Welcome back. We are continuing our sessions on diets, different diet types.
Today, I don’t know why we’re gonna do vegan in front of vegetarian, but we’re gonna go vegan first.
Okay, what’s the difference? Oh, between the two? Well, generally speaking, vegetarians cut out meat, poultry, and fish. There are actually different levels of vegetarianism. Some vegetarians do fish, right? Pescatarians eat fish. If I said that, right. But vegans, take it a step further. My understanding is any animal byproduct at all is carved out of a vegan diet. So we’re talking like even honey. Oh, honey, because it’s made by bees. Gone? Really? Yeah. So byproduct of any animal whatsoever. Okay, so you got to be really careful with processed foods with who knows what, it’s probably the strictest. I was gonna say, you’re bringing up a very interesting point of view. Is it impossible to really be a strict vegan? I mean, darn near impossible. I think that’s why there are so many different levels of vegetarianism. I think vegan is just for the folks that are hyper-committed. We had an employee that was vegan, and it was so funny, she’d come in and tell me how she made vegan pulled pork and vegan ribs. And I’m like, why wouldn’t you just eat pork? They really go deep down the rabbit hole of everything they eat is vegetable based. They get really creative in the preparations to try and adhere to and mimic other foods.
Why do you become a vegan? Well, I think there are a lot of reasons. Some people don’t like animal foods in general, whether it’s for humane reasons how they’re treated, or how commercial farming is now, it’s a little different than it was 50 years ago. I think for a lot of people, it’s a choice. Because they don’t like the way modern farming harvests animals. So animal products, in theory, it goes far past just the food. For example cosmetics or maybe even clothing? Can you wear wool, if you are truly a vegan? That’s a great question. I don’t know the answer. I would imagine that there are some out there that very much take that approach. I don’t know, general use versus consumption, they may differentiate between.
Are there any nutritional aspects to it? The advocates will tell you that it’s a heart-healthy diet. The critics will say there are not enough nutrients. I’m not a dietitian, but it’s hard to get iron, calcium, and protein. It’s hard to get those through a vegan-based diet. I think even cholesterol which is an important aspect even though everybody views cholesterol as a negative thing. And that’s a whole nother podcast that we’re going to do one day, but cholesterol is actually good for you. And a lot of that stuff comes mainly from animals and animal byproducts.
I wonder if there is an overlap between vegan diets and calorie restriction almost because you’re limited to what you can eat like you can’t eat out. So there’s this, it’s hard to eat out. It’s hard to eat out, only so many times you want a salad, that has no cheese. You’re depressing me. It’s not pick on vegan day. It’s really just kind of interesting. Good for them if they can adhere to that. For me, thats downright near impossible. I would find it difficult. Without a doubt.
For any of you that want to reach out and give us some more insight on eating vegan, we’d love to hear real stories of how it worked for people. What are your pros and cons? Hit us on the Facebook page, Instagram or email us at Snackcast@yes.fit.
What’s on tap Next? I don’t know, man, we’ve got a whole list. There’s carnivore, ketogenic, and regular vegetarian. We touched on it a little today, but it probably deserves its own kind of deep dive. So we’re gonna swing to the other side, right from vegan to carnivore. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out between today and tomorrow.