Let’s talk about the differences between a wholefoods plant-based vs a vegan lifestyle, and where these overlap.
Veganism is on the rise, a movement getting stronger every day, yet it still holds a negative association in the minds of so many. I often still receive “funny” memes of skeletal vegans with grey, gaunt faces and dark circles underneath their eyes and even though the jokes are getting old, I still hear them all the time on talk shows, in television series and movies.
Many famous people have become vegan over the years, and although some fell off the meatless wagon many have been vegan for a big chunk of their lives already. Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Woody Harrelson, Moby, Joaquin Phoenix, Alicia Silverstone, Pamela Anderson, Billy Eilish, and many more are examples that not every vegan is “destroying” their health, or trying to make you eat lettuce all the time. Being vegan has become fashionable to some, but to most it means a lot more than that.
So what does it mean to be vegan? And what is the difference with being “plant-based”? The below video is a great starting point to understand the difference, and I will explain a bit more thereafter.
So, purely looking at what a vegan eats, it does indeed focus mainly on what a vegan diet excludes: all animal-based products (meat, dairy, eggs, fish and honey). A plant-based diet on the other hand focuses mainly on what it includes, eg a variety of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
Does this mean a plant-based person never eats animal based products? Not necessarily. Someone who is plant-based may be (varies per person) more flexible (this is where the term “flexitarian” comes from) when on holiday for instance, and eat some fish, and does not mind so much when the cake at a wedding contains eggs, or honey. They figure that a little bit of animal product here and there won’t hurt their health, which is often their primary focus for being plant-based, and from a health perspective this is certainly true.
And this is where veganism differs.
A vegan reckons that no, a bit of fish or meat, or an egg here or there does not really affect your health, but it definitely matters to the animal who gave his or her life to end up on your plate, or who is being exploited all his or her life until the day comes when they are no longer profitable, and they are shipped off to the slaughterhouse.
Someone who is plant-based thinks primarily about his or her own health, whereas a vegan thinks primarily about the animals in the industrialised food industries. For a vegan it’s not about food, it’s about animal rights, and the unimaginable suffering that animals endure in the meat, dairy, egg, fish, fur and entertainment industries.
The eyes of a vegan are wide open to the realities of the world, and the broken food systems we have created, in which animals have become commodities. But to a vegan, animals are “someone’s”, not property but companions, who can feel and experience pain, stress, anxiety and loneliness, just like we do. Vegans constantly wonder: “would we do this to our pets, or our human brothers and sisters”?
So, in the vegan world, there is no flexibility when it comes to his or her diet. To someone who is truly vegan at heart, it has become as unimaginable to eat anything animal-based as it is to eat our dogs, or cats, or another human. There are no “flexitarian” vegans. Additionally, once a vegan has aligned his or her values with this compassionate way of viewing the world, there is simply no way back.
And so being vegan becomes a lifestyle, more than “just a diet”. For the same reasons vegans say no to all animal-derived foods, they also avoid wearing things like wool, and leather, or using skincare products that contain animal-derived ingredients.
When it comes to diet, vegans do have a choice to make, however. Many crisps, cookies, chocolates, alcoholic drinks and soda’s are vegan, but that does not make them healthy. Wholefoods are. Personally, I want to be the healthiest vegan I can be, so I am a wholefoods plant-based vegan. My diet consists primarily of fresh vegs, fruits, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and more than 6 years in, I am thriving.
All people who have access to markets and shops make a similar choice: harm or health.
So when you see a vegan who is overweight, or looking gaunt and skinny, remember that they may have underlying health conditions, or – most likely – are making similar (harmful) choices as the majority of the population who are still including animal-based products.
Yes, they are harming themselves, but at least they are not harming animals.
What we eat matters. To ourselves, but also to the world around us. As consumers the ultimate power lies with us. With our wallets we shape the world we live in, and with every meal we decide whether animals suffer or not.
