While there is no single form of vegetarianism, what all forms have in common is a lifestyle that abstains from meat, fish, and poultry. One of the more moderate lacto-ovo-vegetarians consumes dairy and egg foods and products. At the other extreme are vegans who do not eat or use any animal by-products, (ie meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, honey, leather products … etc). In between these two extremes are ovo-vegetarians, who eat eggs but not dairy, and lacto-vegetarians, who eat dairy but not eggs.
The reasons why people become vegetarian are many. It could be for religious / spiritual reasons, like I do with Buddhism, or for political, health, ethical, environmental, practical, or aesthetic reasons. Here is a brief summary.
- Religious – Most Eastern religions (eg Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism) prescribe a vegetarian diet. While Western religions (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam) do not advocate a vegetarian diet, certain lines of Scripture or the morals behind sacred stories or prophecies can be interpreted as good cause to practice the vegetarianism.
- Ethical – A person can abstain from eating meat because he feels that it is abhorrent to take the life of any living being.
- Political – One can abstain from eating meat for reasons of fight against globalization, food corporations, agribusiness, trade that revolves around livestock and meat.
- Environmental – Since livestock need large grasslands, a large amount of land would have to be cleared increasing the carbon footprint. In addition, there is always the risk of overgrazing on a particular plot of land and the methane released by cows, which has environmental repercussions.
- Practical – Some people simply do not have the access or the resources to buy and eat meat.
- Aesthetic – Some people just don’t like the taste of meat, the way it looks, or the fact that they are eating something dead.
But the best and perhaps the most widespread reason people go vegetarian is the health benefits. Vegetarian diets have been proven time and again to be healthier and more viable than non-vegetarian diets. A vegetarian is less likely to have a high BMI, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure levels, and a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, kidney failure, bone loss, and dementia. The reason for the health benefits of vegetarianism is due to the omission of meats, especially non-lean red meats, which are high in saturated fat and carry risks of animal-human disease transmission, as well as foodborne pathogens due to poor preparation.
