Your meals revolve around dairy and fish products when you follow a lacto-ichtyo diet. You likely eat vegetables, but you forgo eggs, meat and poultry. A lacto-ichtyo diet offers fewer restrictions than a vegan or strict vegetarian diet. If your goal is to eventually become a vegan or vegetarian, a lacto-ichyto diet can gradually steer you in that direction.
Fish Benefits
A lacto-ichtyo diet provides you with important omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids fight against heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis and asthma. Your body cannot create omega-3 fatty acids. You can only obtain them through dietary sources or from supplements. Fatty fish, including salmon, tuna and sardines contain omega-3 fatty acids.
Dairy Benefits
Dairy products supply you with calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus and potassium. These nutrients build strong bones and also help your body maintain bone density as you age, lowering your risk for osteoporosis. Like the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, the nutrients in dairy products protect you from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. You can enjoy soy milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and other dairy products while following a lacto-ichtyo diet.
Classification
Even though you consume fish protein while adhering to a lacto-ichtyo diet, it is possible that you self-identify as a vegetarian. Experts disagree over whether or not the vegan/vegetarian umbrella is broad enough to support such loose standards. In the "The Vegan Sourcebook," authors Joanne Stepaniak and Virginia Messina write that terms such as lacto-ichtyo have "muddled" the idea of vegetarianism. Certain ethical boundaries surround vegans, who disdain all animal products. The parameters of vegetarianism are more ambiguous and subjective.
Concerns
Dairy and fish products provide you with numerous benefits, but you should exercise caution when following a lacto-ichtyo diet. Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products when possible. The saturated fats and cholesterol in whole milk products can minimize the health benefits you obtain from the nutrients and contribute needless calories as well. Because of the mercury content in fish, the Food and Drug Administration suggests that you limit your weekly consumption to no more than two 12-ounce servings each week. King mackerel, tilefish, swordfish and shark have particularly high levels of mercury and should be avoided completely. Albacore tuna also has a high mercury content.
References
- The Vegan Sourcebook ; Joanne Stepaniak and Virginia Messina
- National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Health
- MedlinePlus: Fish Oil
- U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dairy
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish
Member Comments