Vegan and plant-based diets are popular diets because of their health benefits. A large number of people are ready to switch to a plant-based options. Some people may term it as “vegan” and others as “plant-based”. While they are similar in many aspects, there are some notable key differences between them.
A vegan diet doesn’t include any animal source. It’s an ethical and environmental diet too as it prevents the slaughtering of animals for food. Plant-based diets are primarily focused on fruits, vegetables, and whole foods avoiding processed foods. It may or may not involve meat and its sources. It’s the consumer’s choice.
Vegan diets
It started with the word veganism which means living in a way that avoids the consumption or exploitation of animals and their products. It primarily focuses on vegetarian products avoiding dairy, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and honey. Many people choose to follow a vegan diet for environmental reasons too. The rearing of animals and the processing industry can create a lot of harmful emissions like greenhouse gases.
Plant-based diet
A plant-based diet should include a healthful consumption of plant foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and healthy oils while reducing intake of less healthy plant foods as well as animal foods. The main part is having more whole foods and avoiding all the processed foods.
Difference between a vegan and plant-based diet
- A vegan diet is not necessarily as healthy as a plant-based diet, as it involves many processed and unhealthy foods like fried foods, chips, and chocolate among others which are suitable for a vegan diet.
- A vegan diet can include high-calorie vegan foods while the goal of a plant-based diet is to maximize the consumption of nutritious plant foods while minimizing processed foods.
- A vegan diet is completely vegetarian and there is no consumption of animal foods. A plant-based diet is primarily focused on whole foods, but still, some consumers have meats like lean meat and poultry occasionally.
- Vegan people avoid all the products made with animals and even boycott products made with animal testing. But plant-based diet people aren’t involved in avoiding the products or services that cause sufferings to animals.
- People adopting a plant-based diet see it as a positive food choice, but vegan as a lifestyle centered around animal rights and this extends out into other lifestyle choices like beauty, fashion, and homewares, which explains the key distinction between these two terms. A vegan diet revolves around ethics, while a plant-based diet goes for more healthy choices.
Choosing a diet is completely a personal choice. Here, the term vegan extends to lifestyle choice beyond the diet. A vegan lifestyle makes sure that no animal is harmed in any way. But plant-based diets are more personal and health concerned. Both are increasing in popularity and can be healthy when planned properly.
Plant Based Diets 