Plant-Based vs. Vegetarian - What’s the Difference?

Plant-Based vs. Vegetarian Diets 

Several years ago, someone asked me if I promote a plant-based whole foods diet? 

I responded, “of course, I promote plant-based diets, and I don’t care where you shop for your food.”

I don’t think she understood that I don’t care about shopping at Whole Foods – I get my groceries from a convenient place and won’t drive across town for overpriced food.

But then this same person got offended when I did a post about the health benefits of eggs and the nutrients they have.

So, I have to back up a bit and share that when I was growing up we had four food groups which included the fruits and vegetable group, grain group, dairy group, and the meat and protein group. I suppose that would be 50% plant foods, through the protein group also included plant foods, so more than 50%.

Back in the 1940-the 1950s, they had the Basic 7, which were: 

Group 1: Green and yellow vegetables

Group 2: Orange, tomatoes, grapefruit

Group 3: Potatoes and other vegetables and fruit

Group 4: Milk and milk products

Group 5: Meat, poultry, fish, or eggs

Group 6: Bread, flours, and cereals

Group 7: Butter and fortified margarine (again this at mid-20th century)

Four of the seven groups are plant foods – so 57% of the recommendation being plants.

When the Pyramid came out – it was grains at the bottom, fruits and vegetables on the following levels, then protein foods and dairy, with fats at the top. While protein foods included beans, nuts, and other plant protein foods – it wasn’t always straightforward. But again, three of the five groups, or 60%, are plant foods. 

Now with the Plate – there are fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy again. If the protein foods blend animal and plant proteins, that is still more than 60% plants. 

So before I was born, in my childhood, and into the 21st century, the recommendations from the food icons and guidelines are majority plants. I call that plant-based – always have and always will.

And, for my entire career in the 21st century, I recommend a diet of minimally processed foods. Always have and always will.

And I have always supported those who want to follow a vegetarian diet to ensure they are meeting their nutrient needs, no matter how they define “vegetarian.”

Vegetarianism occurs on a spectrum from vegan (no foods of animal origin, including yeast and honey) to flexitarians who choose not to have meat but will not make a stink if you don’t fully accommodate their needs at the dinner party. That’s another topic.

Now it seems that people have decided to co-opt the term plant-based to mean vegetarian without the stigma of the vegetarian label. I don’t know the full reason.

To me, plant-based is that most of my foods come from plants, but not all. And I will get my food from my local farmer or at the neighborhood market or the warehouse store. I won’t go out of my way to shop at Whole Foods or another specialty store that implies they have only healthy foods.

And, please, I know what people mean when they say, “whole food,” but I also have seen people who claim they eat a plant-based whole foods diet – NOT eat whole foods. In addition, I have seen people drink tea with bleached tea bags and drink alcohol (certainly not a whole food and, in some cases, not vegan).

It may not seem like it, but I am not judging how people choose to eat or how they define their diet. Instead, I am judging a person who will look down their nose at me for eating foods of animal origin. Judging me for NOT discouraging my clients from eating foods of animal origin and suggesting that processed foods can be in anyone’s diet.

Seriously, I do not have time to grow, pick, wash, and trim my vegetables and fruit. So, that is why I buy them at a store. And, hello? That is “processed” food. Like it or not. So, someone picked those bananas for me and got them here so I could buy them and bring them home.

So, I eat and recommend a plant-based diet for everyone because plant foods should be the foundation of anyone’s diet. I won’t allow someone to back me into a corner and state that plant-based and vegetarian diets are interchangeable terms. Vegetarians would be “plant-only,” not “plant-based.”

Disagree with me? That is okay. I live in a concrete-based house, but it isn’t to the exclusion of other building materials. That is a fact.