What Is A Vegan?
What Is A Vegan? Vegans come in the “ethical vegan” variety and the “dietary vegan” variety. In its purest form a vegan was a person who did not believe killing animals for food or for making products.
Due to the rising awareness of the health benefits of a vegan diet and celebrity supporters like Jay Z, Beyoncé, Bill Clinton, Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres, and Carrie Underwood, the term “vegan” and “veganism” has been more closely associated with people who only to not consume animal products.
Many pure vegans felt the term “vegan” had been co-opted by people who didn’t eat animal-based eats but used animal products. “Pure” vegans felt the latter vegans still supported animal cruelty and didn’t deserve to be considered being a vegan.
A distinction had to be made and the term “ethical vegan” was made refer to people who did not eat animal-based food, use animal products, or support “animal cruelty,” and the term “dietary vegan” was used to refer to people who only consumes a plant-based diet
Ethical vegans, like those who belong to PETA, may not approach eating a plant-based diet in the way most “dietary vegans” do. Ethical vegans don’t eat meat products because they believe it supports animal cruelty and they believe humans don’t have the right to eat animals.
Since this is their primary point of view, ethical vegans will avoid eating meat products and their focus may not be on eating the healthiest plant-based foods. An ethical vegan’s diet can easily be an unhealthy plant-based diet consisting of foods like processed bread, pastries, candy, processed sugar, and processed fat.
Though these foods are plant-based they are still unhealthy and support the development and proliferation of chronic diseases. In general, dietary vegans concern is to eat the best plant foods that support the reversal of disease, while avoiding the consumption of pathogen and toxin laden meat, dairy, and processed foods that promote the proliferation of disease.
There is cross between both categories of vegans. There are ethical vegans who are equally as concerned with eating the healthiest plant foods and lean towards eating a whole food plant based diet.
Though dietary vegans may wear clothing made from animals, many dietary vegans also choose to avoid eating animal products to avoid supporting the cruelty of the factory-farming processing of animals.
The official Paul McCartney video “Glass Walls” gives a look into the once hidden horrific conditions factory-farmed animals are put through from life until death.
