Research Paper on Vegetarianism

There are some people who refuse to eat meat, eggs, fish, nor any dairy products. These people are associated herbivores but in human terms, vegetarians. Vegetarians generally abstain from eating the aforementioned; however, there are some who actually eat them which is why there are also other types of vegetarian which will be discussed later on. Going on a vegetarian diet also has some controversies since there are those who are oppose to the vegan diet. To better understand what vegetarianism is, an explanation of what vegetarianism is, its types, its difference against a vegan, its risks, its benefits and whether or not a person should become a vegetarian will be discussed.
By definition, vegetarianism is a dietary practice wherein a person abstains from consuming meat be it red meat, seafood, poultry or any other types of flesh from animals as well as consuming products coming from animals such as dairy. Processed foods such as cakes or brownies are avoided by vegetarians since they also contain unknown food products which may come from animals. Generally, people who practice diet adopted this due to sympathy and respect for sentient beings. Vegetarianism may also be linked to religious and ethical beliefs.
Vegetarianism and its diet usually include having someone live off on eating the following: nuts, seeds, legumes, vegetables, grains, fruits, fungi (such as mushroom), algae, yeast (breads with milk are definitely excluded) and other non-animal based foods such as Himalayan salt, foods with or without dairy produces (since some vegetarians do eat dairy products as to be discussed on vegetarian types later on), and honey. As discussed, foods produced via factory processing are not allowed to be consumed by vegetarians, especially foods coming from slaughter. Shellfish are often confusion for vegetarianism but as clarified by vegsoc.org, shellfish are taken as sea animals by vegetarians. Shellfish are denominated as crustaceans with hard exteriors such as crayfish, prawns, lobsters and crabs as well as mollusk/cs such as oysters, limpets, clams, squid and more.
Vegetarianism also has different types. These types are divided due to what individuals consume. Before discussing the types, it is important to take note that the eggs consumed by other types of vegetarians are strictly free-range wherein slaughter or chickens harmed for producing eggs will be avoided for consumption.
Vegetarianism types are briefly summarized as:
* Lacto-vegetarians – vegetarians who consume dairy products but absolute avoids eggs.
* Lacto-ovo-vegetarians – these vegetarians eat dairy products and free-range eggs and this type of vegetarianism is the most frequent type
* Ovo-vegetarians – individuals do eat eggs but avoid dairy products instead
Now, one may think that, that is all there is to being vegetarian or following vegetarianism but there is still a term that a lot of people confuse them to and that is “vegan” or veganism. Veganism and vegetarianism diets exclude meat, poultry and seafood from their respective diets and some vegetarians do eat dairy products and eggs. The prominent and only difference between the two is that veganism avoids ALL foods using animals or their produces in any form, t...