Did you know that there are several different branches of veganism? Different people find their way to veganism for different reasons; be they ethical, environmental or for reasons of health or losing weight. For this reason there are several different ‘types’ of veganism as well as varying types of plant-based diets that vegans follow.
Read on for a break down. Do you fit into any of these categories?
The Ethical Vegan
This type of vegan believes in equality for all the earth’s living beings; both human and non-human. As such, they do not support animal exploitation in any of its forms. They do not consume any animals or their by-products, they abstain from wearing animal derived clothing and footwear, they do not support zoos or the circus and they boycott SeaWorld. Ethical vegans also avoid purchasing and using cosmetics and products that have been tested on animals.
The Plant-Based Vegan
The Plant-Based vegan follows a diet based exclusively on whole, preferably organic, plant foods which have grown from the earth. This includes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. No processed, refined, greasy or animal-derived foods are present at all in the diet of a Plant-Based vegan. Generally, Plant-Based vegans have adopted the lifestyle for health and weight purposes, although many end up including all aspects of ethical veganism into their lifestyle.
The Junk-Food Vegan
This type of vegan has usually entered into the lifestyle for ethical and animal-rights issues, rather than health, and has little information (or simply doesn’t care) about the right kinds of vegan foods to eat for health, wellbeing and overall vitality. The Junk-Food vegan will eat any kind of food as long as it doesn’t involve animal or their by-products. This includes high fat, greasy, processed vegan foods including potato chips, french fries, white bread and fizzy drinks.
The Raw Vegan
Raw vegans eat a plant-based diet that is in its raw, natural state or either dehydrated or heated to a very low temperature. They do this because they believe that heating plant foods above 46 degrees Celsius will result in the damage and loss of vital enzymes and compromise the nutritional impact of the food. Like Plant-Based vegans, they are predominantly driven to the lifestyle due to reasons of health, fitness and vitality. Raw foodists believe the benefits of an exclusively uncooked plant-based diet include improved digestion and elimination, reduced toxic build-up in the body, weight loss, clear skin, bright eyes and limitless energy.
The 80/10/10 Diet
Based on the bestselling book of the same name written by diet guru Douglas T. Graham; the 80/10/10 Diet promotes eating a plant-based diet where 80% of the daily calories are obtained from eating plant carbohydrates, 10% from plant proteins and 10% from plant fats. Another popular term for this way of eating is the “high carb, low fat” diet. The bulk of this diet is coming from the 80% of carbohydrates, such as fruit and vegetables, which are typically low in fat, therefore large meals, or ‘mono-meals’, consisting of large quantities of one type of fruit must be eaten in order to reach the daily calorie intake.
The Raw Till Four Diet
This is a popular movement among vegans which was created by vegan guru and Youtube vlogger ‘Freelee the Banana Girl.’ The idea behind the Raw Till Four Diet is simply as the name suggests; eating only raw plant foods, smoothies or fruit ‘mono-meals’ until 4pm in the afternoon, after which a cooked vegan meal may be eaten for dinner. "The concept of Raw Till 4 is to say no to calorie restriction and yes to eating and living abundantly" quotes Freelee, who created the lifestyle as a less intimidating way for vegans to benefit from the raw vegan lifestyle while keeping the luxury of a hot vegan meal such as pasta, potatoes or curries in the evenings.
