A Guide to Vegetarian and Vegan Diets for Humans and Pets!

Vegetarianism and adopting a vegetarian, pescatarian, or vegan diet, has increased in popularity for various reasons. Many people are now choosing to cut meat and fish out of their diets due to concerns about animal welfare, their own health and for environmental reasons.

This is not surprising, with the destruction of natural habitats for meat production and factory farming, being just a few of the environmental issues associated with meat production.

Vegetarian Diets and Health Benefits

For a long time, it has been assumed a healthy diet should include meat or fish. Thankfully, it is now widely accepted that a well-balanced vegetarian diet is a very healthy option. Numerous studies also support the potential health benefits of a vegetarian diet.

Findings from various studies have associated a reduction in heart disease and a reduced cancer risk, for people who follow a vegetarian diet. Interestingly other studies have also demonstrated that vegetarian diets may help reduce the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The Vegetarian Society. has a fantastic range of recipe ideas. I especially recommend the Sweet Potato Burger Recipe which is great for children and adults! For vegans this recipe for Spicy Vegan Hot Cross Buns is super easy and they taste amazing.

Vegetarian Diets and Pregnancy

Pregnant women need to carefully follow a balanced vegetarian diet to provide all the nutrients required for themselves and their growing baby. There is a wide range of resources on the NHS website for reliable vegetarian dietary advice.

Foods Pregnant Women Should Avoid

• All non-pasteurized milk
• Soft cheese, blue cheese, and cheese made from unpasteurized milk (including goats milk)
• Raw or partially cooked eggs
• Raw seafood

Foods Pregnant Women Should Limit

• Caffeine - maximum 200mg a day (this is the average amount found in 2 cups of coffee or tea)
• Herbal tea - max 4 cups a day
• Licorice root
• Vitamin A - and high-dose multivitamin supplements
• Alcohol

Vegetarian Baby Formula

Some baby formulas contain fish oil derivatives. You can check if a baby formula is vegetarian by looking for certification with the Vegetarian Society.

If this guide is helpful, I'd love to hear from you—please leave a comment or give it a like!

Vegetarian or Vegan Pet Food

When you're a vegetarian or vegan feeding your dog or cat, a meat-based diet can feel wrong. Obviously, you want to do the best thing for your pets and ensure they get all the essential nutrients they need to thrive. Previously this may have been difficult but now there are numerous companies that manufacture vegetarian and vegan pet food ranges.

Cat Food

In the wild, all cats are carnivores, and they have to catch prey to get all of the nutrients they need. The good news is, there are modern cat foods that do not contain meat and still provide all of the essential nutrients your cat requires to be healthy and live a long life.

Meat is the only food that cats have access to in the wild that contains taurine and arachidonic acid, which cats need to be healthy. However, taurine and arachidonic acid can be added to vegan and vegetarian cat food in a synthetic non meat-based form.

Dog Food

Dogs are naturally omnivores, and a good quality vegan or vegetarian dog food will provide all of the nutrients they require.

If this guide helped you out, a comment or like would mean a lot to me!

Vegetarian and Vegan Business Support

• If you produce products that are vegetarian or vegan, then you can have them accredited by The Vegetarian Society.

• Vegan Business Media: offers free resources to help entrepreneurs get started.
• Plant-Based Entrepreneurs membership is an excellent way to network and learn more about the vegan business market.
• The VEGPRENEUR’s blog provides insightful interviews to inspire and educate about how to start and grow a vegetarian/vegan based business.
• VegFund provide finances for vegan based business ideas.
• The Vegan Society list of vegan business and innovation stats are essential for anyone considering starting a business.

Resources

Below is a curated list of resources and scientific studies that provide evidence and support for the content discussed in this article. These references offer valuable insights and further reading on key topics, helping to validate the information and provide a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

• Madzingira O (2018) Animal Welfare Considerations in Food-Producing Animals. Animal Welfare. InTech. Available at: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/62464
• Why Meat Consumption Is Causing Mass Wildlife Extinction . October 6, 2017. Available at: https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/meat-biodiversity/
• 7 reasons why meat is bad for the environment . Natalie Brown . August 3, 2020. Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/why-meat-is-bad-for-the-environment/
• Plant‐Based Diets Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All‐Cause Mortality in a General Population of Middle‐Aged Adults . Hyunju Kim, PhD, Laura E. Caulfield, PhD, Vanessa Garcia‐Larsen, PhD, Lyn M. Steffen, PhD, Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, and Casey M. Rebholz, PhD. Journal of the American Heart Association , Volume 8, Number 16. August 7, 2019. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.119.012865
• Lanou AJ, Svenson B. Reduced cancer risk in vegetarians: an analysis of recent reports. Cancer Manag Res. Dec 20, 2010. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3048091/
• Turner-McGrievy G, Mandes T, Crimarco A. A plant-based diet for overweight and obesity prevention and treatment. J Geriatr Cardiol. May 14, 2017. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5466943/
• Olfert MD, Wattick RA. Vegetarian Diets and the Risk of Diabetes. Curr Diab Rep. Sep 18, 2018. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11892-018-1070-9
• The Vegetarian Society. Home Page. Avaialable at: https://vegsoc.org/

• The vegetarian diet. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-eat-a-balanced-diet/the-vegetarian-diet/
• Explore products. Available at: https://vegsoc.org/trademarks/brands/