The difference between flexitarians, vegetarians & vegans

With the ever-growing numbers of us choosing more plant-based diets, I have seen more and more terms being used to describe the different foods that people are choosing to cut out. So lets figure out our vegans from our veggies, and our lacto-ovos from our flexitarians.

What is a plant-based diet?

A plant-based diet can mean several things, but it usually focuses around diets that include mostly foods from plant origins. They are mostly based on fruits, vegetables, nuts, pulses, wholegrains and meat substitutes. But in more trending terms, I see that a lot of people are perhaps not following a full “plant-based diet” but are striving to eat “more plant-based”. This often means that they are looking to cut back on their meat and animal food intake, and make swaps for more plant-based foods.

There are different ways in which people swap towards a more plant-based diets. And these types of diets can be broadly divided into flexitarian, vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, pescatarian, pollotarian and vegan. Let’s take a closer look at these in more detail:

What is a flexitarian diet?

Flexitarian diets are mostly plant-based diets but include some occasional meat and other animal foods. Many people on flexitarian diets do their best to reduce their intake of meat where possible and so include several veggie or even vegan days into their week. While some flexitarians choose to have a day or more where they eat completely plant-based, others choose to perhaps avoid meat at certain meals in the day. Or they might opt to eat vegetarian when they are home, but are open to eating meat when out of the house.

What is a vegetarian diet?

Vegetarian diets usually exclude all meat, fish and poultry. However, veggie diets may include eggs and dairy, and so we tend to divide this diet further into lacto, ovo or lacto-ovo vegetarian types. Be aware that some vegetarians also choose to avoid foods that contain meat-based ingredients such as gelatine, meat-drippings and meat juices (think things like gravies, goose fat etc).

What is a lacto-vegetarian diet?

This is a vegetarian diet where you include dairy foods, but avoid meat, fish, poultry and eggs from your diet. Dairy foods include milk, yoghurts, cheese and butter but also foods containing these, such as chocolate and icecream.

What is an ovo-vegetarian diet?

This is a veggie diet where you include eggs, but where you avoid meat, fish, poultry and dairy foods.

What is a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet?

This is a type of vegetarian diet where you include both eggs and dairy in your diet, but you avoid meat, fish and poultry. Often this is the type of diet that is typically referred to as just “vegetarian”. However, if you are cooking for someone on a vegetarian diet, it may be worth checking with them if they eat both dairy and eggs.

Next there are two other, but slightly less common, subtypes of vegetarian diets. These are the pollotarian and pescatarian diets. However, some people see these diet types as verging more on flexitarian diets.

What is a pollotarian diet?

In this type of diet, you avoid red meat (for example beef, pork, lamb and venison) and fish, but you eat some poultry and fowl.

What is a pescatarian diet?

This is a type of diet where someone will eat fish and seafood, but will avoid meat and poultry. I myself follow a pescatarian diet two days a week and am lacto-ovo-vegetarian on the remaining 5 days. I made this choice based on the recommendations to include 2 portions of oily fish into our diets. And while I am aware that there are algae-based omega-3 supplements on the market, this pescatarian/vegetarian compromise is currently the diet choice that meets most of my needs and wants from my diet.

And the final type of plant-based diets is the vegan diet. This is the diet that was promoted heavily during Veganuary, and that is possibly the more restrictive of the veggie diet types.

What is a vegan diet?

Vegan diets do not include any animal foods or by-products. So they tend to avoid meat, fish, poultry, eggs and milk. And some vegans also choose to not use products made by, or from animals, such as honey, wool, silk and leather.

Are you not sure what foods your vegetarian friend avoids?

Are you cooking for someone who is following a more plant-based diet, and you are unsure what foods they avoid? You are probably best to ask them! Most people on plant-based diets tell me that they much prefer that someone ask. They often know first-hand themselves how complicated it was to take on their diet, or to choose meals when eating out that suit their choices. And feel free to check how they feel about their plant-based food being cooked near animal foods. While some veggies are completely fine with their veggie burgers being cooked on a communal barbeque, some veggies may feel a little uncomfortable with the idea.

Are you trying to eat more plant-based but not sure where to start?

Many of my clients come to me for advice on how to eat less meat, or even move towards vegetarianism or veganism. Here are my top tips when trying to reduce your meat intake.

Try flexitarianism

Gradually introduce more and more plant-based meals into your diet. Start by simply reducing your portion size of meat, and including more beans into the same dish. Bolognese and chili meals are great for this, as you can easily halve your mince and swap it for lentils and beans!

Familiarise yourself with plant-based proteins

Get familiar with cooking lentils and other pulses. Taste some of the ever-growing range of meat-substitutes and perhaps try to replace the meat in your meal with the exact meat substitute (for example, veggie sausages instead of meat-based sausages for your Sunday breakfast.

Experiment and learn!

Try choosing veggie meals when eating out to see how professional chefs are serving and preparing plant-based meals! And look up some delicious recipes online or in veggie or vegan cookbooks to get those creative juices flowing. As the plant-based trend is ever-growing, there may even be veggie or vegan cooking courses cropping up in your area!

Do your research.

While there are often many health-benefits seen with more plant-based diets, there may be some groups of our population that will benefit from getting some professional advice before starting on this journey. If you are recommended to eat a specific diet for medical reasons, or you are looking into following a more restrictive plant-based diet such as veganism, it may be worth talking with a registered dietitian about how to best go about introducing more plant-based foods into your day.

Let me know if you would like to see more posts on plant-based diets! Happy to answer some of your key questions in the next while!

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