Plant-based is not the same as Vegan!

Today everyone is talking about plant-based diets but what are we really talking about when we use this term? Many people use it as a synonym for vegan or vegetarian but it’s NOT the same!

Plant-based means that plants are the BASE of the diet but can be complemented by up to 25% of animal products!

Vegetarians eat no meat or fish but they do eat eggs and dairy products.

Vegans avoid ALL animal products, both in their diet and in their life. Veganism can be described as 100% plant-based, although that is not entirely true either, because “plant-based” refers to the plants in their natural and complete state and you can be vegan without eating any “whole” foods.

Using “plant-based”, vegetarian and vegan as synonyms becomes an issue when studies that show the benefits of plant-based diets (such as the Mediterranean diet), which can contain up to 25% animal foods, are used as evidence to support a vegan lifestyle … when in truth they have nothing to do with each other.

It is a very “unscientific” error to conclude that if a diet that consists of 75%-90% plants works well, 100% will even be better… Including just 10% of animal products in ones diet (a percentage often applied in Chinese medicine) makes a GREAT difference to health and fertility, both human and planetary, especially in the long run.

My own diet is definitely plant-based (much more than that of many vegans) but complemented with animal foods – all in high QUALITY – a much more decisive factor than plant versus animal… and something that is often not even mentioned – as if eating plants was sufficient no matter the quality!

Let’s be precise and clear with the words we use to avoid comparing apples with pears.