People are shifting to a plant-based diet because a lot of them are dying due to chronic nutritional-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Studies have revealed that animal products produced on a large scale contain antibiotics. This leads to the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the human body. Vegetarian diet concentrates on non-processed whole foods, which relates to better gut health.
People concerned about the environment also shift to eating vegetarian or vegan. For many people skipping meat is in support of their ethics. A few people find a vegetarian diet cost-effective or like the plant food taste. Nevertheless, research has even reported individual health benefits of nutritionally rich, well-planned vegetarian diets.
A healthy meal plan can include vegetarian and non-vegetarian products but, in this post, let’s understand the variations of a vegetarian diet plan.
Types of vegetarian diet styles
Lacto-vegetarian diet
Prefix Lacto means milk in Latin. It is a plant-based diet including dairy products like butter, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and ice cream. Every kind of animal-based product including eggs are eliminated. The choice of Lacto-Ovo vegetarian diet is generally due to cultural or religious reasons. It is common among people following Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet
It is believed to be a traditional vegetarian diet variation. In this kind, people don’t eat fish or meat, but include dairy products and eggs. Lacto is a Latin word for milk, and it even indicates dairy products. Ovo is a Latin word that denotes eggs. A Lacto-Ovo vegetarian diet plan includes milk, eggs, butter, cheese, sour cream, yogurt, and other dairy products. All the other products derived from animals like fish, beef, pork, and chicken are eliminated.
Ovo-vegetarian diet
In this variation, only eggs are incorporated into the diet and dairy products are excluded. Nevertheless, fish and meat are also excluded along with cheese, butter, milk, yogurt, ice cream, and paneer. Ovo-vegetarian diet plans include dishes made from eggs like muffins, bread, cakes, hard-boiled eggs, omelets, scrambled eggs, etc.
Flexitarian diet
It is a flexible diet in comparison to the vegetarian or vegan diet. Flexi highlights the plant-based food benefits as well as allows little animal products. The major portion of the diet is plant-based but a moderate amount of meat, eggs, or dairy products are also added. Technically, a flexitarian is not a vegetarian as they even eat meat sometimes.
Pescatarian diet
It is a plant-based diet including fish. Pesce means fish in Italian. People on a pescatarian diet consume fish-based food like sushi, salmon, halibut, or tuna. They avoid meat like pork, chicken, and beef. If the pescatarian diet includes eggs or dairy products is a personal choice. The diet offers lots of healthy Omega-3 fatty acid, which is not available from specific vegetarian diets.
Vegan diet
For vegans, ethics are more crucial. It excludes every product derived from animals, even milk and honey. The vegan diet includes vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, seeds, and nuts. Instead of animal-based products they use substitutes like tempeh, tofu, jackfruit, and seitan. Vegan diets carry insufficient nutrients, so healthcare providers recommend mineral and vitamin supplements.
