Why has it become low-fat?

[IrishCream]

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had been vegetarian in the 70's. Back then we ate cheese and butter (and cream), and enjoyed them immensely. I still do. What happened to vegetarianism that it became preponderantly low-fat? Eliminating meat is going on a much lower fat diet....why do we need to eliminate cheese, etc. also? Is vegetarianism today a life-style which avoids fats of most kinds, or a belief system that we should not harm animals, in which case cheeses and cream and eggs should be fine?

[=Mark]

It's really pretty simple, cheese and butter are not vegetables. To say you were a vegetarian and ate cheese and butter is a contradiction in terms. The same applies to eggs and fish; not vegetables. I know folks are always out there rationalizing behavior inconsistant with this (ovo/lacto-vegetarian? I don't think so), but why not just carry it to it's logical end? I'm a Bovo-vegetarian, a vegetarian who also eats beef.

Fat isn't the issue, the source of it is. Feel free to fry your corn fritters in vegetable oil. I do sense, however, that many folks opting to follow a vegetarian regimin, especially those who do so for any percieved health benefit, tend toward lower fat diets.

[cookasia]

I think this rush to low-fat eating has been pushed along by the general emphasis in the media on healthier eating and weight loss. I have found that many of our readers at Vegetarian Times request low-fat recipes, but I also believe that there is now a general and gradual shift back to diets with an increased amount of fat added. Dr. Dean Ornish, for example, has pushed for diets with 10 percent or less of fat in the daily intake, but he specializes in helping heart patients. I believe the American Heart Association comes in at 25 to 30 percent of total fat daily. There's also been much attention focused on the very high-fat (and meat-based) Atkins' diet, and I think people are not regarding fat with so much fear and trepidation as before. It's really all a question of moderation, of course, and I don't think vegetarianism per se necessarily means low-fat eating. Of course, much fat is found in animal protein, so by eliminating that from the diet just naturally eliminates a percentage of fat. For vegetarians—and not for vegans—dairy products (eggs, cheese, whole milk, yogurts, etc.) are fine in moderation. All things in moderation!!

[IrishCream]

It's really pretty simple, cheese and butter are not vegetables.

They are not meat either. I don't understand your point. I see nothing hypocritical about eating dairy products within a vegetarian diet. Within a low-fat diet, perhaps. That is what I am questioning. Is vegetarianism a moral imperative or just another low-fat diet? It used to be the former....I think today it is the latter.