Vegetarians Can Choose From Different Diet Types

I attended a retirement party for a friend recently. As a vegetarian, I was forewarned that someone had volunteered to provide a roasted pig apple in mouth for the picnic.

I could cope. I found a spot away from the carcass and had a seat. A woman who overheard me say I was a vegetarian leaned over to let me know I had an ally in the crowd.

“I’m a vegetarian too,” she said. I smiled. Then she let me have it: “Oh, I do eat a little fish or chicken once in a while.”

Huh? In my book, this was no vegetarian.

To my right sat another woman, a devout meat eater, her back to the pig. She was munching salad and chips. “I know I’m a hypocrite,” she said. “If that meat was packaged in nice slices in the grocery store, I’d eat it in a minute.”

But that day, even she was a vegetarian.

Just what is a vegetarian? Sometimes the term is used pretty loosely. A true vegetarian is someone who eats no meat of any kind - no beef, pork, poultry or fish.

There are several levels of vegetarianism. Lacto-ovo vegetarians include eggs and dairy products in their diet; lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products but no eggs, while ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but no dairy.

The vegan (pronounced VEE-gun) diet omits all animal products, including meat, eggs, dairy products and honey. The American Vegan Society says the word vegan describes not just a diet but a whole lifestyle that avoids all forms of animal exploitation.

The semi-vegetarian may be the category that my ally at the party fits into. It could mean someone who doesn’t eat beef, but likes chicken (a pollo-vegetarian) or fish (a pesco-vegetarian). Or it could mean someone who lays off meat all year but can’t resist mom’s Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing.

Macrobiotics is a Japanese-oriented diet that includes grains, fresh vegetables, sea vegetables, beans and possibly seafood, but shuns dairy and red meat. It is based on specific principles rather than specific foods. Those who follow this diet are concerned not only with food quality, but also with how it is prepared and portioned (the balance of yin and yang).

Fruititarians eat only fruit, which includes squash, seeds and nuts, as well as oranges, apples and other fruits.

Ovo-lacto is the most common vegetarian diet, a middle-of-the-road approach that offers greater flexibility. The further we go from the conventional American diet, the more limited our choices become and the harder we have to work at it. If you put too many restrictions on yourself, you are more likely to fail.

At first new vegetarians may feel more comfortable eating yogurt and cottage cheese than less familiar foods like tempeh and tofu. Over time and with a little experimentation, you might come to enjoy those protein-packed soy foods and discontinue dairy and eggs as well.

My ovo-lacto diet might not look exactly like the diet of a fellow lacto-ovo. I do eat eggs, but rarely, and only if they are cleverly disguised - in a cake batter, for instance. Another lacto-ovo vegetarian might start each day with an omelet.

For me, the hassle of trying to determine if the cake my nice neighbor brought over for my family to enjoy had an egg in it was just too much for me. When I began this diet several years ago, I knew that I might have to make a few compromises to make it work.

There are those that would argue that the ovo-lacto diet is not truly a vegetarian diet because dairy and eggs are animal products. Some vegetarians don’t wear leather products or don’t eat cheese because it is made with rennet, which is taken from the lining of a calf’s stomach. These folks make valid arguments about animal exploitation.

Remember that everyone approaches a vegetarian lifestyle a little differently. Do what feels right for you.