Vegetarianism

Some foods from a vegetarian diet.

Vegetarianism is the diet whose principle is to stop consuming any type of meat. Often, the vegetarian diet is not just about nutrition, as it is likely to also embrace an attitude and lifestyle that rejects other forms of using animals for consumer goods or for human amusement.

Within the vegetarian practice there are different types and degrees. Those who do not admit any intake of products derived from animals (such as eggs, dairy products or honey from bees) are called vegans, strict vegetarians or pure vegetarians. Those who do consume milk are known as lacto-vegetarians, those who consume eggs are called ovo-vegetarians, if they consume both products, lacto-ovo vegetarians, who neither eat anything animal nor use products from or tested on them, are called vegans. Finally, those who only eat fruit practice frugivory. In the vegetarian diet, the cooking of food and the consumption of refined products (the most common are sugar and flour) are accepted, in addition to white pasta, fried foods and canned foods or to which dyes or preservatives have been added. This differentiates it from other types of diets, such as macrobiotic and naturopathic.

Properly planned vegetarian diets are healthy and nutritionally adequate. Various population studies suggest that these diets are related to a lower incidence of obesity, coronary heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, which seems to be attributable not only to the diet but also the lifestyle of vegetarians. However, deficiency of certain nutrients in these diets, especially vitamin B12, can negate these health benefits. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause neurological disorders, vascular disorders and an increased risk of developing diseases related to atherosclerosis, among others. The only way to avoid this deficiency in people who follow vegetarian diets is by taking regular supplements or foods fortified with this vitamin. In the In the case of infants and children, given the nutritional limitations of these diets, the energy intake and certain nutrients (calcium and vitamins D and B₁₂). A meta-analysis by Bella et al. in 2016 pointed out that the complete elimination of animal proteins does not show any effect on the reduction of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. Issuer United Nations organization

Motivations

The reasons that vegetarians give to justify their diet vary. Some refrain from eating meat for health considerations. Others do it out of concern for the environment. There are also those who oppose the consumption of animal products for ethical reasons, as well as those who do so on the basis of religious reasons (for example, Hindus or Buddhists).

Ethics

The ethically motivated vegetarian diet is related to the defense of animal rights. People who put aside speciesism are called anti-speciesists, and if they do not use animals in their daily lives, directly or indirectly, they are called vegans. This type of vegetarian considers the death of the animal reprehensible, and above all its mistreatment and exploitation or speculation as a good, with the sole purpose of producing products for human consumption.

In this way, vegetarians consider that the consumption of meat is the product of a voluntary choice and therefore it can be rejected and still have a healthy diet.

In addition, they consider that the food dedicated to fattening animals destined for food could be enough to feed all the people in the world. According to the American magazine PETA, in the US, 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown are used for livestock feed.

In this sense, the vegetarian diet cannot be seen only in terms of nutrition, but also shapes an attitude and lifestyle, since a vegetarian is likely to reject other ways of using animals to produce consumer goods or for human amusement just as you may tend to support your diet for ecological and naturalistic reasons. The strictest Hindus and Buddhists, not to mention the strict Jains, disapprove of the consumption of animals, partly because they follow the wise norm of ahimsa (non-violence) since, like the Christianity advocated by Francisco de Thus all beings are brothers and must be supportive; However, despite this, when extreme situations (for example, famine among humans) some Hindus and Buddhists accept the consumption of fish as long as these fish by nature do not raise their offspring, as is Indra Devi has expressed it in the 1980s in Argentina, an explanation that goes to the whole world.

Health

The position of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Canadian Dietitians Association, published in 2003, maintains that properly planned vegetarian diets are healthy, nutritionally adequate, are associated with lower rates of type diabetes 2 and help lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Although vegetarian diets have been attributed the ability to prevent cardiovascular disease, studies have used very low-fat diets accompanied by healthy lifestyle changes, which are confounding factors that prevent drawing conclusions On the contrary, some characteristics of vegetarian diets, such as the low intake of vitamin B₁₂ and omega 3 fatty acids, and the high ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids, may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Vegetarian diets do not protect against the development of osteoporosis.

A 2016 meta-analysis concludes that complete elimination of animal protein has no beneficial effect on health. On the contrary, vegetarian diets that allow the consumption of fish or those that reduce, but do not exclude, meat and fish, are associated with a lower risk of developing colon cancer. Vegetarian diets do not protect against breast cancer, colon cancer, or prostate cancer.

