Vegan Diet – An Overview

Last year, the world witnessed heights of Veganism. The latter trended to the extent that several renowned platforms, such as The Economist and Forbes, declared 2019 as the Vegan Year. Can you imagine? An entire dedicated to the concept of a Vegan diet?

But why? What is Veganism all about? Why is it getting so much attention globally? What’s so wrong with eating meat and animal-driven food products?

Well, we, too, were a bit taken aback and overwhelmed by similar questions. So, let’s figure out the answers to these now and together!

Veganism – What is it all about?

Well, to tell you the actual truth, a Vegan diet is nothing new. The concept came into existence centuries ago. But it became more known when Donald Watson co-founded the society, wherein he used the term Vegan as the official name to describe the practice of avoiding animal food for ethical and moral reasons.

With the establishment of this society, the world started acknowledging the presence of vegetarians. Over time, restaurants started serving vegan food; chefs started experimenting and introducing vegan recipes and ingredient alternatives. Nutritionists started composing vegan diet charts for interested individuals, and whatnot. Eventually, a group of few individuals became a whole movement, and Veganism now exists as a complete ideology with millions of followers across the globe.

But what’s the motivation? Why would someone quit the consumption of very tasty and nutritious meaty products?

Here’s a list of reason why vegans don’t eat meat or avoid animal products:

• It is unethical and immoral. Vegans believe that animals have emotions, and hence, should not be a food source.
• Animal farming is bad for the environment.
• Animal-derived products and meat could lead to the development of serious health issues.
• It helps to lose weight and maintain a slim figure.

And the list goes on. However, to date, there’s a strong debate about whether the practice is just or not. Several types of research have proven the fact that vegan diets often lead to serious health issues. And these damages may be so huge that even if we consider all the pros of the vegan diet collectively, the pros will always fall short.

Nevertheless, let’s evaluate the vegan diet in further depth.

Types of Vegan Diet

Generally, there are six different types of vegan diets. Let’s have a look at each:

• Whole-food Vegan Diet: As the name suggests, this type of vegan diet comprises whole foods obtained from plants. These include legumes, whole grains, nuts, vegetables, fruits, and seeds. You will find these creatively incorporated in several vegan recipes, a few ideas of which you can find below.

• Raw-food Vegan Diet: Like the whole-food vegan diet, the raw-food vegan diet also comprises nuts, fruits, legumes, etc. However, the difference here is that the components of this type of vegan diet get consumed in their raw form. At most, you can cook them at 118°F or 48°C.

• The Thrive Diet: It involves the usage of raw vegan food, which gets cooked minimally.

80/10/10 is also a similar sub-type of this vegan diet. It limits fat-rich plant foods. Thus, it is also known as a low-fat, raw-food vegan diet. 

• Junk-food Vegan Diet: Yes. You read that, right! Even a vegan diet can become a victim of junk alternatives and deteriorate health. In this case, junk food includes fries, cheeses, mock meats, vegan desserts, and heavily processed vegan foodstuffs. Vegans who rely on these save the mother nature but remain unable to help themselves!

• The Starch Solution: As the name suggests, the starch solution is a type of vegan diet that revolves around carbs. Increasing the carbohydrates intake aims to increase the supply of energy to the vegan individual and fulfill the daily needs. It focuses more on cooked potato, rice, and another carb-rich plant foodstuff than fruits.

• Raw-food till Four: Next comes the vegan trend of Raw-Food till four. In this diet, one has to consume only low-carb vegan food until 4 pm. It gets followed by a plant-based meal for dinner. Also, it got inspired by the 80/10/10 vegan diet as well as starch solution.  

Some Popular Vegetarian Recipes

If someone tells you that Veganism will limit your options for dishes to savor, we’d advise you to better not listen to it. Sure, a vegan diet cuts out the meaty dishes, but you’ll find a wide array of dishes, even with only plant-based products.

Below are some names of the very popular vegetarian recipes:

• Roasted Squash Puree
• No-fry fried rice
• Roasted Vegetable Pasta
• Potato-Spinach Tacos
• Oil-free Hummus
• Chocolate Mediants
• Cucumber Melon Soup
• Vegan Gravy
• French Fries
• Chickpea nuggets

And the list goes on and on!