Veggie Tales (part 1): What the heck IS a vegetarian???

BF Basics: Veggie Tales was composed by four-year post-op and 25-year vegetarian, Kelly, better known as Poet Kelly on Obesity Help. This series is written in her voice with the full endorsement of Bariatric Foodie. If you have any questions for Kelly about any of the information provided, please leave them in the comments and she'll gladly respond.

You probably know that vegetarians don’t eat meat.  You might not know that there are different types of vegetarians, though.

• Ovo-lacto vegetarians eat eggs and dairy products, but no beef, chicken, fish or other meats.
• Lacto vegetarians eat dairy products but no eggs, beef, chicken, fish or other meats.
• Vegans eat no animal products at all, including no eggs, dairy products or honey.  Vegans, and sometimes other vegetarians, try not to use animal products for things other than food, too.  For instance, they don’t wear leather shoes or belts and don’t wear fur coats.  They might try to avoid using cosmetics and other products that have been tested on animals, too.
• Pescatarians aren’t really vegetarians, in my opinion, but some consider themselves vegetarians so I won’t quibble over semantics here.  They eat fish but no other animals.  They usually also eat eggs and dairy products.

There are a variety of reasons vegetarians might choose a meatless diet:

• They believe it’s healthier than eating meat.
• They believe it’s wrong to kill animals.
• They don’t agree with the way animals raised for food are treated (including the way laying hens and dairy cows are treated).
• They are concerned about the environment (raising meat for food is much harder on the environment/creates much more pollution than raising plants for food).
• They are concerned about world hunger (the amount of grain raised to feed one meat eater would feed 14 vegetarians).
• Some practice religions that encourage a vegetarian diet (like Seventh Day Adventists, Hindus, Buddhists and many pagans).
• They just don’t like meat.
• A few people become vegetarian after weight loss surgery because they find they no longer tolerate meat well.

Not all vegetarians believe all of these things.  That is one reason some are stricter about their diet than others and some eat no animal products at all while others eat eggs or dairy products.

Aren’t vegetarians skinny?

A lot of people expect vegetarians to all be skinny and healthy.  After all, vegetables aren’t fattening, right?  But vegetarians don’t just eat vegetables.  Trust me, if you eat no meat but eat lots of pasta, bread, cheese pizza, potato chips and ice cream (you can get rice milk ice cream if you are a vegan), you’re not going to be skinny!  Know how I know?  Yeah, I learned that the hard way.

Vegetarians aren’t all the same.

Maybe this is the most important thing I can say about vegetarians.  They are not all the same.  Some are skinny, some aren’t.  Some eat a very healthful diet, some eat lots of junk food.  They choose not to eat meat for different reasons.  Some are really strict about not eating meat and some are more laid back about it.  Some are very into health and fitness, some are couch potatoes.  Some are very involved in the animal rights movement, some aren’t.

In summary, what you need to know is:

• Overall, the term “vegetarian” refers to a person who chooses not to include meat in their diet
• Some vegetarians eat no animal product at all while some at eggs and/or dairy products.
• There are lots of different reasons for becoming a vegetarian.
• A vegetarian diet is not automatically a healthy diet.

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