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Adopting a healthy vegetarian diet isn’t just about refusing to eat meat, and it’s important to make sure that your diet is meeting all of your nutritional requirements. A vegetarian diet focuses primarily on plant-based foods, and is typically lower in fat and higher in fibre, since the emphasis is on non-meat food sources.

Vegetarian eating patterns usually fall within one of following groups:

• The vegan diet - excludes all meat and animal products
• The lacto vegetarian diet - includes plant foods and dairy products, but excludes eggs
• The lacto-ovo vegetarian diet - includes both dairy products and eggs
• The ovo-vegetarian - includes plant foods and eggs, but avoid milk, milk
  products

Regardless of which group you fall into, a vegetarian, or vegan diet can meet all of the recommendations for nutrients. The key to a healthy diet is to enjoy a wide variety of foods, in the correct amounts to meet your daily calorie needs.

However, you must be careful to eat a wide variety of foods each day. Vegetarians may need to pay particular attention to their intake of the nutrients protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.

What is the Vegetarian Pyramid?

The Vegetarian Pyramid is a food guide showing the proportion, and types of foods that are required to make up a healthy balanced diet. It is very similar to the Eatwell Plate. The model aims to help vegetarians understand and enjoy healthy eating.

It is based on the five commonly accepted food groups. These are:

• Bread, potatoes, breakfast and other cereals
• Fruit and vegetables
• Meat alternatives
• Milk and milk substitutes
• Foods high in fat and/or sugar

This is an introduction to the ‘Vegetarian Diet’ series. You may also want to check out the Vegan food pyramid.

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