Veganism and vegetarianism: what’s the difference?

Veganism is not just about consuming a plant-based diet. Veganism is considered a non-violent principle of life, a humane approach to production, without exploiting people and torturing animals, and also using cosmetics or makeup that do not contain ingredients of animal origin or have not been brutally tested on animals. Although “brutally” next to “tested” is a pleonasm in this case, because unfortunately all these animal tests are quite horrifying to mention, let alone to see. When it comes to diet itself, vegans consume nothing of animal origin. They follow a 100% plant-based diet. However, it is misinterpreted that all plant-based food is healthy. There is also junk vegan food, as well as vegan food sold under the “healthy” label, which, in fact, is not healthy at all. Besides plant-based foods, vegetarians also consume eggs and dairy products, and depending on whether they opt for both or only one of these two food groups, they can be divided into ovo (eggs) and lacto vegetarians. As for myself, I simply like to say I’m a plant-eater. (laughs)

Most common prejudices

The most common prejudices are that on a vegan diet, one only eats grass and that there isn’t enough protein. A plant-based diet is super rich in the most beneficial proteins, iron, calcium, and even hard-to-isolate zinc, as well as minerals, vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics, which, unlike those encapsulated and tablet forms from pharmacy shelves, reach the ileum – the last part of the small intestine – which is the most important thing. The biggest prejudices arise from ignorance – i.e., lack of knowledge, but using facts and misinterpreting them. When individuals recommend meat, they are actually referring to protein, which, as I said, a vegan diet is incredibly rich in.

Does a vegan diet fully cover all the body’s needs? In other words, do vegans need supplementation or not?

If it is based on a diverse range of foods, with an abundance of greens, sprouts, microgreens, predominantly alkaline grains such as millet, then pseudo-grains such as quinoa and buckwheat, and easily digestible legumes without much table salt, radical fats, and refined sugars, then yes. Not only does it meet the body’s nutritional needs, but it also promotes healing. Animal proteins are not recommended for kidney patients, while plant proteins help them resolve renal insufficiency. Certain plant foods have more protein and iron than horse meat, which is considered superior in that regard.

Regarding supplementation – if everything I mentioned in the previous sentences is truly consumed, plus if all that plant-based food comes from healthy soil, and is then freshly picked from healthy soil, simply cleaned by hand, and thus the necessary B12 is also ingested, and the essential minerals like zinc – especially from sprouts such as mung beans, and if coffee is not consumed, which washes away all those minerals and vitamins from the body and completely dehydrates the cells, then supplementation is not necessary. However, in modern living conditions and at this pace, with this treatment of the soil, no matter how organic the food you choose, I believe that certain dietary supplements should be taken, i.e., supplemented.

I am a proponent of completely natural dietary supplements, extracted from the most medicinal parts of plants and dried at low temperatures to preserve live enzymes, then ground into powder. My clients know very precisely which supplements I recommend and why. Many of these dietary supplements are very powerful adaptogens, medicinal plant parts, medical mushroom powders, and others that have been used for thousands of years in folk medicine, which under the name alternative, quantum, homeopathic – is becoming an indispensable part of a single, holistic medicine that deals with the cause, not the consequence of a particular problem.

Is a vegan diet a better choice when it comes to the ecological aspect and why?

Manifold. Primarily, the meat industry is among the top 5 largest polluters in the world due to the methane cows release. Secondly, there is enough food for over 20 billion people, there are 8 billion of us, yet children are starving and 30% of the planet is dying in poverty from hunger. Why? Because most of the cultivated plant crops are used to feed animals that people then eat. This food is hybridized in a very unhealthy way, treated with chemical fertilizers that completely deplete the soil, and given aerial spraying, pollute the air. Due to these chemicals, insects are dying en masse, and thus birds and bees. The resource that is relentlessly consumed and destroyed, and which is truly scarce, is water. Water consumption for the production of just one meat meal is enormous, considering the percentage of consumption from washing stables and watering cattle to the plate. The planet will survive, as always, but the human race must experience a serious rebirth. Both individually and globally.