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These diets may be followed by those who choose to reduce the amount of animal flesh consumed, or sometimes as a way of transitioning to a vegetarian diet. These terms are neologisms based on the word "vegetarian". They may be regarded with contention by some strict vegetarians, as they combine terms for vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets.

In the Western world, the popularity of vegetarianism grew during the 20th century as a result of nutritional, ethical, and more recently, environmental and economic concerns. Today, Indian vegetarians, primarily lacto vegetarians, are estimated to make up more than 70% of the world's vegetarians. They make up 2042% of the population in India, while less than 30% are regular meat-eaters.

The American Dietetic Association and the Dietitians of Canada have found a properly-planned vegetarian diet to satisfy the nutritional needs for all stages of life, and large-scale studies have shown vegetarianism to significantly lower risks of cancer, ischaemic heart disease, and other fatal diseases.

Vegans can have particularly low intake of vitamin B and calcium if they do not eat enough items such as collard greens, leafy greens, tempeh and tofu. High levels of dietary fibre, folic acid, vitamins C and E, and magnesium, and low consumption of saturated fat could all be beneficial aspects of a vegetarian diet.

While dairy and egg products provide complete sources for lacto-ovo vegetarians, the only vegetable sources with significant amounts of all eight types of essential amino acids are lupin, soy, hempseed, chia seed, amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. It is not necessary, however, to obtain protein from these sources — the essential amino acids can also be obtained by eating a variety of complementary plant sources that, in combination, provide all eight essential amino acids (e.g. brown rice and beans, or hummus and whole wheat pita, though protein combining in the same meal is not necessary). A varied intake of such sources can be adequate.

Purslane contains more Omega 3 than any other known leafy green. Plant foods can provide alpha-linolenic acid but not the long-chain n-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which are found in low levels in eggs and dairy products. Vegetarians, and particularly vegans, have lower levels of EPA and DHA than meat-eaters. While the health effects of low levels of EPA and DHA are unknown, it is unlikely that supplementation with alpha-linolenic acid will significantly increase levels.

The Vegetarian Resource Group, among others, has concluded that humans are naturally omnivores based on the human ability to digest meat, as well as plant foods, www.vrg.org www.beyondveg.com with the correspondent metabolic tendency to an adaptation that makes them need both animal and vegetable nourishment. Other arguments hold that humans are more anatomically similar to herbivores, with long intestinal tracts and blunt teeth, unlike omnivores and carnivores. Human teeth, including relatively blunt canines, are more similar to those found in animals with herbivore diets than in carnivores and most omnivores. Milton, Katarine, "A hypothesis to explain the role of meat-eating in human evolution",Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews Volume 8, Issue 1, 1999, Pages: 1121 Nutritional experts believe that early hominids evolved into eating meat as a result of huge climatic changes that took place three to four million years ago, when forests and jungles dried up and became open grasslands and opened hunting and scavenging opportunities.

The book Animal Liberation by Peter Singer has been very influential on the animal rights movement and specifically ethical vegetarianism and veganism. In developed countries, ethical vegetarianism has become popular particularly after the spread of factory farming, a system of livestock farming where animals are kept indoors throughout the greater part of their lives in conditions of very restricted mobility. Pigs, laying hens, broiler chickens, and veal calves are the animals most often kept under these conditions.

According to a study done by the University of Chicago and reprinted in Time magazine, switching from a meat-eating diet to vegetarianism reduces one carbon footprint by 1.4 times the amount of switching from a Toyota Camry to a Hybrid car. This is because of the vast amount of methane that is put into the air from overbreeding for consumption, methane being a 32% more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Shipment of the grain and the cattle itself also plays a part in this issue, being that it takes 8 pounds of grain to get 1 pound of meat. Many vegetarians feel that eating so high up on the food chain plays too large a part in global starvation to justify meat consumption.

Hinduism and Jainism teach vegetarianism as moral conduct whilst Christianity and Islam generally do not. Buddhism in general does not prohibit meat eating, while Mahayana Buddhism encourages vegetarianism as beneficial for developing compassion. Other denominations that advocate a fully vegetarian diet include the Seventh-day Adventists, the Rastafari movement and the Hare Krishnas.