Vegan, lactovegetarian, and lacto-ovovegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation; Properly planned diets meet the nutritional needs of infants, children and adolescents, and promote normal growth. In the case of infants and children, given the nutritional limitations of these diets, the intake of energy and certain nutrients should be monitored (calcium and vitamins D and B₁₂). Some evidence shows that children on vegan diets are generally smaller, although they may be within normal limits.

There is currently controversy surrounding docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) acids, two of the components of omega-3 fatty acids. These components exist in fish and meat, but are not found in products of plant origin, except in certain algae, and inca inchi or sacha inchi oil (Plukenetia volubilis L.), from the Amazon.

The body is capable of synthesizing DHA through the conversion of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), another omega-3 fatty acid that is easier to obtain in a vegetarian diet, since it is found in various foods (such as olive oil, flax and walnuts). The recommended daily amount of DHA is 220 mg, a level that is not reached in most countries, even by non-vegetarians.^{[citation needed]}

As a solution to achieve recommended levels of DHA within the framework of a vegetarian diet, two possibilities have been recommended:

• Take enough food containing ALA, while maximizing ALA conversion in DHA. This is achieved through a nutritionally adequate diet, low levels of trans fatty acids and low levels of omega-6 acids.
• Consume DHA supplements made with algae.

A low level of DHA is associated with subclinical deficiency, which can lead to cardiovascular disease, inflammatory disorders, mental and psychiatric illnesses, and suboptimal neurodevelopment. In contrast, a DHA supplement, studied in randomized controlled trials, shows improvement in neonatal neurodevelopment, cardiovascular health, and lower end-of-life blood pressure.^{[citation needed]}

A common misconception is that meat can easily be replaced by eggs and dairy products. Vitamin B12, one of the essential vitamins for humans, is only found in sufficient quantities in meat, mainly in ruminant meat. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause neurological disorders, early vascular disorders, and an increased risk of developing diseases related to atherosclerosis, among others. The only way to avoid this deficiency is in people who follow vegetarian diets it is by taking regular supplements or foods fortified with this vitamin.

Vitamin B12 comes from the soils where it is grown and on which animals graze. At present, many soils have been overexploited and most of the cattle consume another type of processed food, so vitamin B12 is no longer found naturally in the soil. As a consequence, it is supplied to cattle, in this way it reaches the human being and that is the reason why vegetarians should supplement it.

Ecological

Some people are vegetarians for ecological reasons and are concerned about the current state of the world's environment. On the one hand, this type of vegetarian considers that, since natural resources are limited, it saves if the human being feeds directly on vegetables, instead of using them as food for animals. On the other hand, these vegetarians point to extensive and intensive forms of livestock farming among the main causes of land degradation. According to recent studies, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gases than the transport industry, and therefore would be one of the main drivers of global climate change. Likewise, it is one of the main causes of deforestation (like that of South America) and of soil and water degradation.

The livestock sector generates more greenhouse gases – 18 percent, measured in its carbon dioxide equivalent (CO)₂- that the transport sector. It is also one of the main causes of land degradation and water resources.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

According to the US magazine PETA, a UN report would state that the meat industry would generate 40% more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world together.

In October 2009, Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Report on the economics of climate change, stated in an exclusive interview with the British newspaper The Times that the only way to save the world is for the entire planet to become vegetarian.

A 2017 study found that vegetarian and vegan diets have on average a lower environmental impact than omnivorous diets.

Religious

Some religious denominations, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, or the Seventh-day Adventist Church, promote vegetarianism as a lifestyle.

The largest concentration of vegetarians is in India, where approximately 80% of the population is Hindu. There, the cow is considered a sacred animal and worthy of veneration, for which reason it cannot be sacrificed for food. Hindu texts condemn the slaughter of other animals and the consumption of their meat.

In Buddhism, some of the texts where the recommendation to follow a vegetarian diet is best illustrated is in the jataka. Killing a non-human animal is the same as killing a human being, since we have all been other types of animals in previous lives. ^{[citation required]}

Jainism establishes a much stricter type of vegetarianism than that of other religions.

For its part, the so-called Seventh-day Adventist Church maintains a tendency towards vegetarianism. In contrast, Christianity (like Catholicism and Protestantism) understand that animals were created to be used by humans.

