SC - Various levels of Vegetarianism

[Christine A Seelye-King]

> Every definition i've heard for vegan has vegans among the strictest 
>  vegetarians, that is, they eat NO animal products. So, no dairy 
> products, no eggs, and probably for the strictest no honey.

	This is correct.  Vegan means absolutely no animal products or
by-products, including gel-caps, dairy, eggs, or honey.  
 
> As for vegetarians, there are a number of varieties. Some eat dairy 
> but no eggs (lacto-vegetarians), some eat both dairy and eggs 
> (ovo-lacto-vegetarians).
> Some people consider themselves vegetarians, but eat seafood. Since 
> when did fish become a vegetable? I wouldn't consider these people 
> vegetarians if they eat fish often.

	These are called Pesco-Vegetarians.
 
> Some people consider themselves vegetarians, but eat fish and fowl. 
	
	These are called Pesco-Pollo Vegetarians.
	Others we have come up with at work include:
	Pesco-Pollo-Porcine Vegetarians (that would be me, everything except
	beef)
	Carno-Vegetarians - everything, including beef?
	and my personal favorite, 
	Freegan - Vegan in all respects unless the food is given to him for
free, 	at which point it would be wasteful not to eat it (actually quoted
from 	one of my former co-workers!)

> I have heard about a number of young vegans having bone problems 
> because while they're skipping the dairy, they are not consuming an 
> adequate amount of alternate sources of calcium - it can be done, 
> but one might need to spend some time reading up on nutrition, which 
> many  teens don't bother doing.
	
	True.  The best source of calcium is from leafy greens, but those do not
make it into teen's diets very regularly.  

> And there are one or two necessary nutrients that one cannot get 
> from a purely vegetarian diet without supplements, vitamin B12 being
one. 

	Actually, there are two sources of B12 in the vegetable world.  Sea
vegetables are rich in it, most notably Wakame (I'm pretty sure that's
the one),
which is much higher in it than animal sources.  The other way for vegans
to get B12 is to consume nutritional yeast that has been grown in a
medium with B12 cultures (obtained from the seaweeds, IIRC).  Protein is
the other nutrient that many vegetarians don't get enough of, however
eating complete proteins at every meal is not necessary.  The body stores
amino acids in a 'protein pool' for roughly 8 hours, so as long as
complimentary foods are consumed within that period, there is no need to
be concerned about getting complete proteins with every meal.  Many
teens, however, and folks new to vegetarian diets don't make the correct
choices for food combinations even with the entire day to do it in. 
(Typical food combinations being beans and rice, legumes and grains.)  


> Then there are the no-cooked food vegetarians - there was a 
> restaurant in L.A. back in the '80's that specialized in this - 
> Sun-Fired Foods, i think was the name. I tried it out of curiosity. 
> Some of it was tasty, if a bit... chewy.

	These are now called Raw Foods Diets.  They are particularly advocated
by those treating severe diseases, Cancer among them, and have produced
striking results with those willing to adhere to them.  Most folks I know
that have had to change their diet drastically for health reasons do not
stick to them religiously once the illness has gone, but do retain some
measure of what they learned as modifications to their everyday diet.  I
have a friend that went Macrobiotic in response to fibroid cysts, which
dissolved and went away after about 6 months on this diet.  She does not
stick to it now, but will go back and cleanse and pay attention to those
foods she knows might be problem areas now.  

<I was particularly enamored  of an all-black spread or side dish that
contained black olives and several kinds of seaweed, but i really like
seaweeds. I believe it may also have had black sesame paste in it. I have
the remains of a jar of black sesame butter in my fridge, but can no
longer find any  -  Westbrae made it, but i think they don't anymore. So,
how difficult  would it be to grind my own using those little boxes of
Japanese black sesame seeds? 
> Anahita

	Mmm, this sounds good, but I have not seen that product in our store, so
I'd be willing to bet it is still unavailable.  I would give your
homemade version a try though, and add some of your favorite sea
vegetables just for kicks!  
	Christianna
	who is not a vegetarian, but I work amongst them, and actually let slip 
	a small "Pork Fat Rules" the other night, they weren't sure whether to 
	be amused or horrified ;)
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