What is Vegetarian, Vegan, Plant-based and Whole Food Plant Based Diet (eating)? Are These Same?

Plant-based diet, vegan diet, vegetarian diet, whole food plant-based diet??? What are they all? Are these same? Are they different? Let’s find out!

Vegetarian diet: Vegetarian diet are mainly categorized to two. Lacto ovo vegetarians and lacto vegetarians. Lacto-ovo vegetarians avoid meat and fish but include eggs and dairy in their diet whereas lactovegetarians avoid eggs. Vegetarian diet varies in terms of how much of plant foods it contains. Some people who eat dairy as major part of diet, and very little plant foods also count as vegetarians. So, it is just about what they exclude rather than what they include.

Plant based diet: Diet that primarily comprises of foods coming from plant sources is called plant-based diet. Generally, it refers to diet containing 100% foods of plant sources; however, some people might include animal products sometimes and still call it plant based diet. This means, plant-based diet apart from whole and minimally processed food groups, also includes processed plant-based foods such as french fries and refined flours.

Vegan diet: Vegan diet comes from the concept of veganism. Veganism, according to vegan society, is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans, and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.” So, now you know what vegan diet means. In vegan diet, the motive is animal welfare. However, it is important to note that, these days, people have begun to adopt the vegan way of eating for reasons other than animal welfare (such as health and the environment), and the term “vegan diet” is now used to denote any diet that eliminates animal products, regardless of motive.

Whole Food, plant-based diet: Whole foods are those which are mostly unprocessed and closest to its natural state. Plant based simply means the food come from plants and not animals. The food groups included are whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables and small quantities of nuts and seeds. WFPB is defined more by ‘what to include’ unlike vegan diet, which is defined more by what to exclude. WFPB has strong health ethos than ethical, however if you are following WFPB diets, you are already being ethical in terms of food at least. You may have seen some people who do not follow the philosophy of veganism but may eat whole food plant-based eating pattern. And yes, WFPB diets are more strict than vegan diet because processed food is kept to a minimum or avoided in WFPB. The table below might help you to find out what they are.

Takeaway: Vegetarian diet, vegan diet, plant-based diet and whole food plant-based diet are similar but differ in their approaches to nutrition, reasons to follow and foods to avoid.