On the other hand, at the end of the 18th century some groups of Christians did not eat meat because they thought that Jesus Christ had the final mission of ending the killing of non-human animals,^{[citation required]} and currently some Christian movements take vegetarianism and respect for animals as part of their doctrine. Likewise, some quotes from the Bible can be interpreted with a vegetarian trend. For example, the book of the prophet Isaiah shows a future in which animals live in harmony with people, similar to what was proposed in Genesis:

⁶The wolf and the lamb shall be neighbors, and the leopard shall be driven with the goat, the bullock and the cub shall feed together, and a young child shall lead them. ⁷ The cow and the bear shall feed, together shall their young, the lion, like the oxen, eat straw. ⁸He will smote the breast child in the hole of the plough, and in the hura of the snake the newly weaned will put his hand. ⁹No one will hurt, no one will do evil in all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9

In the New Testament it is recommended not to eat meat "if it bothers your brother":

Well, it's not eating meat. No wine. Nothin' that your brother stumbles or offends or weakens,

Epistle to the Romans 14:21

However, in the Bible there are many verses that encourage the consumption of meat:

After the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread, and you will know that I am Yahweh your God.

Exodus 16:12

And the flesh of the sacrifice of peace in thanksgiving shall be eaten in the day that it shall be offered; they shall leave nothing for another day.

Leviticus 7:15-16

The Encratites, also called Tatians, formed a sect that rejected the consumption of meat.

The Catholic Church prohibits the consumption of meat (red and white) on Ash Wednesday, Fridays of Lent and Good Friday. On these days, only vegetables (fruits and vegetables) are allowed to be consumed, although aquatic animals (fish and shellfish) and other products of animal origin, such as eggs, milk and honey, can also be consumed.

Variants

Within the vegetarian practice there are different types and degrees. Those who do not admit any intake of products derived from animals (such as eggs, dairy products or honey from bees) are called vegans, strict vegetarians or pure vegetarians. Those who do consume milk are known as lacto-vegetarians, those who consume eggs are called ovo-vegetarians, if they consume both products, lacto-ovo vegetarians, who neither eat anything animal nor use products from or tested on them, are called vegans. Finally, those who only eat fruit practice frugivory.

In the vegetarian diet, the cooking of food and the consumption of refined products (the most common are sugar and flour) are accepted, as well as white pasta, fried foods and canned foods or to which they have been added dyes or preservatives. This differentiates it from other types of diets, such as macrobiotic and naturopathic.

The following table summarizes the main variants of vegetarianism:

Ovolactovegetarianism

This section is an extract of Ovolactovegetarianism.[chuckles]edit]

Ovolactovegetarian buffet.

Ovolactovegetarianism is a diet that excludes meat and fish. But unlike more restrictive diets such as veganism, it includes eggs and dairy products — that is, milk and its derivatives, such as cheese and butter — and vegetable foods such as cereals, legumes, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Ovolactovegetarianism is the most common variation of vegetarianism in the West, so that most people who claim to be vegetarian refer to being ovolactovegetarian.

Lactovegetarianism

This section is an extract from Lactovegetarianism.[chuckles]edit]

Lactovegetarian food.

Lactovegetarianism is a vegetarian diet that, in addition to excluding meat and fish, excludes eggs, but unlike more restrictive diets such as veganism, includes dairy products — that is milk and its derivatives, such as cheese and butter — in addition to vegetable foods such as cereals, legumes, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, etc.

The majority of Indian vegetarians and those from the Mediterranean (such as Pythagoreans) are in fact lactovegetarians being these first vegetarians to appear and create this diet from which other vegetarian diets derive. This diet is popular among many followers of religious traditions, such as Jainists, Hindus and Buddhists. It has also been popularized internationally since the 1960s by the International Association for Krishna Consciousness. According to certain sources, the largest proportion of lactovegetarians is in India and in the eastern Mediterranean area.

Many cheeses are not for vegetarians, as they are cured with animal stomachs. Lactovegetarianism is perfectly practiced by European peoples or the Mediterranean basin and some of Central Asia but genetically indo-American and melano-African peoples are often allergic to dairy products.

Ovovegetarianism

Veganism

This section is an excerpt from Veganism.[chuckles]edit]

Symbol widely used to denote a vegan product.

The veganism of English veganism,is the attitude of rejecting the use of products of animal origin, in conjunction with a doctrine or philosophy that refuses to conceive animals as commodities, whether for clothing, medicines, cosmetics, transport, experimentation, help in work or entertainment. Veganism is defined as a lifestyle, as an ethical positioning and as an ideology. Those who practice veganism are called vegans.

