Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Distinctions may be made between several categories of veganism. Dietary vegans, also known as "strict vegetarians", refrain from consuming meat, eggs, dairy products, and any other animal-derived substances. An ethical vegan is someone who not only follows a plant-based diet but extends the philosophy into other areas of their lives, opposes the use of animals for any purpose, and tries to avoid any cruelty and exploitation of all animals including humans. Another term is "environmental veganism", which refers to the avoidance of animal products on the premise that the industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable.
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat, and may also include abstention from by-products of animal slaughter.
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. The word diet often implies the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management reasons. Although humans are omnivores, each culture and each person holds some food preferences or some food taboos. This may be due to personal tastes or ethical reasons. Individual dietary choices may be more or less healthy.
A plant-based diet or a plant-rich diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based foods are foods derived from plants with no animal-source foods or artificial ingredients. While a plant-based diet avoids or has limited animal products, it is not necessarily vegan. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that well-planned plant-based diets support health and are appropriate throughout all life stages, including pregnancy, lactation, childhood, and adulthood, as well as for athletes.
Viva! is a British animal rights group, which focuses on promoting veganism. It was founded by Juliet Gellatley in 1994. Viva! carries out undercover investigations to expose the abuse of factory farmed animals and produces information on how to go vegan, including recipes and shopping guides. It is a registered charity.
The European Vegetarian Union (EVU) is a non-profit, non-governmental umbrella organisation for vegetarian societies and groups in Europe. The union works in the areas of vegetarianism, nutrition, health, consumer protection, the campaign for animal rights, ecology, general information and against world hunger. Headquarters are in Winterthur (Switzerland), together with the Swiss organisation Swissveg.
Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and animal rights activist. She is the founder and director of Viva! and a former director of the Vegetarian Society. She is also a founding director of The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation, now known as Viva!Health, along with Tony Wardle, with whom she was married and has two sons, Jazz and Finn, born in 2002.
The Toronto Vegetarian Association (TVA) is a volunteer-driven, charitable organization based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1945, its mission is to inspire people to choose a healthier, greener, more compassionate lifestyle through plant-based eating.
Vegetarian Diet Pyramid is a nutrition guide that represents a traditional healthy vegetarian diet. Variations of this traditional healthy vegetarian diet exist throughout the world, particularly in parts of North America, Europe, South America and, most notably, Asia. Given these carefully defined parameters, the phrase "Traditional Vegetarian Diet" is used here to represent the healthy traditional ovo-lacto vegetarian diets of these regions and peoples. A pyramid was created by Oldways Preservation Trust in 1998 with scientific research from Cornell and Harvard University and specific reference to the healthy patterns of eating demonstrated by the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.
A semi-vegetarian diet (SVD), also called a flexitarian, is one that is centered on plant foods with the occasional inclusion of meat. Flexitarian is a portmanteau of the words flexible and vegetarian, signifying its followers' less strict diet pattern when compared to (other) vegetarian pattern diets.
Vesanto Melina is a Canadian Registered Dietitian and co-author of books that have become classics in the field of vegetarian, vegan, and raw foods nutrition, have sold over 700,000 copies and are in 8 languages. She has presented workshops on various aspects of vegetarian, vegan and raw foods and nutrition for dietitians, health professionals, and vegetarian associations in 17 American states and 9 Canadian provinces, and in Europe.
Pollotarianism is the practice of adhering to a diet that incorporates poultry as the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet.
Michael A. Klaper is an American physician, vegan health educator and conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten years later and subsequently became active in the area, publishing three books advocating veganism and serving as a founding director of the Institute of Nutrition Education and Research. Klaper has been criticised for advocating fasting and has been accused by David Gorski of supporting pseudoscientific alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture.
Vegan nutrition refers to the nutritional and human health aspects of vegan diets. A well-planned, balanced vegan diet is suitable to meet all recommendations for nutrients in every stage of human life. Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals; and lower in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12. Researchers agree that those on a vegan diet should eat foods fortified with vitamin B12 or take a dietary supplement. Preliminary evidence from epidemiological research indicates that a vegan diet may lower the risk of cancer.
Ann Reed Mangels is a registered dietitian and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in vegan and vegetarian nutrition. She is the author or co-author of numerous papers and books on the subject, including the American Dietetic Association's position paper on vegan and vegetarian diets, Vegan & Vegetarian FAQ (2001), The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets (2004), and The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book (2011).
What the Health is a 2017 documentary film which critiques the health impact of meat, fish, eggs and dairy products consumption, and questions the practices of leading health and pharmaceutical organizations. Its primary purpose is to advocate for a plant-based diet.
As in the human practice of veganism, vegan dog foods are those formulated with the exclusion of ingredients that contain or were processed with any part of an animal, or any animal byproduct. Vegan dog food may incorporate the use of fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, nuts, vegetable oils, and soya, as well as any other non-animal based foods. The omnivorous domestic canine has evolved to metabolize carbohydrates and thrive on a diet lower in protein, and therefore, a vegan diet is nutritionally adequate for dogs if properly formulated and balanced. Dogs can also thrive on a vegetarian diet.
ProVeg Deutschland e. V. is a German non-profit organisation whose goal is to reduce the consumption of animal products. ProVeg Deutschland is part of ProVeg International, which serves as an international umbrella for a group of nationally operating organisations.
Frank Wokes was an English biochemist, nutritionist and vegetarianism activist known for his research on the nutritional aspects of Vitamin B12 and Vitamin B12 deficiency. He was an early advocate of food fortification.
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