You may believe a Plant Based Diet is the same as a Vegan Diet and in many ways they are very similar.  Both plant based diets and vegan diets eliminate all animal products, however a vegan diet is an ethical diet.  People go “vegan” because they care about the animals and the environment.  They don’t want to do any harm to animals and therefore take a social stand to not contribute to the mistreatment and slaughter of animals for food.

A Plant Based Diet is generally pursued for health and healing purposes.  It eliminates most processed and unhealthy foods, including meat, dairy and eggs which are high in saturated fat.  A plant based diet is naturally lower in fat and rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains.  People choose this diet to heal disease, lose weight or to just be healthier.

A vegan diet isn’t necessarily a healthy diet.  Chips, sodas, some cookies, some fake meats, white flour and sugar are vegan but not a part of a healthy diet.  Although eating these things don’t contribute to the harm of animals, they do contribute to the harm of our health.

There are people who are both plant based and vegan, meaning they have chosen to eliminate animal products from their diet for both ethical and health reasons.  They choose to eat healthy, consuming an abundance of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and whole grains to support optimum health but have the added benefit of doing no harm to animals.

Although a Plant Based Diet is recommended by many health professionals for better heart health, to reduce the risk of cancer and other disease and for weight loss, a vegan diet in itself is not recommended for the stated reasons.  However many people use the term “vegan” and “plant-based” interchangeably.  A diet where one does not consume animal products is often referred to as a vegan diet and some will call it a whole food, plant-based, vegan diet.  Vegan is often the default term used to describe a food that does not contain meat, dairy or eggs.