vegetarianism

To most people vegetarianism means the refraining of meat, primarily red meat, from personal consumption. Although the traditional vegetarian abstinence of red meat has grown into a group of varied lifestyles, little is known about them. To some people vegetarians are considered to be a drop out of the hippy era, or are labelled as "weird" or "feral". Because of the misinterpretations surrounding vegetarianism in society I am going to outline the various diets which are recognized as vegetarianism. I hope by writing this I can change some attitudes and misunderstandings, of the motivations behind the vegetarian lifestyles.

Plain vegetarianism; the first and most recognized is the general abstinence of red meat, some vegetarians see the consumption of white meats as acceptable, white meat includes fish, poultry and maybe even pork. They also consume dairy produce, eggs and any other form of animal produce used in their everyday lives. Vegetarians replace the red meat in their diets with vegetables, fruit and other vegetarian alternatives, these are usually processed foods made from either soya or gluten, there are also vegetarian burgers, which are made from formed vegetables.

One of the variations of the red meat vegetarian, which closely follows the above description, is the ovo-lacto vegetarianism diet, which finds diary produce and eggs acceptable but no meat at all. Not even white meat, some ovo-lacto vegetarians consider fish to be acceptable, this is because categorically speaking fish is not considered meat, it is still flesh, and in my opinion constitutes as meat. Another recognized version of vegetarianism is the lacto vegetarian kind. These vegetarians consider meat; red and white, to be unacceptable, they also abstain from eggs. Dairy products are also a part of the lacto vegetarian lifestyle, the lack of animal eggs in the diet of these vegetarians is made up in the form of egg replaces and even meat alternatives like tofu can be used to simulate some egg dishes.

Another path taken by vegetarians is the, pure vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Which includes the abstinence of meat of all kinds, dairy produce, eggs, and all edible animal produce. To some vegans the diet exceeds the boundaries of food and takes on a full-scale animal product boycott. This comes in the abstinence of leather, fur, wool, silk and any other animal p...

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...getables such as kale are as good or better then milk as calcium sources.

· Fat content - Other then skim varieties, dairy products are high in fat, as a percentage of total calories:

Whole milk - 49% fat

Cheddar cheese - 74% fat

Butter - 100% fat

· Contaminants - Milk is frequently contaminated with antibiotics and excess vitamin D. Of 42 milk samples recently tested, only 12 percent were within the expected rand of vitamin D content. Of ten samples of infant formula, seven had more then twice the vitamin D content then reported on the label, and one had more than four times the label amount.

· Lactose - Many people of Asian and African heritage are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which then causes diarrhea and gas. The Lactose sugar, when it is digested, releases galactose, a simple sugar which is linked to ovarian cancer and cataracts.

· Allergies - Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergy. Often the symptoms are subtle and may not be attributed to milk for some time.

· Colic - Milk proteins can cause colic, a digestive upset that bothers one in five infants. Milk-drinking mothers can also pass cow's milk proteins to their breast-feeding infants.