Vegetarianism involves the practice of following a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products or eggs. A vegetarian does not eat meat, including game, poultry, fish, crustacea and shellfish, and may also abstain from by- products of animal slaughter such as animal-derived rennet and gelatin. Various foods or treats, such as cake, chocolate, chips, gum, marshmallows and gummy candies, often contain unfamiliar animal ingredients, and may especially be a concern for vegetarians due to the likelihood of such additions. While some vegetarians are unaware of animal-derived rennet's role in the usual production of cheese and may therefore unknowingly consume the ingredient, others of the diet are not bothered by its consumption. Often, however, animal-derived products, such as certain cheeses, gelatin or other animal-derived ingredients, are scrutinized by vegetarians prior to purchase or consumption.

BABIES: Newborns won't develop properly without nutrients provided by mother's milk or formula. Toddlers need protein and vitamins that may require fortified vegetarian foods. PREGNANT WOMEN: What mom eats is what baby gets, so vegetarian mothers may need to supplement their diets with vitamins B12 and D. ATHLETES: For peak performance, athletes need protein, calories and nutrients like iron and zinc. Don't eat meat? Better learn to love tofu and lentils. SENIORS: Seniors need calcium and vitamin D to keep bones strong, but they don't synthesize D as efficiently as younger people do. Fortified foods and supplements help. TEENAGERS: Going veggie is fine, but curb the junk food. Kids need protein, B12 and D and essential fatty acids to fuel developing bodies. Pickiness can mask eating disorders.

So, how about it? Should we all become vegetarians? Not just teens but also infants, oldsters, athletes— everyone? Will it help us live longer, healthier lives? Does it work for people of every age and level of work activity? Can we find the right vegetarian diet and stick to it? And if we can do it, will we?

Religious reasons Ethical reasons Environmental reasons

Vegetarianism involves the practice of following a diet that includes fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds, with or without dairy products or eggs. A vegetarian does not eat meat. Often, however, animal-derived products, such as certain cheeses, gelatin or other animal-derived ingredients, are scrutinized by vegetarians prior to purchase or consumption. Veganism is an ideology and lifestyle whose adherents seek to eliminate what they see as the exploitation of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. The most common reasons for veganism are ethical concerns about animal rights, health, environmental concerns, among others. Vegan advocacy organizations generally regard animals to deserve the same basic rights as humans, and therefore consider it unethical to use animals in ways that infringe those rights.

Oftentimes when I meet someone they ask me why I'm a vegan (a vegan is someone who neither eats, wears, or uses animal products). Before I list the reasons why I've chosen to be a vegan let me say that I don't judge people who choose to eat meat. People make different choices for different reasons, and it is not my place to judge the choices that other people make. Just being alive is inevitably going to cause suffering. But anyway, here's why I'm a vegan. 1) I love animals, and I believe that a vegan diet causes less suffering than a diet centered around animal products. 2) Animals are sentient creatures with their own wills, and it seems wrong to force our will onto another creature just because we're able to. 3) A great deal of medical evidence points to the fact that a diet centered around animal products is terrible for you. Animal product based diets have been repeatedly proven to cause and exacerbate cancer, heart disease, obesity, impotence, diabetes, etc. 4) A vegan diet is materially more efficient than an animal product based diet. By that I mean that you can feed lots more people with grain directly than by feeding that grain to a cow and then killing the cow. In a world where people are starving it seems criminal to fatten up cows with grain that could be keeping people alive.

5) The raising of farm animals is environmentally disastrous. All of the waste from animal farming gets washed into our water supply, poisoning our drinking water and fouling our lakes, streams, and oceans. 6) Vegan food is nice to look at. Compare a plate with grains and fruits and vegetables to a plate with pigs' intestines, chicken legs, and chopped up cows' muscles. So that's pretty much why I'm a vegan. If for some reason you ever decide to become a vegetarian or a vegan, please do so carefully. Most of our conventional diets are so meat and animal product based that when we give up meat we don't know what to replace it with. Although a vegetarian or vegan diet is a million times healthier than a carnivorous diet, making the transition away from eating animals needs to be done wisely. Most health food stores and bookstores have good books that can help you to make the transition from an animal product based diet to a vegetarian or vegan diet.

If you think of vegetarianism as a religion with many sects, ranging from orthodox fanatics who eat only raw fruit and vegetables to liberal deists who skip steaks but enjoy fish and fowl, vegans represent the fundamentalists.