4 ms·
There is a wide variety of vegan diets. You could eat only potato chips and drink soda and be vegan. Saying “vegan diet” by itself is pretty meaningless.
by Ididntdothis 7y ago
There is a wide variety of vegan diets. You could eat only potato chips and drink soda and be vegan. Saying “vegan diet” by itself is pretty meaningless.
- cies 7y agoIn fact "vegan diet" is almost contradictory. One could argue it is short for "the diet part of the vegan lifestyle". Vegans try to behave in a way that does not harm of commodify animals as far as practicable. Besides the diet this includes attitudes to clothing materials (leather, wool), entertainment (horse back riding, bull fights, zoos, petstores), and much of animal testing. One cannot really just take the diet bit and still call it "vegan". Likewise food is technically not vegan, it is "suitable for vegans". The term that IS appropriate here is "plant based". "Plant based food" and the "plant based diet" are what the author actually, more accurately, wants to say I believe.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoPlant based by itself doesn’t mean much either.
- cies 7y agoWhat do you mean? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant-based_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant-based_diet And a person "being vegan" clearly means something too. Just "vegan diet" and "vegan food" are, well, I'd call 'm short cuts. They're needlessly unspecific or even a little contradictory. Like saying "I eat vegetarian": I understand what one tries to say, but it is not entirely correct usage of language.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoMy point is that to make any connection between plant based diet and health you need to be more specific. You can eat balanced meals with fresh vegetables and good ingredients or you can eat pretzels or potato chips the whole day and drink soda. Both are plant based but the outcome will probably be different.
- cies 7y agoExactly, and that's where the term "whole food plant based" comes to rescue. There a serious list of MDs backing this group of diets based on strong evidence.
- silicon2401 7y ago'Correct' language is determined by usage. If something is commonly used by a group of language speakers, that is the correct usage within that language. If you want to be really pedantic you can say that it forms a particular dialect, just as teenagers in school and presenters at an academic conference may both speak very different but equally correct forms of English within their dialects
- silicon2401 7y agoVegan diet is not contradictory at all: the diet someone who is vegan would try to have, one not involving animal products. The meaning is completely clear and the term is entirely appropriate to use