Many people are becoming vegetarians these days, either on compassionate grounds or to improve their health. There are different types of vegetarians, based on what they eat and what they don’t.

It is generally agreed upon that vegetarian food consists of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, leaves etc(any edible thing that comes from plants), milk, milk products, honey and eggs.

Some people disagree about including milk products, eggs and honey in the vegetarian diet.

Here are the different types of vegetarians

Vegan: A vegan is a person who eats only plant based foods. Meat of any animal is not consumed. In addition, vegans also do not eat dairy products and eggs. Vegans also do not eat processed foods which may contain animal derivatives in the end product. Many vegans do not even consume honey, as it is produced by bees.

Lacto-ovo-vegetarians: People who do not eat meat, but eat dairy products and eggs, along with fruits, vegetables and other plant based products are called lacto-ovo-vegetarians. Lacto in Latin refers to milk products and ovo refers to eggs.

Lacto vegetarians are people who eat plant foods and milk products but do not eat meat and eggs.
Ovo vegetarians are people who eat plant foods and eggs but do not eat meat and milk products.

Pescetarians: Pescetarians are people who do not eat meat of any animals except fish and other seafood. This is because they believe fish are beneficial for health. Vegetarians do not consider pescetarians to be real vegetarians. Most pescetarians use pescetarianism as a transition towards becoming vegans.

Flexitarians: Flexitarians are people whose diet mainly consists of vegetarian food, but they eat meat occasionally.

Raw vegans:Raw vegans eat vegetarian food that is not heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit or 46 degrees Celsius. They believe that food cooked above this temperature loses its nutrients and is harmful to the body.