The vegetarian diet is based on the consumption of vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, nuts, and pulses or legumes while entirely avoiding red meat, poultry and fish. Vegetarians do eat animal based products such as honey, dairy products and eggs. However, vegans or total vegetarians totally avoid all animal based products.
People have been vegetarians for thousands of years. Many societies throughout history have been vegetarian, and numerous Greek philosophers followed vegetarianism. In fact, prior to the industrial revolution there was very little consumption of meat compared to today's standards. The 20th century witnessed the rise of meat consumption due to better transportation, refrigeration and because meat was also seen as a sign of affluence.
The term vegetarian was first used by the British Vegetarian Society in the mid-1800's. However not until the mid to late 1970's did the vegetarian movement in America begin to pick up steam. In the 90's the American government changed the food model, finally saying most of the diet should be based on grains, vegetables, fruits and beans. Vegetarianism is on the rise in America, as more people become aware of the numerous health benefits of eating a plant based diet.
Numerous studies including those written about by T Colin Campbell in The China Study, have shown that vegetarians have lower rates of coronary artery disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer. Vegetarian diets are generally lower in the consumption of saturated fats which are linked to obesity, heart disease, and some form of cancer. One study showed that vegetarians consume 25% less fat than carnivores.
The key to the vegetarian diet is balance, with sufficient levels of protein, calcium, iron and Vitamin B12. Good vegetarian nutrition is plain old common sense and the number of vegetarians will continue to rise as more research points to the diet's overall health benefits.
