FAQs: Most common questions and answers around veganism
Vegan and plant-based diets and lifestyles are more and more prominent in our modern society and media. Here, we answer the most frequent questions (FAQ) around veganism and a plant-based way of eating, including general questions, nutritional concerns, health aspects and questions regarding specific food items.
What is a vegan diet?
A vegan diet excludes all animal products, including meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and other derivatives like gelatin. The goal is to reduce harm to animals wherever possible and practicable, often considering ethical, environmental, and health-related reasons.
What is a plant-based diet?
A plant-based diet is primarily or exclusively composed of plant foods, with animal products either completely or mostly omitted. The reasons for choosing a plant-based diet often centre on personal health and well-being, rather than the ethical consideration of reducing harm to animals.
What’s the difference between vegan and plant based?
While both diets exclude animal products, a vegan diet is rooted in ethical concerns about animal cruelty, whereas a plant-based diet mainly focuses on health. Vegans follow a plant-based diet by default, even if health is not their focus, but plant-based individuals may still use leather or other animal products outside of their diet.
What’s the benefit of a vegan diet?
A well-balanced vegan diet, rich in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds, offers numerous scientifically supported health benefits, including a significantly reduced risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and certain types of cancer over time.
Are vegan and vegetarian the same?
No, a vegan diet is not the same as a vegetarian diet. While vegetarians avoid the flesh (meat) and collagen (gelatine) of animals, they still consume dairy products, eggs, and honey. Vegans, on the other hand, do not consume any animal-derived products and focus exclusively on plant-based foods.
Why are vegan products more expensive?
Vegan food is not necessarily more expensive than non-vegan food. Sticking to a whole food plant-based diet, centered around grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds is often cheaper than a meat-based diet. However, vegan processed foods can be more expensive than their animal-based counterparts, largely due to government subsidies for meat and dairy production.
Why is veganism so popular?
Veganism has gained significant popularity in recent years, largely due to growing awareness of its benefits for health, animal welfare, and the environment. Both mainstream media and social media have played a key role in driving this trend, with increasingly frequent coverage of veganism-related topics and discussions.
Where do vegans get protein?
Vegans obtain protein from a wide variety of plant-based foods. Consuming a diverse range of plant foods supplies the body with all essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. The human body can then convert and utilize these amino acids to construct the specific proteins it requires for repair and growth.
What vegan foods are high in protein?
Vegan foods that are high in protein include legumes such as beans and lentils, soy products like tofu and tempeh, as well as nuts and seeds. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale, along with green leafy vegetables like spinach and watercress, also provide a notable amount of protein compared to their carbohydrate and fat content.
Is honey vegan?
No, honey is not considered vegan. It is an animal product that would not exist without the hard labour of bees. The process involves bees collecting nectar from flowers, which is then broken down by enzymes in the bee’s stomach. The bee then regurgitates the liquid into another bee’s mouth, and this is repeated until it is eventually stored in the honeycomb. While it wouldn’t be inherently anti-vegan to consume an animal’s vomit, there are two main reasons why honey is not compatible with veganism. Firstly, the queen bee’s wings are often cut so she cannot relocate. Secondly, some worker bees inevitably die during the human harvest of honey from the combs.
Is veganism good for the environment?
Compared to a conventional diet, veganism is considered better for the environment for several reasons. The main idea is that it takes far fewer resources to feed 8 billion humans a plant-based diet than to grow grains and soy to feed 80 billion land animals who are bred, raised, fattened, and killed for food every year.