The five different categories of vegetarians based on their diet
What's the story
There have been situations when we were left confused by that vegetarian friend, who is on a diet but consumes dairy products aplenty.
There are also some vegetarians who eat fish(!) and eggs as well.
Now, there are five distinct categories within vegetarians themselves, including vegans, eggetarians, pescatarians, among others.
Read on to understand the different categories of vegetarians based on their food intake.
Vegan
Vegan diet is purely plant based and excludes animal products
A vegan diet is based on plant sources and includes fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, lentils, and legumes.
This diet is mostly followed due to an ethical concern of protecting animals.
Vegans exclude all kinds of animal meat and dairy products from their diet, including milk and cheese.
Veganism is a popular trend and healthy plant-based substitutes are available for most animal-based foods.
Lacto-vegetarians
Lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products, restricts animal meat consumption
The lacto-vegetarian diet is a plant-based diet that includes fruits, vegetables, lentils, legumes, grains, and dairy products.
All dairy products and by-products of cow's milk such as cheese, butter, yogurt, and ice cream can be included in this diet.
This diet, however, restricts the consumption of any kind of animal meat such as beef, pork, chicken, fish, quail, mutton, seafood, and also eggs.
Ovo-vegetarians
Ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs, excludes red meat, white meat, fish
An ovo-vegetarian diet restricts red meat, white meat, fish, and fowl but includes eggs.
This category of vegetarians consumes plant-based foods along with different kinds of dishes, which incorporate eggs. This also includes baked goodies that could contain eggs.
Ovo-vegetarians also remove foods made using cow's milk such as cheese, butter, ice cream, etc. from their diet.
Ovo-vegetarians are also known as eggetarians.
Lacto-ovo vegetarians
Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet includes dairy products and eggs
A lacto-ovo vegetarian diet is the most common form of vegetarianism, where a person restricts animal meat and seafood but consumes dairy products and eggs.
In this diet, a person excludes all kinds of meats such as chicken, beef, fish, quail, and pork but includes milk, cheese, eggs, butter, yogurt, cream, ice creams, and other such foods that are derived from dairy products.
Pescatarians
Pescatarian diet: Semi-vegetarian diet, includes fish and seafood
Pescatarian diet includes all plant-based products along with fish and seafood.
The diet excludes meat, poultry, and eggs and is considered a "semi-vegetarian" diet.
Pescatarians have the added benefit of getting healthy omega-3 fatty acids from seafood, which might otherwise be absent in a fully plant-based diet.
However, the addition of eggs and dairy products like milk and cheese varies from person to person.