There has always been confusion in determining the constitution of vegetarianism and also the difference between vegetarians and vegans. The simplest way of clearing this confusion is to classify these two with respect to what they eat and what they don’t.
Vegetarians:
Vegetarians can be classified into a lot of different types. Given below is a list of these types and their description:
Lacto vegetarian: Lacto vegetarians do not eat meat or eggs, but they don’t even consume dairy products.
Lacto-ova vegetarian: These kinds of vegetarians do not consume meat and eggs but they devour dairy products.
Ovo vegetarians: These people do not eat meat but they consume eggs.
Fruitarian: This group of people believes in consuming plant foods which do not cause any harm to the plant. Thus, they eat fruits like apples and cherries but do not consume products like potatoes and peanuts.
Raw Food Diet: This group eats food that is not cooked or heated beyond 46.7° F.
Macrobiotic diet: People choosing this sort of a diet mostly eat beans and grains.
Natural Hygiene: this is one of the most classical forms of diets which include eating mainly raw and vegan food products.
Pesco/pollo vegetarian: Such people try to avoid the consumption of some kinds of meat either due to ethical or health reasons.
Lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian: People belonging to this group of vegetarians eat fish, milk and eggs but avoid the consumption of any other kinds of animal products.
Flextarian: A flextarian is the most commonly found type of vegetarians. These people are primarily vegans but they indulge in eating meat on special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas etc.
Freeganism: In this group, people choose to not eat certain kinds of foods to prevent exploitation of animals, human beings and also to avoid pollution.
Vegan:
Vegans are those people who refuse to consume anything that can move on its own. There can be several reasons for the choice of this diet but some of the most common reasons are animal rights, environmental concern, health concerns and religious beliefs.
This is a guest post by Jessy Troy who shares vegetarian meals and vegetarial way of life at her two blogs.