Lacto-Ovo Vegetarians - What's for Dinner Tonight?

Perhaps you are a new lacto-ovo vegetarian and looking for some food option ideas or maybe you are just wondering what the heck it means to be "lacto-ovo" and what a daily menu looks like for such a vegetarian. Whatever your interest, you've come to the right place!

It's a fancy name but really being a lacto-ovo vegetarian just means that you are a vegetarian who eats milk and eggs products. This type of vegetarian is the most common in the Western world.

Check out an average menu for a lacto-ovo vegetarian below:

Breakfast:

• An orange
• Pancakes with syrup and butter
• Coffee with milk

Lunch

• Vegetable soup
• Bagel with cheese
• Spinach salad with mushrooms and dressing
• An apple
• Iced tea

Dinner

• An omelette: egg whites, green peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese, and vegetable oil
• Brown rice and carrots seasoned with light margarine
• Whole wheat bread with light margarine
• Fig bar cookie
• Tea with honey

TIP: It all sounds pretty yummy to me – as well as healthy and not too expensive! If you and your family are looking to do something a little different this week, forget taco night, have a lacto-ovo night!

More information about Vegetarianism:

The term itself was first used around 1840 in London. There was a community that was closeley associated with the Alcott House School, (more information about that at Wikipedia, search for Alcott_House ), Its first formal use was by that of the first meeting of the newly formed Vegetarian Society in Kent Englind in September 1847. Prior to that a strict vegetable diet was simly konwn as a 'vegetable diet'.

From the very beginning there was - and still is - the option of including eggs or dairy products, however East Indian vegetarians do not use eggs, and a 2009-2010 survey shows that 66% of vegetarians exclude eggs and dairy.
What about Protein?

Just as an example, lets talk about Devin a male 5′ 9″, 160 lb and Darla, a female at 5′ 3″ 110 lb who are in generally good health, get a bit of exercise such as walking the dog, yardwork, maybe some dance lessons or yoga, and at 'work' they have desk jobs.

At a minimum Devin should get at least 80 grams of protein per day and Darla needs at least 55 grams.
What would they eat to get this?. As vegetarians, their main protein sources would be beans, nuts and seeds. In place of milk, they could use Soy/alternative milk. And of course, they eat vegetables and some grains.
Beans

Beans have a fair amount of proteins, but are more dense in carbohydrates. For instance, one cup of beans (cooked) is around 40-50g of carbohydrates - of which 10-15 grams are fiber. Protien is also around 10-15 grams for this serving, and the good news for anyone watching their fat intake: virtually none - unless you add them (as oils).

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts are much more modest in their carb to protein ratio, but are heavily a fatty food. A handful might have 2-6g of protein, only 3-9g of carb (1-3g being fiber), but 12-21g of fat. Seeds follow a similar trend. In a handful we see 5-9g of protein, 4-10g carb (none to 8g fiber), and 10-14g of fat. However, some fat IS good, and for a desert do a google search on +joyfully +vegan +chocolate +coconut +almond +bars

Alternative Milk

Soy and alternative milks are somewhere in the range of 14/5/3 grams of carb/protein/fat in a cup. Some are fattier than others, but they're all generally more dense in carbohydrate. Coconut milk is extremely fatty: a cup contains about 48g with only about 6g of protein and carb. (see Vegan Almond Joy bars above)
Vegetables

Absent of fat there's a good variation of nutrients in Veggies..

A cup of green beans is fat-free, has about 2g of protein, and about 8g of carb.

A cup of broccoli is also fat free, 3g of protein and 6g of carbs.

A full sized cucumber is also fat free and has 11g of carb and 2g of protein.

The one that leaves many people wondering about starch and carbs however, is the Potato. This comes with all of 34g of carbohydrate, with 3g of protein, but NO FAT. (that's usually the sour cream and butter topping).

Grains

Grains are also quite varied. One slice of whole wheat bread is 12g carbs, 4g protein, 0g fat.

A cup of plain, cooked pasta has 35g of carb with 7g of protein, and a single gram of fat.

A wheat dinner roll is around 13g carbohydrate and 2g of protein and fat.

Putting it all together: nearly all non-animal protein sources more concentrated in either fat, carb, or both. Because of their density in these other nutrients, and many of them are very fibrous and watery, they fill you up before significant protein is taken in.

Even under the assumption of a balance between all of those categories, it's a hard goal to fill. A cup of pasta, a cup of broccoli, a handful of nuts or seeds, and a cup of beans with a glass of imitation milk would put the protein total at somewhere around 30-35g on average, and that's a lot of food! Darla would need a little less than 2 of these meals to hit her minimum, while Devin needs about 3.

One thing that always comes up when discussing beans: they do cause gas. Nuts and seeds can give you a bubble-gut, and can sometimes block digestive flow, so if this is an issue they may need to be reduced as well.

Some more Vegeterain terms:

Strict vegetarian: originally meant vegan, now can now mean vegan or vegetarian.

Semi-Vegetarian: Eats less meat than average person. Also called PSEUDO-VEGETARIAN.

Pescetarian: Similar to vegetarian, but also consumes fish. Factory farmed fish is also often avoided because of possible chemical contamination, and lack of environmental / health diversity.

Fruitarian: Like Vegan, but only eats foods that don't kill the plant, such as apples, berries, grapes, corn. This does not include root vegetables, since those DO kill the plant itself.

Herbivore: Mainly eats grass or plants. Not necessarily a VEGETARIAN, and usually applies just to animals.

Plant-Eater: Mainly eats plants. Not necessarily a VEGETARIAN, and usually applies just to animals.

Nonmeat-Eater: Does not eat meat. Most definitions do not consider fish, fowl or seafood to be meat. Animal fats and oils, bonemeal and skin are not considered meat.

Kosher: Made according to a complex set of Jewish dietary laws. Does not imply VEGAN in any case. Does not imply OVO-LACTO VEGETARIAN in any case. Even KOSHER products containing milk products may contain some types of animals which are not considered 'meat'.

Pareve/Parve: One category in KOSHER dietary laws. Made without meat or milk products or their derivatives. Eggs and true fish are pareve, shellfish are not.

Macrobiotic from a memberivu.org/science/

According to Donna Secker and Stanley Zlotkin writing in Essentials of Human Nutrition, "macrobiotic diets consist of unpolished rice, pulses and vegetables with small additions of fermented foods, nuts, seeds and fruit; animal products are not consumed"

The authors warn that "in infants consuming a macrobiotic diet, a clear relationship has been demonstrated between diet, nutrient intake and physical and biochemical evidence of deficiency for several nutrients including iron, vitamins B12, D, and riboflavin. Slower growth rates and higher incidence of nutritional diseases such as rickets, kwashiorkor and anaemia have been reported."

Vegan: excludes any use of any animal products for any purpose, including animal flesh (meat, poultry, fish and seafood), animal products (eggs, dairy, honey); the wearing and use of animal products (leather, silk, wool, lanolin, gelatin); also excludes animal use in entertainment, sport, research etc.

The major vegan societies all disallow honey, but some "vegans" still use it. Some "vegans" also refuse to eat yeast products.

Dietary Vegan: follows a vegan diet, but doesn't necessarily try to exclude non-food uses of animals.

Plant-Based Diet - a diet mostly of plants, but there maybe confusion as to what, if anything, is above the base.

Source: "Lacto-ovo Vegetarian Cuisine"; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, "EAT. MOVE. IMPROVE." and the "International Vegetarian Union (IVU)" website
Posted in Health & Nutrition October 28th, 201L