A lot of people assume that a whole food plant-based diet and a vegan diet are the same things. It is not hard to understand why you would make this assumption. Both diets involve eating food that does not contain any animal products. So, there are some major similarities. However, the approach is different between the two diets, and this is something that we are going to discuss in further detail in this blog post.
What is a vegan diet?
Let’s begin by taking a look at the vegan diet. A vegan diet will not include any animal products or any animal-by products. However, this does not give any indication about the sort of food that a vegan should be eating. For example, a vegan could simply live off soft drinks and chips, day-in, day-out, and they would still be adhering to the rules of veganism.
As more and more people are turning to vegan diets, the selection of fake ‘meat’ products seems to be growing by the day. There are more options to select from than there ever has been. While these sorts of food products may not contain any animal products in them, they can still be high in salt, fat, and calories. In fact, they can be comparable to the animal-based original on all of these factors, and so you need to ask yourself whether products like this are going anything good for your health.
How does a whole food plant-based diet differ?
A whole-food, plant-based diet is one that centres on foods that have not been processed and are unrefined and whole. It is made up of seeds, nuts, legumes, beans, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit.
Like a vegan diet, you are not going to be eating any eggs, dairy products, or meat if you follow a whole-food, plant-based diet. However, there are some further restrictions as well, meaning you should stay away of most processed and refined foods also. Examples of this include processed oils, refined sugars, white flours, and also white grains.
The terms plant-based and whole-food both describe food that is made from whole plants and has not been refined in any shape or form. However, a vegan diet extends beyond plant-based foods.
Hopefully, you can now understand the difference between a plant-based nutrition diet and a diet that simply eliminates all animal and animal by-products. As you can see, there are certainly some similarities when it comes to a vegan diet and a whole food, plant-based diet. After all, both diets involve not eating any meat or any animal by-products. However, this does not mean that they are the same thing. It simply means that they share an important principle. With a whole food diet, there are greater restrictions because more emphasis is placed on ensuring the food that is being consumed is healthy and has not been refined in any manner.
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