To someone that doesn’t know the difference between a vegetarian and vegan diet, it can be confusing to understand what distinguishes the two from each other. They have similarities, but they also have big variations as well. Here are a few characteristics of both vegetarian and vegan diets.
Vegetarian Diet
There are many tiers of being a vegetarian, but first let’s talk about the type of vegetarian that is most common, the lacto-ovo vegetarian or they are more commonly just called a vegetarian. The lacto-ovo vegetarian doesn’t eat animal meat, but does eat dairy products and eggs. The next tier includes lacto vegetarians and ovo vegetarians. Lacto vegetarians don’t eat animal meat or eggs, but they do consume dairy products. An ovo vegetarian doesn’t eat animal meat or dairy products, but they do consume eggs. Just as a note, pescatarians are not vegetarians; they do not eat meat such as pork, beef, chicken, but they do eat fish. The most important thing to remember for all vegetarians is that they do eat eggs and dairy, which is what divides them from vegans.
Vegan Diet
A good rule of thumb of remembering what food a vegan eats is that they eat a plant-based diet. They don’t eat animal meat just like vegetarians, but they go a step further by not eating animal by-products. By-products are something that an animal produces from their body, such as dairy milk, eggs, honey, gelatin, whey, casein, etc. Therefore, vegans eat vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and seeds. People sometimes like to over complicate what a vegan diet is, but all you have to do to know is that if it comes from an animal in any capacity, a vegan can’t eat it.
Conclusion
Vegetarians and vegan diets overlap in some ways, but do not in others, which can make it very confusing to discern the two. But now that you have the right information about both and how they differ, we hope you have an easier time telling them apart from each other. Whether you are learning more about what a family member eats or trying to start one of these diets yourself, you know for sure what meals fall into which category.
Website Resources
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vegan-vs-vegetarian
