When it comes to eating habits, one needs to determine what dietary lifestyle would best suit you and of course the impact on nature. As people far to often try and ignore the obvious facts that animals are not treated “nicely”, but rather are literally abused, beaten, tortured and are reared in an environment that has to have a PG18 rating when being viewed on TV or social media.
Due to this insanity, old ways of eating were brought back to firstly save the planet and then people.
Vegetarians and vegans are two such groups of people. Shying away from any meal that contains the flesh of once living beings, these men and women are often misunderstood and seen as downright strange. After all, who can resist a good old-fashioned braai? Who has ever said no to a tantalising double cheese burger? Who in their right mind would say no to mutton curry? Yet, these people do exist, in their millions.
However, while meat eaters struggle to grasp how a person can give up meat, one of the biggest misconceptions about vegans and vegetarians, is that they follow the same diet. What? Not at all. In fact, there is a vast difference between the two groups.
So, here are the differences between vegans and vegetarians. Some food for thought.
What are vegetarians?
Vegetarians often choose this lifestyle because of a respect for living beings, health related reasons or religious reasons to name but the main reasons. Vegetarianism is when an individual abstains from the consumption of meat, as well as meat by-products which are obtained through slaughtering an animal or through cruel practices.
Within this group, there are six sub-groups which are:
Ovo-vegetarian: This is a diet which includes eggs but not dairy products.
Lacto-vegetarian: This is a diet which includes dairy products, but no eggs.
Ovo-lacto vegetarian: This is when an individual who follows a diet containing both eggs and dairy products.
Semi-vegetarian: This is where people consider mammals as meat animals and will eat fish or poultry.
Pescetarian: While this is a mainly vegetarian diet, it does include fish and other seafood as food.
Pollotarianism: This vegetarian diet allows chicken as a food source.
Pollo-pescetarian: This vegetarian diet includes poultry and fish.
What is veganism?
Vegans follow a diet which excludes all animal products and by-products. This includes dairy, eggs and even honey. Vegans will also normally go as far as to avoid animal products such as leather, silk, wool and other animal derivatives.
Within this group, there are three sub-groups:
Raw veganism: This is where people follow a diet of fresh and uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds and veggies. While some of the vegetables can be cooked, they should only be cooked up to a certain temperature.
Fruitarianism: This diet only allows people to eat fruit, nuts, seeds and other plant substances which can be collected without hurting the plant.
Macrobiotic diets: This diet is not for the faint of heart, as it consists of mainly whole grains and beans.
But, is following either of these two lifestyles even healthy? Don’t we need meat in our diets? After all, we are omnivores, aren’t we? Well that’s what we were taught.
While some might not consider either of these lifestyle choices as healthy, years of studies show that vegans and vegetarians are often way healthier than their meat-eating counterparts. Wait, what? How can that be?
A well-planned vegan diet is richer in certain nutrients, providing more fibre, antioxidants and beneficial plant compounds, true protein, carbs etc. In fact, they also seem to be richer in potassium, magnesium and Vitamin A, C and E.
Both veganism and vegetarianism support a healthy body weight. This is a score if you are pursuing the ultimate summer body. Meat is meant to be consumed by animals who can process it, just the same as consuming grass, only animals who have the digestive system to support it, should eat it.
Vegetarians are not as likely to have a heart attack as meat eaters. This is because a vegetable rich diet is filled with anti-oxidants, which reduces the chances of heart disease. On top of this, meat and veggies both contain cholesterol, however the cholesterol found in animal products, stick to the walls of our arteries causing blockages, whereas veggie cholesterol passes straight through us.
In fact, due to the high number of anti-oxidants in a well-planned vegan and vegetarian diet, you can minimise your chances of getting certain types of cancer, such as breast, colon and prostate but to name a few. Yes your body dies from eating death, that is poetic to say the least.
Both a vegan and vegetarian diet helps reduce your chance of getting diabetes. The Loma Linda University of Public Health and the George Washington University School of Medicine confirmed the benefits of a vegetarian diet when managing diabetes and even reducing the chances of getting it.
While the list of health benefits goes on and on and on, for some, veering away from meat might seem a daunting experience. As this entails you giving up biltong and that tender piece of steak that smells so good on the grill. But then again dying of cancer or being obese with heart disease, should motivate any person away from silly jokes and their taste-buds.
And if that is not motivation enough, grab your kids and show them where their “food” comes from and if you can still eat meat after that, well…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pixGkSFBty0
