As a Vegetarian, What Can You Eat (and Not Eat)?

A vegetarian diet is one that avoids meat and eats a plant-based diet – but did you know that there are different types of vegetarian diets?

As a vegetarian, you can eat plant-based foods like legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables, as well as dairy products and eggs while avoiding all types of meat, including red meat, poultry, seafood, and shellfish.

We’ll explain more about what you can eat and not eat on a vegetarian diet, the different types of vegetarian diets, and more!

What is the vegetarian diet?

A vegetarian diet usually refers to a diet that excludes meat and seafood but includes dairy and eggs (also called a lacto-ovo vegetarian). That means that vegetarians eat a primarily plant-based diet that includes eggs and dairy, but avoids meat of any kind, including fish and shellfish.

There are a couple of other variations of a vegetarian diet, such as:

• Ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but exclude dairy products.
• Vegans avoid all animal products, including eggs, dairy, and things like honey.
• Pescatarian is the term for a vegetarian (usually a lacto-ovo vegetarian) who eats fish, but not any other type of meat.

Here’s a summary of the difference between the types of vegetarian diets!

Type	Avoids meat	Avoids fish	Avoids dairy	Avoids eggs
Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (“regular” vegetarian diet)	Yes	Yes	No	No
Ovo-vegetarian	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lacto-vegetarian	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Pescatarian	Yes	No	No	No
Vegan	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Vegetarian diet vs. vegan diet

A vegetarian diet usually only avoids meat (including fish), while a vegan diet avoids ALL animal byproducts including dairy products, milk, eggs, gelatin, honey, and any other product that can have traces of animal products in it.

What can you eat on a vegetarian diet?

Here’s a summary of what you can and can’t eat on a vegetarian diet (assuming a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, which is the “standard” vegetarian diet).

Food Group	EAT on a vegetarian diet	AVOID on a vegetarian diet
Meat/protein	None	All meat, including beef, pork, poultry, seafood, shellfish, etc.
Grains	All grains are allowed on a vegetarian diet (bread, rice, pasta, cereals, etc)	None
Vegetables	All vegetables; legumes are especially popular on a vegetarian diet because they’re rich in protein and iron	None
Fruit	All fruit	None
Fats/oils	All fats (vegetable oils, coconut oil, butter, etc) except bacon grease and lard	Bacon grease, lard
Nuts and seeds	All nuts and seeds	None
Dairy	All dairy	None
Drinks	All types of drinks	None
Desserts	All types of desserts	None
Other ingredients	Most added ingredients are vegetarian-friendly, including additives, preservatives, etc. Honey is allowed on a vegetarian diet (but not a vegan diet)	Gelatin, collagen, fish oil, some omega-3 supplements, sauces with fish (Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies) Some vegetarians avoid refined white sugar because it can contain bone char – if so, choose organic sugar, unrefined cane sugar, or other sweeteners to avoid the use of bone char. Chicken and beef broth/stock

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