Eating Styles

Plant Based

Plant-based is not a term that belongs solely to any eating style. It can incorporate everything from vegan to paleo because the main focus of every meal in terms of internal nutrient requirements is plant-based foods.

Vegetables: all colors and types like leafy greens, cruciferous, starchy.

Fruits: all colors and types including berries.

Unrefined whole grains: all varieties, whole-wheat, spelt, sorghum, rye, corn (maize), barley, millet, brown rice, bulgur, farro, freekeh, oats.

Pseudo grains: all varieties, wild rice, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, teff.

Legumes: all varieties of beans, black, kidney, adzuki, butter, cannellini, haricot (navy), soybeans.

All varieties of lentils, red, yellow, green, brown and all varieties of peas plus chickpeas. Legumes would include byproducts such as tofu and tempeh.

Nuts and seeds: all varieties.

Vegetarian

A basic vegetarian eating style will be plant-based with the exclusion of meat, poultry and fish. However, the term ‘vegetarian’ incorporates numerous eating styles with the most popular being ‘lacto-ovo vegetarian’, which includes dairy and eggs.

Basic vegetarian includes: All fruit and vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, sea vegetables and in most cases, honey and bee products.

Basic vegetarian excludes: Meat, poultry, fish or any animal-based products like gelatin.

Lacto-ovo-vegetarian: Dairy and eggs are included but meat, poultry and fish are excluded.

Lacto-vegetarian: Dairy is included but meat, poultry, fish and eggs are excluded.

Ovo-vegetarian: Eggs are included but dairy, meat, poultry and fish are excluded.

Vegan

The vegan eating style is plant-based and avoids all animal foods (meat, poultry, fish), eggs, dairy, honey and

bee products, plus any products with animal-based ingredients, which extends to skin care, clothing or any

other product involved in the exploitation of animals.

Plant-based foods: Fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains and pseudo grains, legumes, vegan meat, and dairy alternatives made from plant-based sources.

Animal-based ingredients avoided: gelatin, whey, casein, egg white albumen, shellac, L-cysteine, isinglass, cochineal or carmine, supplements that are animal-derived

Paleo

This diet is based on the available knowledge of foods eaten during the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer time, 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago, when our ancestors hunted, fished and foraged for food. Paleo is an eating style based on the inclusion of meat, fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, with the exclusion of grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods and refined sugar.

Paleo food inclusions: Plenty of clean protein, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit in moderation.

Paleo food exclusions: Grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods, vegetable seed oils, refined sugar.

Ketogenic

“Ketogenic” is a term for a low carb diet. The idea is for you to get more calories from protein and fat and less from carbohydrates. You cut back most on the carbs that are easy to digest, like sugar, soda, pastries, and white bread.

Flexitarian

Flexitarian joins two eating styles together – flexibility and vegetarian. There are no rules of engagement, but by virtue of the name, it is plant-based for the individual to build upon. This perhaps signifies an eating style many people already followed long before it had a label.

Flexitarian promotes a focus on: Vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Protein coming from plant-based sources first.

Meat, chicken and fish are all incorporated based on individual choice.

Processed foods including refined sugars are minimized

Mediterranean

The Mediterranean diet is named after the eating style of those living in the Mediterranean and known as one of the most nourishing eating styles in the world.

Primarily plant-based, it includes all fruit and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Herbs and spices are used to create flavor instead of additives, and it favors the use of extra virgin olive oil.

Fish and chicken are eaten a few times a week, but red meat is limited to only a few times a month. Dairy, processed meats and sugary treats are eaten sparingly.

Drinking red wine is included and traditionally, food is shared around a table of family and friends, promoting rest and digest.

Low FODMAP

The low FODMAP diet provides an eating style that is low in fermentable short-chain carbohydrates within the intestines and is recommended by health professionals as a way of improving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

There is a class of carbohydrates that can trigger gut-based health issues for some people such as bloating, gas, stomach aches and bowel disruptions. This occurs when poorly absorbed food molecules pass through the small intestine and are feasting in the large intestine by gut bacteria. The gut bacteria will then proceed to ferment them, causing symptoms.