Do you ask yourself what is the difference?

Every year more grocery stores and restaurants are becoming vegan friendly or vegetarian friendly. You may ask yourself is there even a difference? I am here to explain to you that yes there is a difference.

Firstly, a vegan diet can be seen as more “restricting” than a vegetarian diet, but both doable. Secondly, a vegetarian diet is more common than a vegan diet.

What is a Vegan diet?

A Vegan diet is a plant-based diet. Vegans do not eat any product that comes from an animal.

Vegans stay away from:

• Dairy (yogurt, cheese, sour cream, cow/goat milk)
• Eggs
• Meat products (beef, pork, chicken)
• Fish or seafood
• Gelatine (animal stock found in sweets)
• Honey (yes honey. Save the bees)

What is a vegetarian diet?

Eating vegetarian is similar to eating vegan, but not quite.

Vegetarians stay away from:

• Meat products (beef, pork, chicken)
• Fish or seafood
• Gelatine (animal stock found in sweets)

Vegetarians do eat but vegans do not:

• eggs
• honey
• dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.)

Side by side difference

Vegans do not eat any byproduct that comes from an animal. Vegetarians will eat products from an animal if it is produced naturally. An example would be a chicken laying an egg or milk coming from a cow.

Vegans will go to the extent to make it their lifestyle. For instance, certain vegans will not wear clothing that is made from animals. A few examples are leather, and fur made from animals skin or fur. However, some vegetarians will also have the same beliefs about wearing clothing made from animal skin.

Secondly, vegans will not drink milk from any animal. A few examples of milks that vegans do drink are; oat milk, almond milk, and/or soy milk etc. On the other hand, vegetarians may drink these specific milks as well, but they can also drink regular cow or goat milk. It is a vegetarians preference.

Side by side similarities

As stated before vegan and vegetarian similarity is they both do not eat meat from an animal. For example, fish, chicken, beef, and pork.

Vegans and vegetarians will for the most part stay away from products that are tested on animals. They will look for cosmetic products that will strictly say “cruelty free”. Vegans will go to the extent to check that all products are vegan as well as cruelty free.

Eating Vegetarian before vegan?

I recommend transitioning to a vegetarian diet before going vegan. It is a smoother transition and will help your body adjust to cutting out animal products. There are great alternatives to animal’s products that can be implemented in your daily life. Once your body has adjusted to not eating animal products it is easier to start eating vegan.

Vegetarians eating vegan food

Vegetarians do not only eat food that is vegetarian. They will also eat food that is vegan. In their case it is easier to eat something that is labeled vegan rather than something else that is not labeled vegan. When a food is not labeled vegan or vegetarian you will have to check each ingredient on the back of the product. This sounds intimidating, but I can assure you it is not.

When I first transitioned I stayed away from products that are not labeled as vegan. It was easier than learning how to read nutritional facts on products. However, once I learned it became second nature.

Conclusion

To conclude, eating vegan and eating vegetarian can sound the same, but it is not. However, they do have similarities which makes it a bit difficult to differentiate. There is a small boundary between eating vegan and vegetarian. Vegetarians are able to eat vegan food, but vegans can not eat most vegetarian foods. Since they include dairy, eggs and honey.

You may be thinking that you can see yourself eating vegetarian, but never vegan. Your reasoning may be because you love cheese too much or milk. I was in the same position as you, but I did it. I still enjoyed my favorite foods that included alternatives for the cheese that I loved so much. For example, I made a spinach artichoke dip that tasted cheesy, but had no cheese. My point is the fear of missing out on your favorite food should not be a fear. You will experience many new foods and your taste buds will expand for the better.

Can you see yourself making this transition? Check out my other posts about how to transition to a vegan diet.

Written with love,