We've all heard of different diets that claim to help you slim down, get more energy, or feel more hydrated. Whether that's eating or avoiding certain foods, tracking things like your intake and exercise, or doing things on a certain schedule, the thing most traditional diets have in common is calorie restriction. Today's topic is vegetarian/vegan/plant-based eating! Let's talk about what it all means and if this way of eating fits into diet culture or not.
People ask me a lot what the difference is between vegetarian and vegan eating. I totally understand why it can be confusing! Especially because within both of those terms, there is quite a bit of variety and debate as far as what's acceptable - are eggs and dairy ok? What about fish? Some even avoid honey! What?
Basically, what they have in common is a focus on "plant-based" eating: mainly consuming fruits, vegetables, grains, and non-meat proteins such as beans, nuts, and seeds - simply put: plants, not animals. I'll get into more details in a bit. They are both also not a new concept! It may have seemed to become trendy in just the last decade or so, but that's not the case. Whether it's for religious reasons, wanting to avoid animal cruelty, or out of financial necessity, avoiding meat and other animal products such as fur and leather was first noted in Egyptian times. Vegetarian and vegan recipes first started becoming more mainstream in the U.S. in the last century, particularly in the 1970s, when there was a lot of concern in times of war about bettering the world as far as the environment which extended to our diet, and influenced an increased interest in gardening (think Victory Gardens and organic gardening). One of the most popular books of the time was Frances Moore Lappé's 1971 Diet for a Small Planet, but there were others that helped vegetable-centric cooking become more popular. However, with this comes some good and bad news.
Firstly, the vegan and vegetarian recipes weren't always all that great - they were often just family recipes made with omitted or substituted meat, rather than letting the plants themselves shine with their color, flavor, and nourishing qualities. Have you ever tried to "healthify" a recipe by switching out ground turkey for ground beef to try to lower the fat content? Was it a flawless swap? Of course not! They're literally different animals! It often doesn't quite work when you change out ingredients without any regard to the ingredient's purpose or characteristics, particularly in baking. Unfortunately, this challenge does turn away some less adventurous or flexible people looking to try out a recipe for Meatless Monday. We've come a long way, and there are some amazing meatless recipes out there that use either whole plant foods or a manufactured meat substitute, but we weren't always so lucky to have soy milk, tofu, and Beyond burgers readily available at the nearest grocery store.
Secondly, the American diet at the time was heavily focused on "meat & potato" dishes with fruits and vegetables as an aside, meaning high-fat and low-fiber consequences to health. When you only have a small portion of a vegetable at meals (or even worse, just at dinner), you miss out on a lot of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Same thing with low fruit consumption, or mostly just having some fruit juice with breakfast - you're not getting enough fiber or micronutrients. Also, dairy and meat are sources of omega 6 fatty acids or saturated fats - also known as the "unhealthy" fats. Unsaturated fats are the "healthy" kind of fats, which are found in plants, such nuts and seeds, and fish. There are a couple exceptions to this rule, such as coconut oil being plant-based but a saturated fat, but you get the idea.
Where this all fits into diet trends is a shift in diet culture to low-fat everything leading into the 80s and 90s. Less fat means less flavor and, very often, added sugar. Why? Sugar is another flavor component, so it makes sense that if you take away one (fat), you increase another to make up for it (sugar). We see this in frozen yogurt and low-fat ice cream a lot. As you're likely aware, we have shifted over now to an obsession with low-carb and/or high-protein everything, and with this comes artificial sweeteners. With our ice cream example in mind, the first thing that comes to mind is Halo Top "ice cream" (which reeks of diet culture). Anyway, the current concern with vegetarians and vegans is not getting enough protein and/or getting too many carbs, because without meat, whatever will we do?
