A lactovegetarian diet is a vegetarian diet which includes dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, cream, and kefir, but excludes eggs. The origin of "lacto" is the Latin word for milk [lac, lactis]. Cheeses which include animal rennet and yogurts which contain gelatin are also avoided. Within Indian cultures this diet is often what is meant by the term "vegetarian". Lacto-vegetarian diets are popular with many followers of Eastern religious traditions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

The core belief of Eastern religious traditions behind a lacto-vegetarian diet is the law of ahimsa, or non-violence. According to the Vedas (Hindu holy scriptures), all living beings are equally valued by God. Because it takes many more vegetables or plants to produce an equal amount of meat, many more lives are destroyed and more suffering is caused when meat is used as food. In the case of Jainism, the vegetarian standards are even more strict. It only allows the consumption of fruit and leaves that can be taken from plants without causing their death. This further excludes from the diet vegetables like carrots, potatoes and peanuts. Although some suffering and pain is inevitably caused to other living beings to satisfy the human need for food, according to ahimsa, every effort should be made to minimize suffering. This is to avoid karmic consequences and show respect for God's creation. In this sense, wastage of food is considered a sin. Because all living beings are equally valued by God, vegetarian diet rooted in ahimsa is only one aspect of environmentally conscious living, relating to those beings affected by our need for food. Sharing the same common reason, environmentalism and vegetarianism often walk hand in hand.

Lacto-vegetarians abstain from specifically eating eggs. Eggs are known to spoil quickly, especially in warm climate. They also contain high concentration of animal hormones meant for the development of a chick embryo, especially testosterone, which is known to increase aggressiveness. [1] The consumption of eggs is thus resulting in a form of bird hormone therapy, which is thought to be especially harmful for small children, possibly linked to prematurely awakened sexual drive. This diet may be adopted by vegetarians wishing to lower their cholesterol levels, in view of the high amount of cholesterol contained in egg yolks that have been cooked beyond their natural cholesterol counteraction. Large quantities of unfertilized eggs also can not be produced without Himsa (violence) and some form of tampering with the nature. On ethical grounds, some lacto-vegetarians may oppose the slaughter of the unwanted chickens, chiefly the males. Also, avoiding eggs entirely eliminates the risk of destroying an embryo.

Indian traditional medicine or Ayurveda is the root of the Indian lacto-vegetarian kitchen.[citation needed]

The greatest proportion of vegetarians, such as those in India or those in the area of the classical Mediterranean such as the Pythagoreans, are or were lacto-vegetarian.

References

  1. ^ Gisela Kaplan, Lesley J. Rogers, Birds, Chapter: Inside the egg, page 81

See also

External links

Vegetarianism
Diets Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism · Ovo-vegetarianism · Lacto-vegetarianism · Sattvic diet · Veganism · Raw veganism · Fruitarianism · Sproutarianism · Juicearianism
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Basic topics History of vegetarianism · Vegetarianism by country · List of vegetarians · Environmental vegetarianism · Economic vegetarianism · Ethics of eating meat
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The differences between lacto and ovo vegetarianism
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The differences between lacto and ovo vegetarianism

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Sun Jul 12 14:01:57 2009