Can someone recommend/debate vegan vs. macrobiotic?

Question

I am thinking of making the switch to one of these but I don't really know a lot about the differences. Can people elaborate on the differences between them and why you would choose one over the other? Also, which would be easier for the novice to actually do correctly. Thanks!

Answer 1

If you do vegan, your best bet is to be careful to do it using mostly whole unrefined foods. Brown rice, legumes, fruits, veggies and tofu are parts of both the macrobiotic and vegan diets. Not just brown rice, but also the rest of the cooked grains are part of the diet, such as oats, millet, barley, etc. The macrobiotic encourages sea vegetables (seaweeds like kelp, dulse and kumbu.) These are somewhat challenging to my palate, but done right are edible. I think macrobiotic uses fish, but I don't think it's encouraged for daily consumption. Free range eggs are in the diet, too. Your best bet is to go to the bookstore and browse the Macrobiotic section and grab a vegan cookbook, too. I choose to lean toward vegan, having been vegetarian for years. I am familiar with Macrobiotic, but just don't want to be that hard core health nut, I guess.

Answer 2

I'm not completely sure on this so don't quote me but I believe Vegan is obviously no meat or meat products & Macrobiotic is where everything is completely natural to where there are no preservatives, etc. in the food. Gwyneth Paltrow does the Macrobiotic diet. You may be able to do a google search on her & find a link somewhere referring to that diet if it's mentioned.

The best thing to do would be to use a library or google or some similar search engine to research each type. That would probably give you better answers than any of us....unless of course some of your answerers are on either diet.

Answer 3

Check out this website regarding what macrobiotic food is:
http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/health/Diet/Macrobiotic_Diet.htm

It's not necessarily vegan but many health food stores do carry vegan macrobiotic foods. Vegan means no animal products whatsoever and macrobiotic is more of a philosphical way of eating.

Answer 4

Vegetarians, as a whole, do not eat red meat. Some also choose to exclude poultry (pollo-veg) and/or seafood (pesco-veg). Because chicken and fish are indeed meat, it's debatable whether most would call it vegetarianism, but they are accepted forms.

Many veg's, in additon to actual flesh, eliminate non-meat animal products like gelatin and caesin. It varies a lot, though.

Drop all meat, but eat eggs and dairy, you're "lacto-ovo-vegetarian"
Drop all dairy products, and eat eggs, you're "ovo-vegetarian"
Drop eggs in all forms, but consume dairy, you're "lacto-vegetarian"

No eggs OR dairy, plus, no non-meat animal products, including honey, and you're, by definition, "vegan".

Go even further, and eat only plants and plant products (nothing grown with bacteria), and you're "macrobiotic" *please note, some macrobiotics DO eat meat. There's more to the philosophy than being non-meat-eaters. So, it's not technically a form of vegetarianism*

Vow not to cook your food, or do anything but pick and eat, and you're "raw-vegan", "raw-macrobiotic", or just "raw".

SO, to answer your question, there are, in fact, EIGHT forms af vegetarianism. (macro's don't count) pollo, pesco, pollo-pesco, ovo, lacto, lacto-ovo, vegan, and raw.

Source(s):

Answer 5

Vegetarian: n. The term used for a very poor hunter