Plant based vs vegan lifestyle
Let me explain to you the difference between Whole food plant based lifestyle and Vegan lifestyle.
Whole food plant based lifestyle
Focuses on unprocessed, unrefined or minimally refined plant food like beans, legumes, veggies, fruit, whole grains, nuts and seeds and excludes animal products. Following this lifestyle doesn’t mean that one ignores the ethical implications but this lifestyle centres on the way of eating itself.
Vegan lifestyle
Being a vegan (noun) is a lifestyle choice that involves both politics and personal beliefs (ethics). Vegans don’t eat any animal products and also from the ethical point of view they avoid wearing leather, fur, wool and silk. Products which are tested on animals, such as some cosmetics, are not used either. Even products that come from insects such as honey and beeswax are generally not considered vegan or suitable for vegans.
Lets see the difference of these two lifestyle in the following examples:
While a whole food plant based meal would be considered as vegan (adjective), a person who follows a whole food plant based lifestyle is not necessarily a vegan (noun).
E.g. someone can follow a whole food plant based lifestyle but still wear wool or use cosmetic that have been tested on animals.
On the other side, any meal that is considered as vegan (adjective) may not be whole food based.
E.g. Coca cola is vegan because it doesn’t contain any animal products. But it is far from being a natural unrefined product. It is heavily processed.
That is why coca cola is considered vegan but not whole food product.
E.g. Oreo biscuits are vegan. They don’t contain any animal products. However it is not what I would call whole food product.
Can you see the difference?
You could live on convenient crisps, chips, white bread, white pasta, refined sugar cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks and still be vegan, but you wouldn’t follow whole food plant based lifestyle. In fact, you could be a vegan and never eat anything that looks like or resembles a plant.
Just for you to remember that not every person who is following whole food plant based lifestyle is a vegan and not every vegan follows a whole food based way of eating.
How you decide to live is completely up to you. In this article I just wanted to show the difference between these two lifestyles.
From my heart to yours
Inkka💕
Learn about
Whole food plant based lifestyle
My journey to plant based lifestyle
Health benefits of whole food plant based lifestyle
Environmental benefits of plant based lifestyle
Why to live zero waste lifestyle
