Vegan vs. Plant-Based

Why people are getting confused and how to choose what’s best for your health

I am totally sympathetic for the people who find it difficult keeping up with the everchanging lingo. Words are always changing and with that comes even more confusing definitions.

That’s why I try to give my more recent server some leniency for confusing “vegetarian” with “vegan” and proceeded to put butter in my potatoes and cheese in my lentils. If you are not a member of a particular community it is not always clear what particular words mean, although, if you are working in the food industry, I suggest you stay up to date for safety reasons.

Before we dive into the important differences between a plant-based and vegan diet we can go over some more commonly used terms:

Keto/ Ketogenic:

To be Keto means to be “low carb.” Some people take it as serious as to eliminate carbs completely whereas, others try to reduce their intake as much as possible. Out of the three macronutrients, Ketogenic’s get most of their calories from protein and fat. This enables their body to enter “ketosis” which allows some to burn fat quicker and therefore, lose weight. It does not necessarily promote a whole foods way of eating because their only restriction is our main source of energy, carbohydrates, while encouraging consumption of a large amount of animal foods.

Paleo:

Paleo diet followers get their diet from our Paleolithic ancestors or Stone-Age diet. Their belief is that humanity around that time was the healthiest we have ever been based on the amount of disease that existed. Despite living much shorter, Paleo’s still boast this diet that includes high in lean meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Although they encourage more fruit and vegetable consumption compared to Keto, they restrict legume intake claiming it is not part of the Paleo diet and promote high animal protein intake instead which is not better.

Vegetarian:

This diet is a little simpler to understand when you think about what one can’t eat vs what one can. Simply put, vegetarians do not eat any type of meat. Any meat products including chicken, turkey, pork, beef, fish, and processed meats are not on the menu for vegetarians.

Pescatarian:

Another less complex way of living, this lifestyle omits all aforementioned meats however, they continue the consumption of fish products. Often this is due to a difficulty to absorb omega 3 EPA and DHA that can only be retained from fish products. Most vegans obtain this fatty acid from algae like myself, which is actually where the fish get theirs from as well so it might be helpful for some to eliminate the middle man. On a separate tangent, the only fish declared entirely safe to eat is wild-caught salmon and some types of cod the other types have retained no nutritional value from their processing and are considered dangerous considering the rising mercury levels.

Vegan:

On that note, let’s get into understanding more about veganism. As many know but same may not, this has been my choice of living for 6 years now. People love to ask if I have slipped up once in a while, I’m not sure if it gives them pleasure to know that other people make mistakes, but you’ll find most vegans can confidently tell you no (unless I unknowingly bite into a spoonful of lentil marinara that is actually parmesan marinara …yuck).

However, for most, this is the most challenging lifestyle change you can make. In a world where it is clear we would always choose the quicker, less challenging option (the existence of fast food is the example of that), the complexity of veganism is too heavy a weight to bear.

I can understand the sentiment to a degree, however, as a strong advocate for healthy living, I believe nothing comes easy and sometimes we have to make long-term choices to receive long-term results.

The definition of veganism is to abstain from all animal products. It includes all meat products, eggs, all dairy products, gelatin (it is ground connective tissue from cows found in most candies…so gross), and for some vegans, honey. Honey is really the only optional decider for vegans. Other than that, I can confidently tell you that the tofu scramble you ate for breakfast followed by the oysters you had for lunch does not make you a vegan. And you trying to use and abuse the title is what causes the mass confusion. An occas-vegan is perhaps a more-fitting title.

Plant-Based:

So, enter plant-based. The term plant-based started making its rounds in mainstream media within the last couple years. Although nutritionists and health nerds alike already understood the term, it finally became a house-held term that brought immense confusion and headache for the vegans.

At first glance, the word contains, “plant,” so again I’ll throw a lob to those who thought it was interchangeable with vegan. But as we understood at the beginning, many lifestyle’s involve a high intake of plants, so what makes this one different?

Instead of focusing on the words “plant” focus on the word “based.”

To ensure clarity I will refer to Webster:

Based : have as the foundation for (something); use as a point from which (something) can develop.

Therefore, plants are the foundation or base, of the lifestyle of plant-based. It is the preferred diet for nutritionists to suggest to their clients because it allows for not as an abrupt change to their original diet while encouraging a high intake of plant foods.

On a plant-based person’s plate may be 2 cups of broccoli, an arugula salad, and a filet of salmon. The plants are taking up most of the space on the plate and are therefore, the base.

If you look at a whole day of eating, a plant-based lifestyle may look like a green juice and protein pancakes in the morning, big salad for lunch with legumes, and steamed veg with chicken tenderloins for dinner.

Most vegans, myself included, can be described as plant-based vegans. Which might sound ridiculous at first but, it makes it clear that at the center of my plate is always some sort of vegetable, and the rest of my plate is smaller amounts of a carb or a protein.

In any lifestyle, plants being the base should be the most important thing to focus on. Plant-based is described as being the most optimum diet for health, vitality, and longevity if you cannot commit to full-time veganism. Another way to describe plant-based is a Whole Foods diet.

The pyramid of this lifestyle places all unprocessed whole foods/vegetables at the top of the chart, whole grains next, legumes paired with leafy vegetables, and finally minimally processed plant foods which can include plant milks or tofu.

You will notice dairy, is completely omitted from this pyramid. There is strong evidence dairy products are related to our increase in disease so it has no place in the plant-based lifestyle.

“The evidence is overwhelming at this point. You eat more plants, you eat less other stuff, you live longer.” — Mark Bittman, TED talk

Gaining a stronger understanding on what it takes to eat healthy and right requires a lot of active reversal of previously understood convictions. The processed food epidemic is only one of the many reasons diseases have skyrocketed in the 21st century.

Congratulations, today you chose the slower, more thorough option when it comes to your health, you made it through this entire article.

Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, keto, paleo, pescatarian, or just an everyday omnivore, make it a point to be a plant-based version of whatever you are to be the best version of whatever you are.