Nonviolence is a common concern of all the vegetarian traditions in Hinduism; the other two aspects are relevant for those who follow special spiritual paths.

No products obtained from dead animals are allowed. Jains hold vegetarianism as the ideal diet in a similar fashion to Hindu traditions but with emphasis on their principle of all-round non-violence (ahimsa). This is for them an indispensable condition for spiritual progress.

Mahayana Buddhism advises monks to be strictly vegetarian and is recommended for laypeople, but not required.

It is indeed the case that in his writings, Rabbi Kook speaks of vegetarianism as an ideal, and points to the fact that Adam did not partake of the flesh of animals. In context, however, Rabbi Kook makes those comments in his portrayal of the eschatological (messianic) era. He regards man's moral state in that period as being akin to that of Adam before his sin and does indeed view renunciation of enjoyment of animal flesh as part of the heightened moral awareness which will be manifest at that time.

A number of Orthodox Jewish vegetarian groups and activists promote such ideas and believe that the halakhic permission to eat meat is a temporary leniency for those who are not ready yet to accept the vegetarian diet.

According to the Bible, in the beginning, humans and animals were vegetarian. Genesis 1:2930, "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, ... and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, ... I have given every green herb for meat." Immediately after the Flood, God permitted the eating of meat, Genesis 9:3, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." however some maintain that God permitted the consumption of meat temporarily because all plants had been destroyed as a result of the flood. http://www.jewishveg.com/torah.html Some Christians believe that the Bible explains that, in the future, humans and animals will return to vegetarianism. Isaiah 11:79, "The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, ... they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." Some Christian leaders, such as the Reverend Andrew Linzey, have supported the view that Jesus was a vegetarian. Some people believe that the Book of Daniel specifically promotes vegetarianism as beneficial. Old Testament, Daniel 1:816 However, common theology argues that in this instance Daniel is rejecting food that is considered to be unholy by his faith (eating food that had been sacrificed to pagan gods), not strictly meat. The Bible's New Testament says that a person's dietary choice is of small consequence and should not be a point of confrontation (see Romans 14:13). Therefore, some modern Christians consider vegetarianism as a perfectly acceptable personal choice that has many of the same implications as fasting.

This is a personal decision only, supported by a general religious philosophy stressing kind treatment of animals. Vegetarianism has been practiced by some influential Muslims including the Indian theologian, female mystic and poet Rbiah al-Adawyah of Basrah, who died in the year 801, and the Sri Lankan sufi master Bawa Muhaiyaddeen who established The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship of North America in Philadelphia.

An economic vegetarian is someone who practices vegetarianism from either the philosophical viewpoint concerning issues such as public health and curbing world starvation, the belief that the consumption of meat is economically unsound, part of a conscious simple living strategy or just out of necessity. According to the WorldWatch Institute, "Massive reductions in meat consumption in industrial nations will ease their health care burden while improving public health; declining livestock herds will take pressure off rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural resource base to rejuvenate. As populations grow, lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, while at the same time making grain more affordable to the world's chronically hungry." Worldwatch Institute, News July 2, 1998, United States Leads World Meat Stampede https://www.worldwatch.org/press/news/1998/07/02 Economic vegetarians also may include people from third world countries who follow a de facto vegetarian diet due to the high price of meat.

A predominantly and traditionally vegetarian society also facilitates the continuance of such a tradition.

In some areas there is cultural and even legal support, but in others the diet is poorly understood or even frowned upon. In many countries food labelling is in place that makes it easier for vegetarians to identify foods compatible with their diets.

People who are vegetarian in India are usually Lacto-vegetarians, and therefore, to cater for this market, the majority of vegetarian restaurants in India do serve dairy products while eschewing egg products. Most Western vegetarian restaurants, in comparison, do serve eggs and egg-based products.

Source: Wikipedia > Vegetarianism