Semi-vegetarianism

Semi-vegetarianism is a term used to describe the practice of excluding some meat (particularly red meat) from the diet while still consuming limited amounts of poultry, fish, and/or seafood [University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics website, [http://apps.uwhealth.org/health/adam/hie/1/002465.htm] Excerpt: "Semi-vegetarian: Diet consists of plant foods and may include chicken or fish, dairy products, and eggs. It does not include red meat."] [Nemours Foundation/TeensHealth [http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/vegetarian.html] Excerpt: "Some people consider themselves semi-vegetarians and eat fish and maybe a small amount of poultry as part of a diet "] . In many references, a semi-vegetarian is also a flexitarian or "almost vegetarian". The term semi-vegetarian is sometimes also referred to as a diet that excludes "red meat". Semi-vegetarian diets are not vegetarian diets, which exclude ingestion of all animals.cite web
title = Vegetarian
url = http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/vegetarian?
publisher = Compact Oxford English Dictionary
accessdate = 2008-06-15
quote = a person who does not eat meat for moral, religious, or health reasons. ['meat' is [http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/meat? defined] as 'the flesh of an animal as food'] ] cite web
title = Definition of 'vegetarian'
url = http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html
publisher = Vegetarian Society
accessdate = 2008-06-15]

Motivations

There are several reasons why one might follow a semi-vegetarian diet.

*Health reasons: To help reduce saturated fat or cholesterol in the diet, or for other health reasons.
*Ethical/philosophical reasons: Some people believe in avoiding certain animal foods but not others due to a belief in a hierarchy or evolutionary scale that places some animals higher than others. Those at the top of this scale are considered "higher-order" animals, deserving of better treatment. The following is an example of such a scale:
*#Mammalian meat - cow, pig, deer, etc
*#Poultry - chicken, turkey, duck, etc
*#Fish - tuna, salmon, tilapia, etc
*#Seafood (other than fish) - clams, oysters, crab, lobster, scallops, etc
*Environmental reasons: Larger livestock, such as cows or pigs, use more resources per pound of meat and create more waste than other meat sources.

Types

* Flexitarianism - Mostly avoiding all meat, but eating it under some situations.
* Pollotarianism - Mammalian meat, fish, and seafood is excluded, but chicken or other poultry is not.
* Pescetarianism - Mammalian meat and poultry is excluded, but fish and seafood are not.
* Pesco-pollo-vegetarianism - Mammalian meat is excluded, but poultry, fish, and seafood are not. Rarely used.
* Some people have ethical objections to eating baby animals, such as Veal or Lamb.

ee also

References