There are about 12.4 million vegetarians in the United States1. There are numerous amounts of people all around the world that chose to be vegetarians. A vegetarian does not eat meat, poultry, or fish2. They mainly eat a plant based diet, which includes fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds. Each person has their own reason as to why. Some of the major reason that people choose to go vegetarian is because of health reasons, environment, ethical, religious, cultural, or even simply because some people do not enjoy consuming meat2. Being a vegetarian has many good things, but at the same time there is a down side. There are around six different kinds of varieties with vegetarianism. The first kind being lacto vegetarian or lactarian. This kind of diet includes dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt, but excludes eggs3. The practice of lacto vegetarianism came from ancient India and based on religious beliefs. This explains why many people who practice Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism are lacto vegetarians. The main reason for having a lacto vegetarian diet is the law of ahimsa or non-violence3. Eggs are said to have animal hormones including testosterone, which can increase aggressiveness. There are some benefits to being a lacto vegetarian. Since eggs contain cholesterol, many lacto vegetarians have a lower intake of cholesterol3. The second kind of vegetarian is ovo vegetarianism or sometimes it is called “eggetarians”. In this kind of vegetarianism it allows eggs, but no other dairy products. They exclude dairy products based on issues with industrial practices behind their production4. Some people who are lactose intolerant may be ovo vegetarians. Other than the regular health benefits there is no additional benefits.
The third kind of vegetarian is ovo-lacto or lacto-ovo vegetarian. They are vegetarians who do not eat animal flesh of any king, but they eat dairy products as well as eggs. In the western world lacto-ovo vegetarians are the most common type of vegetarians5. It is the most common type because it is often motivated by ethics. This is because eggs and dairy products do not directly require the animal to be slaughtered. The fourth kind of vegetarian is veganism. This is a lifestyle where they exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose6. They not only avoid flesh food or dairy products, such as eggs, but they also avoid using any cosmetics or chemical products that have been tested on animals. This is a very hard diet to do, but there are a lot of benefits. Like most vegetarians it reduces saturated fats, carbs, as well as fiber. It also helps prevents many different kinds of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and prostate cancer.
The fifth kind of vegetarian is a raw veganism. This is a vegan who only eats raw foods. It usually consists of unprocessed foods, which have not been heated above forty six degree Celsius6. This kind of veganism can become harmful to the human body when consumed, because everything is raw and there is no heat to get rid of the bacteria. The last kind of vegetarian is fruitarians. As you can imagine they follow a diet that is comprised of fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and grains7. They eat mainly any fruit or vegetable that can be gathered without harming the plant itself. This is one of the strictest types of vegetarian diets around. This kind of diet can cause deficiencies in calcium, protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D and most B vitamins7. We can see that since there are a lot of restrictions on this kind of diet, people tend to not get full and tend to crave food more. Overall, being a vegetarian has numerous health benefits. It has been stated by the American Dietetic Association that at all stages of life, a properly planned vegetarian diet is “healthful, nutritionally adequate and provides health benefits in the prevention of treatment of certain diseases.2” Usually vegetarian diets have lower levels of cholesterol and saturated fats, but they are higher in carbohydrates, fiber, and vitamins C and E. Vegetarian diets also reduce the risk of numerous diseases. For example a study showed that vegetarians have a 24% lower mortality from ischaemic heart disease than non-vegetarians. Many people think that vegetarians have limited options in their daily meals. I have been a vegetarian, specifically a lacto vegetarian, for my whole life. I grew up not eating eggs or any sort of meat. It is very easy to go day by day without eating meat. You can go to many different restaurants and simply order something and say minus meat and they will adjust to your needs. At each meal one should eat fruits, veggies, whole grains, and some sort of soy, beans, and peanuts. Nuts, seeds, and plant oils should be eaten daily. Sweats should be eaten occasionally or in small quantities. One main concern that many vegetarians have is getting the required protein. This can be done by eating a variety of plant foods such as beans. Overall, being a vegetarian can have many different options as well as health benefits.

References
1. http://www.vegetarianvegan.com/Vegetarian_Statistics.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacto_vegetarianism
4. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/glossary/g/Vegetarian.htm
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovo-lacto_vegetarianism
6. http://www.vegan.org/about_veganism/index.html
7. http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/different-types-of-vegetarians.html