as vegans. These people don’t consume any dairy products including milk, curd, ice cream, honey, etc. They don’t eat any animals or animal-derived food items. Most vegans think that extracting milk and other dairy products from animals is unethical. It is a way of harassment towards animals who can’t speak. No animal proteins are taken by vegans such as gelatin, collagen, etc.

Apart from food habits, vegans also don’t use wool, silk, leather goods, beeswax and so on which involve animals. People who follow veganism are strict on their diet. They consume soya milk, almond milk, coconut milk, etc, which are diary alternatives. Moreover, they include tofu, nuts, and legumes in their diet.

Ellen DeGeneres, Mike Tyson, Ariana Grande, Benedict Cumberbatch,  Aamir Khan, and Virat Kohli, are some of the vegans.

Vegetarian or Lacto-vegetarian

A Vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat animal flesh in the form of meat or fish, however, they do intake dairy products. Most people are born vegetarian and they continue to be. Some people chose to be vegetarian for nature. They don’t eat dead animals but do eat products obtained from animals.

Some vegetarians may not use animal-derived items like silk or leather shoes.

Bhumi Pednekar, Harsha Bhogle, Viswanathan Anand, Ellen Page, Diane Keaton, and Paul McCartney, are some of the vegetarians.

Eggitarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian

Eggetarian is a diet that includes plant-based food in addition to eggs.  They don’t consume meat or seafood. So basically, Vegetarian plus eggs are equal to eggitarian.

This term isn’t recognized but is widely used informally. For someone who is vegetarian but also eats eggs (which are not generally eaten by vegetarians) this term was introduced.

Hence, every eggitarian is a vegetarian but not every vegetarian is an eggitarian. 

Ovo-vegetarian

A person who eats eggs but does not consume dairy products or meat. They can intake eggs in different formats like cookies (made with soya milk or almond milk), boiled, etc.

So, every Ovo-vegetarian is a vegetarian but not every vegetarian is an Ovo-vegetarian. 

Pescatarian

Pescatarian diet includes fish but excludes any animal flesh (pork or meat).  They also eat other seafood like shrimp. They follow a vegetarian diet with fish and seafood.

Hence, every pescatarian is a vegetarian but not every vegetarian is a pescatarian. 

Victoria Beckham, Kaley Cuoco, and Harry Styles are a few of pescatarians. 

Flexitarian or Semi-vegetarian

Someone who eats mostly vegetarian food but occasionally consumes non-vegetarian food is flexitarian. They eat meat, dairy products, seafood, fish, etc. It highly depends on person to person on how frequently they consume non-vegetarian foods. People can have meat once a day, once a week, or once a week.

So, every vegetarian is a flexitarian but not every flexitarian is a vegetarian. 

Some Facts About Vegetarian Food Diet

• Did you know that “18% of the greenhouse gas emissions are caused by Animal agriculture which is more than all vehicle emissions together!”

• Vegan diets reduce the chances of prostate cancer by up to 35%?

• Around 20% – 40% of the Indians are vegetarians according to wikipedia

• Earth’s land used for farming livestock is nearly 45% in some way or the other.

• If everyone was vegan, there would be a 70% reduction in food-related carbon dioxide emission.

• America makes up approximately 2.2% of the world’s total vegetarian population.

• The risk of death is lowered by 30% by eating plant-based food.

• As per American Diabetic Association, plant-based eating is not only nutritionally sufficient but also a healthy option. It is even good for diabetes people.

Reasons Why You Should Adopt Vegetarianism?

• No animals will be slaughtered

If you love animals, GIVE UP MEAT AND SEAFOOD. Today people have pets at their homes in the form of cats and dogs as they love animals. But that’s not true. They are no animal lovers. You aren’t an animal lover if you kill a chicken and eat it, but keep a dog as a pet at home. Give it a thought!

• Health benefits

Vegetarianism has many health benefits too. “When compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians usually eat more folic acid, fiber, magnesium, vitamins C and E, potassium, and phytochemicals (carotenoids and flavonoids) and less saturated fat.” Hence, vegetarians have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower body mass, and so on. Moreover, this makes them less vulnerable to diseases like diabetes.

• Good for the environment

You are vegetarian, you only eat plants and dairy products. So there are human beings and animals. Both need food and water to survive. In order to make chickens more healthy, we need to eat them well. But if human beings eat animals, more resources are wasted. For 1kg of chicken meat production, 3.2kg of crops are needed. This means that you eat 1kg of meat plus 3.2kg of crops. Isn’t it better to just eat 1kg of crops instead?

• Less expensive

Meat and fish are not so cheaper to eat. They come with a certain cost that is higher than plant-derived food items. The price of meat also includes its transportation cost. This way it becomes costly.

• Reduce cholesterol and fats

Animals contain fats and more cholesterol than any other food. So, if you eat animals, with proteins you get certain fats and cholesterol also. With vegetarianism, this is not the case.

Conclusion

For five seconds of pleasure of our mind and tongue, we take away the lives of innocent animals. For the sake of protein and nutritional benefits, we kill other species. Having vegan or vegetarian food is one of the best things as you don’t have to kill someone to satisfy your stomach. Think about it. When you can eat plants and plant-based foods, why hunt an animal and take its life?
I can’t force you to convert or change your food habits. I can suggest you. Yes, I am a vegetarian from birth and yet I choose to be the same. I love animals and most animals. I don’t want to hurt any species for food’s sake. Henceforth, viruses like Corona or Ebola originate from animals. You don’t know what chickens are fed and are of good quality or not.

ANIMALS TOO HAVE FEELINGS. THEY ARE KEPT IN CAGES AND SLAUGHTERED.