We've all experienced it. We invite a friend to dinner, only to learn that she is the dreaded " V-word."
We have a vague sense of what it means, but we're left with so many questions. Is it healthier? Will you sit on my leather couch? Can we still go to Taco Bell?
In a world of health magazines and Planet Fitness commercials, many people wanna learn more about nutrition and which diets are the healthiest. Wherever you go, no one can escape the growing vegan phenomenon, so we thought it would be fun to explore it further in this episode of The Infographic Show: Vegans vs. Meat Eaters.
A vegan is someone who follows a diet that contains no animal meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, or any other food that comes from animals. They differ from vegetarians, who generally still eat dairy and eggs as part of their diets.
Vegans also typically abstain from using any other products that come from animals, such as honey and leather jackets.
Back in 2008, vegans only accounted for around 0.5 percent of the U. S. population, or about one million people. As of polls taken in 2014, vegans now make up roughly 2.5 percent of the population. At least in the United States, women seem to be far bigger fans of veganism, making up around 79 percent of vegans.
The number of meat eaters obviously far outweighs the number of vegans throughout the world, with the highest concentration of vegans being in Israel at only around five percent of their population.
By not consuming any animal products, vegans follow a dietary path similar to an herbivore. Herbivores are animals that feed exclusively on plants, such as cows, giraffes, and adorable deer. Meat eaters are typically omnivores, which means that they eat both plants and animals. The term comes from the Latin words " omni, " meaning " all or everything, " and the word " vorare, " which means " to devour."
So, basically, omnivores are down to eat whatever. Most meat eaters don't solely eat just meat, like a carnivore would do— that is, unless you're Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec; then it's beautiful bacon and seasoning steaks all day.
So humans are widely thought of as natural omnivores, but some believe that humans are at their optimal health when following the dietary habits of an herbivore. People often cite potential health benefits and ethical dilemmas as the main reasons to go on a vegan diet. We won't get into the ethics today, but we are curious about the health differences between vegans and their meat-eating friends.
