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Here's What a Plant-Based Diet Is—And What You Can & Can't Eat on One - Prevention
You'll consume lots of plants, obvs. But a plant-based diet is way more flexible than you think.
t can be impossible to keep all the dietary buzzwords straight—vegan, pescatarian, flexitarian, paleo—fruitiarian? So where does "plant-based" eating fit in?
First of all, unlike some of these other concepts, plant-based eating is not a diet, and it’s definitely not a passing fad. “It’s simply a new label for an eating style that has been around forever,” says nutritionist Wendy Bazilian, Dr.P.H., R.D.N. “It’s a guide, a road map to help you move toward health, while allowing for a lot of flexibility.”
“Plant-based” covers a lot of dietary ground. Bazilian points out that a while a vegan diet is certainly plant-based, so is a lifestyle in which you eat vegetarian most of the time, but indulge in turkey on Thanksgiving, or your mother’s pot roast during Sunday dinner. In fact, some of the world’s most popular—and healthiest—diets, are plant-based by nature, while still including small amounts of meat. The Mediterranean diet, widely considered to be one of the healthiest eating styles in the world, includes fish, chicken, some low-fat dairy, and the occasional bite of red meat.
You'll consume lots of plants, obvs. But a plant-based diet is way more flexible than you think.
t can be impossible to keep all the dietary buzzwords straight—vegan, pescatarian, flexitarian, paleo—fruitiarian? So where does "plant-based" eating fit in?
First of all, unlike some of these other concepts, plant-based eating is not a diet, and it’s definitely not a passing fad. “It’s simply a new label for an eating style that has been around forever,” says nutritionist Wendy Bazilian, Dr.P.H., R.D.N. “It’s a guide, a road map to help you move toward health, while allowing for a lot of flexibility.”
“Plant-based” covers a lot of dietary ground. Bazilian points out that a while a vegan diet is certainly plant-based, so is a lifestyle in which you eat vegetarian most of the time, but indulge in turkey on Thanksgiving, or your mother’s pot roast during Sunday dinner. In fact, some of the world’s most popular—and healthiest—diets, are plant-based by nature, while still including small amounts of meat. The Mediterranean diet, widely considered to be one of the healthiest eating styles in the world, includes fish, chicken, some low-fat dairy, and the occasional bite of red meat.