Vegan, Vegetarian, or Pescetarian?

I've been calling myself a vegetarian for over 10 months now, and despite a minor (and rectified) amino acid deficiency, I've enjoyed it thoroughly, and benefited vastly.

In the beginning, I was a by-the-book vegetarian. I ate nothing that ever had a face or moved on its own, and maintained my consumption of honey, dairy and eggs.

After a few months, however, I let a little seafood sneak in, and realized that I was drinking a lot less milk and eating less cheese.

Because I need to make sure I get enough protein, I've tried to increase my dairy (organic, low fat and local as much as possible) intake a bit, and I eat an organic egg almost every day. I've also gotten more relaxed about eating fish sushi or enjoying shrimp pasta on special occasions.

The thing that's really baffling me at the moment is that I don't appreciate the dairy the way I used to. I was always an avid milk drinker, and who doesn't love cheese? Still, I find myself preferring almond milk, and forgetting to put shredded cheddar on my veggie dogs.

Because I've also looked at high alkaline and macrobiotic diets as guidelines for overall health, I'm not too bothered by my diminished affection for dairy. I also don't mind the trimmer waistline and healthier digestion of a low-dairy diet.

But what do I call myself? An ovo-semilacto semipescetarian? Who's even going to know that that means?!? I don't want to come of like the diet-health snob I am, so I guess I'll just have to give curious parties the long-wonded version.

In the meantime, I plan to stick to this way of eating, while leaving room for the occasional deep fried (veggie) burgers at the summer Pow Wows.

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