The exclusion may also extend to products derived from animal carcasses, such as lard, tallow, gelatin, rennet and cochineal. This means that a vegetarian diet consists of vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and sometimes animal products such as eggs, milk, or cheese. Vegans, on the other hand, shun all animal products. A vegan is someone who lives solely on the products of the plant kingdom without the addition of eggs, dairy or animal products. It is up to the individual to choose what option is better for following its own personal beliefs!
Vegetarianism
History
Most people are not awere that vegetarianism has been common in the Indian subcontinent since the 2nd millennium BC. This was mostly for spiritual reasons. Vegetarians in Europe used to be called "Pythagoreans" after the philosopher Pythagoras, who with his followers abstained from meat in the 6th century BC. These people followed a vegetarian diet for nutritional and ethical reasons.
Vegetarian comes from the Latin “vegetus” which means "lively", and is suggestive of the English word "vegetable", as a person who refuses to consume flesh of any kind.
Incidence and trends
Indian vegetarians are estimated to make up more than 70% of the world's vegetarians. They make up 20 to 30% of the population in India, while occasional meat-eaters make up another 30%. In the Western world, the popularity of vegetarianism steadily grew over the 20th century as a result of nutritional, ethical, and more recently, environmental concerns. In a survey made in the U.S. in 2000, 2.5% of the 968 people who participated identified themselves as vegetarians. In 2003 the same source recorded 2.8%, indicating a modest growth of 4% per year over the 4 years. A 1994 and 1997 survey showed about 1%, again indicating that the general trend has been upwards.
Terminology and varieties of vegetarianism
There are several types of vegetarianism and the most common are:
Lacto vegetarianism — Lacto vegetarians do not eat meat or eggs but do consume dairy products.
Most vegetarians in India and those in the classical Mediterranean lands, such as Pythagoreans, are or were lacto vegetarian.
Lacto-ovo vegetarianism — Lacto-ovo vegetarians do not eat meat but do consume dairy products and eggs. This is currently the most common variety in the Western world because it isn't that much rigorous.
Ovo vegetarianism — Ovo vegetarians do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs.
Vegetarianism practices
Fruitarianism is a diet of only fruits, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant. A fruitarian will eat beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and the like, but will refuse to eat potatoes or spinach.
A raw food diet includes only food which was not heated above 46.7 °C, so it may be warmed slightly or raw, but never cooked and is usually vegan.
A macrobiotic diet is a diet consisting mostly of whole grains and beans and is usually spiritually based, like Fruitarianism.
Natural Hygiene, in its classic form, includes a diet of raw vegan foods.
Pesco/pollo vegetarianism - Some people choose to avoid certain types of meat because of health, ethical beliefs, etc.
Lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarianism — People that practice this form of vegetarianism don’t eat meat but do consume milk, eggs, and fish. This diet is popular in Japan.
Flexitarianism — People that follow this diet are telling that it is mostly vegetarian but occasionally consume meat.
Freeganism — These people practice a lifestyle based on concerns about the exploitation of animals, the earth, and human beings in the production of consumer goods. Freeganism is also concerned about the waste.
Motivation
Environmental reasons
This is a very popular approach to the vegetarianism. These so-called environmental vegetarians believe that the production of meat and animal products at present and likely future levels is environmentally unsustainable. The fact is that the process of industrialization has lead to intensive farming practices and diets high in animal protein, primarily in developed nations and mainly in the United States.
Physiological reasons
Some experts that studied this field are saying that humans are physiologically better suited for a vegetarian diet. For instance, life expectancy is considerably greater in parts of the world where a semi-vegetarian diet is common than in the parts where a meat diet is more common. The reasons are mainly associated with the differences between predators and plant-eating animals.
Psychological reasons
Many vegetarians choose to be what they are because they find meat and meat products aesthetically disgusting. Proponents believe that human beings are not instinctively attracted to eating live or dead meat in nature.
Reasons concerning food safety
People that are eating meat on a daily basis started to fear about different diseases and conditions that could be caused by various microorganisms found in different animal products. Some of those are: BSE in cows, avian flu in poultry, foot-and-mouth in sheep, salmonella in eggs and PCBs in farmed salmon.
Veganism
Definition
The right definition is definitely that vegans are people that follow the philosophy and lifestyle which seeks to exclude all forms of exploitation of animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. It also promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. People become vegans for a variety of reasons, including a concern for animal rights, health benefits, religious, political, ethical, and spiritual concerns, and out of concern for the environment.
Vegan nutrition
Although many people don’t believe that a person could live healthy without eating animal products, this isn't true. Nutrition experts say that a properly planned vegan diet presents no significant nutritional problems, although supplementation is highly recommended.
There are several nutrients vegans should pay attention to.
These include:
- Vitamin B12 - Vegans are recommended to eat foods with B12 added. Some of those foods are soy milk, fortified margarines, commercial breakfast cereals, certain brands of nutritional yeast, or dietary supplements. Inadequate absorption of the body's stores of vitamin B12 poses a health risk, so the vitamin must often be ingested through fortified products and nutritional yeast.
- Iron – Although it isn't still well studied, researches show that iron deficiency is more present in vegans than in the general population. It is important to note that iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies and that’s why many nutritionists and dieticians recommend a daily multivitamin intake.
- Iodine - The low iodine levels in many plant foods reflects the low iodine levels in the vegans. That’s why it must be replaced with dairy products and iodized salt.
- Deficiencies in these minerals are more likely to appear while following a vegan diet, and they have potentially serious consequences, including
- anemia
- pernicious anemia
- cretinism
- hyperthyroidism
Criticism and controversy: Vegetarianism or Veganism?
Most nutritionists recommend a vegetarian diet rather than the vegan diet.
Why is it so? This is because vegetarians still have a small intake of the most valuable nutrition substances that can only be found in animal food. The American Dietetic Association supports a well-planned vegan diet in all stages of life, but few nutritionists have expressed concerns about the potential dangers of the vegan diet. Vegans should be particularly concerned with an adequate intake of B-12 Vitamin. Vitamin B12, a bacterial product, cannot be reliably found in plant foods. They should also be worried about other minerals such as Iron, Calcium, iodine etc.
Pregnancy issue - It is proven that vegan mothers who do not obtain adequate vitamin B12 in their diet while breastfeeding can cause severe and permanent neurological damage to their infants.
Weight control issue: Several researches have proven that Vegetarians are at greater risk than others for involvement in unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors.
Veganism requires a level of attention to the details of pre-manufactured packaged goods which many people view as impractical which can also be a great problem, especially for the kids and for the beginners. It is well known that many vegans question whether it is ethical to make use of products which result in the death of animals. They are even speaking against vegetarians because they use some of the animal products and consider them the “same as others”.
Organizations such as the Foundation for Animal Use Education dispute that a non-vegan diet also includes exploitation of or cruelty to animals, and support the concept of animal welfare while promoting the use of animals in food. Although some researches indicates that the adoption of a vegetarian diet does not lead to eating disorders, vegetarian diets may be selected to camouflage an existing eating disorder.