Certainly, it takes some retraining to adopt a vegan diet. Some people start by keeping meat portions to three or four ounces and going meatless one day each week, as author Michael Pollan recommends. But once people get the hang of preparing tasty, plant-based meals, they realize the breadth of the culinary experience.
“The people who have been vegan for any length of time actually have a diet that’s substantially more diverse and interesting than the typical omnivore,” observes Erik Marcus, author of The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassion- ate Living Without Sacrifice. “You might think that your diet becomes more limited if you get rid of animal foods, but the opposite is actually true.”
Kristin Ohlson is a freelance writer in Cleveland, OH. Reach her at
KristinOhlson.com.
Defining Different Strokes
It’s common for people to become quasi-vegetarians on the way to a way of eating that’s even more health- and planet-friendly. Here’s a look at various dietary practices.
n Omnivore: eats both plant- and animal-based foods
n Flexitarian: inclined to mostly eat vegetarian, but sometimes adds in meat
n Vegetarian: eats no meat, including fish and shellfish, or any animal byproducts; also known as a lacto-ovo veg- etarian (eats dairy and eggs)
n Lacto-vegetarian: a vegetarian who eats dairy prod- ucts, but not eggs
n Ovo-vegetarian: a vegetarian who eats eggs, but not dairy products
n Pescetarian: a vegetarian who eats fish (may also avoid factory-farmed fish)
n Vegan: eats no meat, eggs or dairy, and no animal-de- rived ingredients, like gelatin, honey or whey; usually also excludes wearing and other uses of animal products, such as leather, wool, angora and cashmere
n Raw: consists of only unprocessed vegan foods that have not been heated above 115° Fahrenheit
n Macrobiotic: consumes unprocessed vegan foods and sometimes, fish; generally avoids refined oils, flours and sugars
n Fruitarian: eats only plant foods that can be harvested without harming the plant
Contributing sources: International Vegetarian Union;
Vegetarian.About.com;
VeggieVisitors.com
natural awakenings October 2010 49
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