Never fear! Firstly, There are tons of plant sources of protein. Secondly, scientists and dietitians have known for decades that well-planned veg-centric diets were healthy, suitable, and attainable for all stages of the human life cycle. A plant-based diet tends to be higher in the good stuff such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water. Specific micronutrients we gain when eating more plants include magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals. We also tend to take in less saturated fat and cholesterol, which is great for our overall health! That being said, a plant-based diet can also be lower in calories, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, iodine, zinc, and calcium. Lower, not lacking. Lower, meaning it's not as easy to get all the micronutrients your body needs if you're not aware of how to properly start eating more plant-based. The easiest swap for a cup of dairy milk, for example, is a fortified soy milk - it's the closest thing to dairy milk without the less-healthy fats, cholesterol, and animal cruelty. Soy in general is a good source of low-fat protein! It is cholesterol-free, has less saturated fat than dairy milk, and lowers the LDL in the body. Cow's milk does have more calcium than soy, but there are plenty of plant-based sources of calcium. Add calcium-rich foods such as spinach and tofu to your daily routine. Also make sure to prioritize healthy fats like nuts & seeds. Same thing with vitamin B12 - you can get it with tempeh, nutritional yeast, etc. If you are allergic to soy, or just want to insure against any deficiencies, you can get a dietary supplement - ask your friendly dietitian for recommendations! :)
Overall, vegans and vegetarians actually have some of the best diets possible - when you think of the healthiest diets in our current culture's mind, such as the Mediterranean or Japanese/Okinawa diet, you'll notice there isn't a whole lot of meat, but a ton of plant-based options, with some lean fish and/or poultry as an option. Compare this to the sad mess of an American diet that still includes meat & potato meals with some new trends that aren't all that healthy, tasty, or both, plus plenty of marketing screaming at every turn: "Eat this healthy thing, but also have some fried foods because you know you want to. Oh, you succumbed to the pressure? Now you're a fat failure! Get on a treadmill, loser."
All that to say: yes, plant-based, or vegan, is the way to go. As I mentioned before though, within vegetarianism/veganism itself, there are some debates and differences. Plant-based is a general and oft-debated term; it essentially means to eat mostly, if not all, plants - a decline or stop in purchasing and consumption of animal products. It gets a little messier when you add in environmental and ethical things as well as the food component. Let's start with the dietary differences, as that's why we're here, and then get into the other different approaches.
Veganism as a diet means not purchasing or consuming any animals or animal products, so meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, etc is off the table (see what I did there?) but everything else is all good! How that differs from vegetarianism is that a vegetarian will not eat meat or poultry, but will sometimes eat eggs, dairy, fish, or a combination of those. For example, a lacto-ovo vegetarian will eat pretty much anything besides fish, poultry, and meat. A pescatarian is essentially a vegan that also eats fish. Here's where it gets a little tricky: some vegans will also avoid honey for environmental and/or ethical reasons.
Why not eat animal products? For one thing, like we mentioned before, there is an overall lower saturated fat consumption with a veggie-centric diet which lowers our risk of health issues such as heart disease. There's also a huge concern about animal welfare. It's incredibly sad, and PETA often uses slaughterhouse horrors for the shock value. I personally do not support PETA's efforts at all, for that and other reasons I will mention in a bit. An ethical vegan is someone who not only excludes animal products from their diet but also tries to avoid using animal products as well as anything tested on animals. Environmental veganism is avoidance of animal products on the grounds that the industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable for the earth.
Personally, I eat mostly plant-based, but I am not a strict vegan; I often describe myself as a plant-based or vegan-ish flexitarian, or just a flexitarian for short. I am one of those lactose-intolerant people where I will (if no good vegan options exist) eat dairy yogurt, cheese, and ice cream but too much bothers my stomach so I much prefer vegan versions. Milk is a different story - I don't drink dairy milk at all, I much prefer soy milk. I do eat poultry (chicken, turkey, duck) and beef, but no pork or seafood, thanks. I definitely prefer vegan food overall and I will seek out 100% vegan restaurants over anything else, but I don't stress or judge others who aren't vegan. I do not avoid honey. I think animal farming is unsustainable and cruel, and I make an effort to buy cruelty-free beauty products and vegan leather. I believe we should celebrate everyone's baby steps towards going vegan. Practice makes progress, after all. Not everyone can switch from omnivore to herbivore overnight. I didn't! Even if someone switches up to one vegan day a week that is something to celebrate, then hopefully they go to 2-3 days a week and we can celebrate even more. All efforts help to minimize suffering and negative environmental impacts.
Unfortunately, some strict vegans are really crass and rude. Veganism has such a bad reputation from the die-hard vegans that can't accept that some people aren't yet ready to change a whole lifetime's worth of eating habits, especially when everyone else around them is eating meat and other animal products. Yes, animals are still being killed, but far less are. If we encourage people who are trying, and show how amazing vegan food is, then more people will slowly make the switch to permanently plant-based.
Not only are there new vegan alternatives to items that traditionally included animal products in their manufacture, we have raised awareness of the everyday items we consume that have always been free of animal products. I hadn't considered a person's first nudge would be vegan products we don't ingest. People are very protective of the idea of eating meat.