VEGETARIAN DIET – WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE?

What are the main drivers?

Have you ever thought of adding more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds to your meals? What will be the main drivers for you to consume more of these foods? How about asking the same question to people around you who are already adopting a vegetarian diet? 

Reasons are varied, here, we broadly list out few thinking points for you:

1. Religious dietary requirements
2. Health reasons and/or conscious
3. Environmental concerns, i.e. climate change, global warming, pollution, deforestation, etc.
4. Animal welfare
5. Losing weight
6. Food intolerances or food sensitivity 
7. Trending

No doubt reasons for practising a vegetarian diet can be varied, depending on the choice of an individual. But, it is an undeniable fact that fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are essential elements in order to keep our heart healthy. They should always be part of our diets regardless of the reasons. 

How many vegetarian diets do you know? 

What is your first thought when you think about a vegetarian diet? Like many others, we think about a vegetarian diet is a diet excludes meat. And, probably to certain extent no eggs and no dairy products including foods that contain these products! Does such thinking scare you away? 

 

BUT, when we discover there are four broad types of vegetarian diet. Each of them include and exclude certain foods.

• Vegan. People who only eat plant-based foods and avoid meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products including foods that contain these products.
• Ovo-Vegetarian. People who eat plant-based foods including eggs. But, their diets still exclude meat, poultry, seafood and dairy products. 
• Lacto-Vegetarian. People who eat plant-based foods as well as consume dairy products, such as cheese, milk, butter and yogurt. However, they avoid meat, fish, poultry and eggs, as well as foods that contain them.  
• Lacto-ovo Vegetarian. People who eat plant-based foods as well as eggs and dairy products. Their diets exclude meat, fish and poultry. 

Obviously, they share one thing in common - they avoid meat, poultry and seafood. Nevertheless, you will also see eggs and dairy products have their rooms in vegetarian diet too! We also come across another two less stringent vegetarian diets, namely Pescatarian and Flexitarian or Semi-vegetarian. 

Pescatarian diet is very closed to vegetarian diet of which is a plant-based food oriented and exclude meat and poultry. However, Pescatarian diet includes fish and other seafood as well as dairy products and eggs. Meanwhile, Flexitarian diet encourages plant-based food while allowing meat and seafood in small quantities. They seem "friendlier" to you? Because, you can still at least enjoy certain animal products, fish and seafood. So, now will you rethink a vegetarian diet?

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Disclaimer: Healthy Heart 231 information aims to help readers understand heart health, and encourage them adopting a whole food plant-based diet. It does not replace care provided by medical practitioners and other qualified health professionals.