The foundations of veganism include moral, environmental, health and humanitarian arguments. The main products and services excluded in veganism are: meat, fish, eggs, milk and derivatives (such as cheese or yogurt), honey, leather, wool, skins and cosmetics tested in animals; and the use of animals in zoos, aquariums, circuses or as shooting animals is rejected.

The elimination of the diet of all animal products may cause certain nutritional deficiencies, some serious, which should be prevented by regular taking of fortified foods or dietary supplements. Nutritional education, personalized evaluation and time-based follow-up by nutrition professionals are essential. Some of the nutrition associations consider that vegan diets — well planned — are appropriate for all stages of life, but others do not recommend them in infants, children, adolescents, the elderly, pregnant women or mothers during breastfeeding.

Fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, grains and mushrooms are the basic elements of vegan food.

The history of veganism is mixed with that of vegetarianism. Since Antiquity there have been people who have renounced the consumption of animal products, but the term "veganism" is modern: it was coined in 1944 by Donald Watson with the aim of differentiate it from vegetarianism, which rejects the consumption of meat but accepts the consumption of other products of animal origin, such as milk, dairy derivatives and eggs. At present, veganism is a minority and even marginal lifestyle, but of rapid growth.

Other variants

• Crude: are those who follow a vegetarian diet in which raw or slightly warm products are consumed, which have not been heated above 46.7 °C (116 °F), and never cooked. Consumers of raw products argue that cooking destroys the enzymes and portions of the nutrients, although some believe that the body best assimilates certain foods if they are slightly warm and therefore softer. Others activate food enzymes by mopping them in water before consuming them. Some are fruity, and others eat only organic foods.
• Crudiveganism: it is the practice of food that is simultaneously “cruda” and “vegana”.
• Macrobiotic food: It is not in itself a vegetarian regime, because it consists of understanding the specificities of each food—according to the yin and yang—to obtain the freedom to use them according to personal objectives and needs. Therefore, deciding whether to take animal products or not, what type, what amount, etc., will depend on the result you want to get. It is based on the philosophical discipline called macrobiotics.
• Granivorism: advocate the consumption of grain foods. Granivorians, like planters, remove meat and animal products from their food.
• Lactocerelians: This trend can usually be done within specific practices. For example, a regime practiced by Yogis in India, which has not been imposed in the practice of yoga in the West, proposes food based primarily on the use of dairy products and cereals. Its goal is to achieve health, well-being and purity, but also the harmonization between body and spirit.
• Frugivorismo or frutivorismoThis theory is based on the ideas of Arthur Merrheim, who intends to return to what he considers the only natural food; for according to him, the prehistoric man was vegetarian. Some fruit trees only consume parts of the plant that find falls of this, that is, eat grains, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, but do not consume potatoes or spinach.
• Esteinerians: they are also called biodynamics, by biodynamics, pseudoscience elaborated by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, who deals not only with the quality and quantity of the agricultural product, but above all to regenerate the soil impoverished by continuous crops, which causes the nutrients of the foods we consume to be increasingly poor.
• Eubiotic: eubitic supposes that the natural digestive mechanisms of the organism can be helped by the "correct" combination of food and avoiding in a particular way associating protein foods with carbohydrates.
• Semivegetarianism: practice that consists of eating as much meat as possible.
• Flexitarianism or flexible vegetarianism: refers to the one that follows a vegetarian or vegan diet and consumes much less meat than the general average (medical, social, etc.).
• Pescetarianism: person who does not eat meat, milk or egg from terrestrial animals, but fish and other marine animals.
• No carnivore: person who does not eat meat. They do not consider fish or seafood as meats, nor animal fats or oils, excipients or colorants of animal origin, bone flours, etc.
• Crudivegetarianism: It is the individual who feeds basically of vegetables, pastures or oleaginous rawly. This style of vegetarianism does not allow concentrated starch to be consumed, such as nuts or even potatoes, as well as to eat them at a temperature less than they would be heated in an ambient state.
• Appivegetarianism It excludes meat, fish and other animal-derived foods such as dairy and eggs, being the only animal product that consumes apculture derivatives, such as honey or royal jelly.
• Bivalvovegetarianism excludes the consumption of any animal food, except for bivalves such as oysters, clams, mussels among others. arguing that due to the simpleness of the nervous system of these animals, they would not be able to feel pain or suffering and therefore there would be no ethical problem in consuming them. At times, bivalvovegetarians also consume dairy and eggs, being one of the names they receive from bivalvoovolacteovegetarians, although the term is not widely used or within vegetarianism.

