Model Of The Process Of Adopting Vegetarian Diets
Two types of vegetarians were identified based on reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet.
Health vegetarians were motivated by the threat of disease and potential health benefits of a vegetarian diet.
There were 11 ethical vegetarians, motivated by moral considerations, who try to align their diet with their beliefs and values about animal welfare.
Health was the prime motivation for 8 interviewees, who had either personally experienced a physical problem, or who had made a diet-health connection.
Those who personally had a physical problem were older and adopted the diet after diagnosis with a chronic degenerative disease. 6. Those who adopted the diet for disease prevention were younger, often following the diagnosis of a problem in a parent or spouse. The adoption of a vegetarian diet was influenced by the acquisition of health or ethical information related to diet.
The transformation to vegetarianism is either abrupt or gradual.
The majority of vegetarians adopted the diet gradually by eliminated red meat, chicken and fish, then dairy and eggs.
Ethically motivated vegetarians were aware of health benefits of the diet, but they did not consider this to be an important motive.
Conversely, health vegetarians became increasingly aware of animal welfare issues and this reaffirmed the transition.
Moving to a vegan diet was influenced by significant life transitions and focus on animal welfare issues.
Information also has an indirect influence on the adoption of a vegetarian diet by providing the initial awareness of either health or animal issues.
Once initial information is received, respondents began their dietary changes by eliminating one animal food at a time.
Progressive adoption of the vegetarian diet allows people to develop strategies, form behavior patters and adjust food selection to adjust to each change as it occurs.