{"id":97,"date":"2015-02-17T16:11:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T00:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pblife.org\/?p=97"},"modified":"2023-10-06T14:58:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T14:58:54","slug":"the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Vegan vs. Plant-Based Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong><em>\u201cThe more I learn, the more I realize how much I don&#8217;t know.\u201d Albert Einstein<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes it\u2019s just true.<\/p>\n<p>The more we talk about a subject (and we sure do all talk <em>a lot<\/em> about our diets and nutrition!), the less we really understand.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why it might be worthwhile to establish some <strong>clear<\/strong> vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s begin by entering squarely into the \u2018hot debate\u2019 of the differences (and similarities) between a vegan versus a whole food, plant-based diet.<\/p>\n<p>A whole food, plant-based diet is all about what it <strong><em>includes<\/em><\/strong>\u2014i.e. a plant-based diet that focuses on whole or minimally processed plants such as nuts, legumes, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and seeds while avoiding animal-derived foods. The main tenet behind a whole food, plant-based diet is that processing robs foods of their vital nutrients and their main purpose which is to nourish.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, vegan (a word coined as early as 1944 by the Vegan Society) is very much about what it <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">excludes<\/span><\/strong>\u2014any animal proteins or animal-based foods. Importantly however, a vegan diet can contain highly processed foods including cheese and meat substitutes as well as cookies and candies.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore for many vegans, their choices are not just about what they eat but encompass an entire philosophy of life which fights against all forms of animal abuse and exploitation. Simply put, vegans believe that animals shouldn\u2019t be treated as commodities in <em>any<\/em> way. Vegans don\u2019t wear animal skin and fur, don\u2019t use animal-based products in their households and reject any products of any kind which have been tested on animals.<\/p>\n<p>We would love to see more vegans embrace whole food, plant-based eating, and more whole food, plant-based eaters embrace vegan living. In the meantime, we should all strive for progress, not perfection, and aim for the highest quality nutrition possible while still taking into consideration animal welfare and the environment.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" alt=\"\" style=\"display:none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=1511995535726090&#038;ev=PixelInitialized\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe more I learn, the more I realize how much I don&#8217;t know.\u201d Albert Einstein Sometimes it\u2019s just true. The more we talk about a subject (and we sure do&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Great Vegan vs. Plant-Based Debate - Plant-Based Life Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you know the difference between a vegan diet and a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle? Find out in this article!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Great Vegan vs. Plant-Based Debate - Plant-Based Life Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you know the difference between a vegan diet and a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle? Find out in this article!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Plant-Based Life Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pblifeorg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-18T00:11:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-06T14:58:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/header-image_2-17.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2f44ba341014c90761202ec521ee17f6\"},\"headline\":\"The Great Vegan vs. Plant-Based Debate\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-18T00:11:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-06T14:58:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\"},\"wordCount\":324,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/header-image_2-17.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/\",\"name\":\"The Great Vegan vs. Plant-Based Debate - Plant-Based Life Foundation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/lifestyle\/the-great-vegan-vs-plant-based-debate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pblife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/header-image_2-17.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-18T00:11:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-06T14:58:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you know the difference between a vegan diet and a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle? 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