Gastronomy

This section is an extract from Vegetarian Gastronomy.[chuckles]edit]

Several vegetarian ingredients.

Vegetarian cuisine is the one that uses ingredients that meet vegetarian criteria, excluding meat. For ovolactovegetarianism (the most common type of vegetarianism in the West) eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese are allowed. The strictest forms of vegetarianism are veganism and frugivorism, which exclude all animal products, including dairy products and honey, and even some refined sugars that are filtered and bleached with bone coal.

Vegetarian foods can be classified into several types:

• The traditional, which have always been vegetarian: cereals, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.
• Soy products, including tofu and tempeh, which are common sources of protein
• Textured vegetable protein, made of degraded vegetable flour, often included in chili recipe and burger instead of chopped meat
• Meat substitutes, which imitate the flavor, texture and appearance of meat and are often used in recipes that traditionally contain meat
• Egg and dairy substitutes, used to make creams, smoothies and tortillas

History

This section is an excerpt from History of Vegetarianism.[chuckles]edit]

Parsuá founded jain vegetarianism in the 8th century BC, the strictest and most comprehensive form of vegetarianism.

The history of vegetarianism and its variants (veganism, semivegetarianism, etc.), as a concept and practice among a significant number of people, begins in ancient India, especially among the Jains and in particular in the north and west. Time later appears in ancient Greek civilizations in southern Italy and Greece. In both cases, the diet was closely related to the idea of non-violence towards animals (called ahimsa in India) and was promoted by religious and philosophical groups.

After the Christianization of the Roman Empire in late antiquity (IV-VIs), vegetarianism almost disappeared from Europe. Several orders of monks in medieval Europe restricted or banned meat for ascetic reasons, but none of them abstained from fish consumption, so these monks were not vegetarians, but pescetarians. Vegetarianism rose in Europe during the Renaissance and became a more widespread practice during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1847 the first vegetarian society was born in the United Kingdom, and others would soon be born in Germany, the Netherlands and other countries. In 1906 the International Vegetarian Union emerged as a union of all national societies. At present, the percentage of vegetarians in the West varies between 0.5% and 4%, according to the region and the source.

Demographics

Globally, the VRG (Vegetarian Resource Group) conducted a survey in 2006 that estimated that 6.7% of the world's population is vegetarian. In 2010, Leahy, Lyons, and Tol estimated that there were 75 million at-will vegetarians (1%), and 1,450 million who were due to lack of resources.

• India - It is the country with the largest vegetarian population, between 30% and 40% of the population. By sex, most vegetarians are women, 68 percent compared to 32% men.
• United Kingdom - It is one of the western countries with the largest number of vegetarians, it is estimated that 7 % of the population is (four million people) It would be surpassed by Germany, where, according to Eurostat data, in 2003 between 8 % and 9 % of the population was vegetarian; in Spain it was 0.5 % (about 20 000 people).
• According to a report from the Foodways Foundation, the number of vegetarians rose from 6 to 12.5 million in just seven years (from 1985 to 1992).
• Chile - In Chile, according to CADEM data, 14% of the country is vegetarian. The study included 1600 participants checking "The Chile Coming" in the sense of the nutritional habits of Chilean residents.
• Peru - Another data on a Latin country is in Peru, where 8% of the country is declared as vegetarians, this according to "Nielsen", based on data that came from a global study that was done in 2016.
• Israel - According to an Israeli newspaper, based on surveys, 8% of Israelis are vegetarians, a total of approx. 1 million Israelis.
• Brazil - According to Brazilian vegetarian society a historic number of 14% declared vegetarians was announced. Based on IBOPI surveys.

Symbolism

Etymology

The English term vegetarian began to be used in the XIX century to refer to those who They avoided eating meat. The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language attributes the first known use to the actress Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) who used it in an 1839 writing that was published in 1863. The words "vegetarian" and "vegetarianism" appeared with the first vegetarian association of the world, the Vegetarian Society, founded on September 30, 1847 in Manchester; Therefore, before that date, such words do not appear in any writing and in the absence of them, they speak of "vegetable diet" or "Pythagorean diet" (because the followers of Pythagoras followed vegetarian diets).