Plant-based diets are the topic of conversation in the medical, fitness and Hollywood world at the moment. They are on the cover of weight loss magazines, celebrities swear by them and fitness professionals encourage their clients to engage in this diet. While the plant based diet is generally accepted and practiced almost everywhere, the plant based lifestyle is not.
The difference between a diet and lifestyle is by definition a diet is to restrict a certain type of food for a certain amount of time to gain a specific result, while a lifestyle is a way in which a person intentionally and habitually lives or eats. For example, veganism is a lifestyle while Weight Watchers is a diet.
In places like Los Angeles, Portland and even Thailand, a plant-based lifestyle is widely common and generally accepted. However, when we move closer toward the south we see this lifestyle disappear. But why? Is it because we don’t have the resources, the knowledge or the ability to adopt this lifestyle? Or is it because of southern tradition?
The south is known for its decadent, high cholesterol, salty food. We hunt, we fish and literally put butter on everything. In moderation these are all fine practices and habits, but why is it that when I tell my friends I live a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle they get so offended by me? In the south, meat is a staple in every meal but in most places it’s not. When the topic of a plant based lifestyle comes into play, many people get up in arms about it and attack me with questions. “Where do you get your protein?” “Why are you vegan?” “Did you know that not eating meat is unhealthy?” “What can you even eat?” and so on and so forth.
I think people get offended by this lifestyle because I and a majority of people who adopt it are challenging tradition. When you tell someone that you don’t agree with what they are doing, or that what they are doing isn’t genuinely necessary, a soft spot gets hit. But like I said, there is nothing wrong with a little butter here and a few turkey slices there. However, there is something wrong with completely attacking someone solely because they don’t agree with you one thing.
I have definitely experienced flak and back handed comments because of my life style choices such as eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes and only using products with vegan ingredients that haven’t been tested on animals, not wearing makeup and choosing to spend my time traveling and exploring the world, which are linked to both my medical and personal reasons.
When we aren’t willing to stray from tradition or even try new things, we completely close ourselves off to a lot of the beautiful things the world has to offer. I’m not saying that everyone has to be vegan or else they will never live a beautiful life. What I am saying is that everyone should try something new every once in a while and step out of their comfort zones. If you have never traveled outside of state lines, plan a road trip with your friends. If you have never touched kale in your life, just drive down to Kroger, pick some up and have some fun with it. When we try new things we get a deeper sense of what the world has to offer and that is truly what the plant based lifestyle is about.
