What’s the difference between ‘plant-based’ and ‘vegan’?

I think it’s really important to understand the difference between a vegan diet/lifestyle and a plant-based one and since I’m often asked what the difference is between the two, here’s a quick and simple explanation.

Vegan

The term 'vegan' means that one doesn’t consume any animal products (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy). 
Some vegans also don’t wear leather, wool, cashmere, silk etc. either and some refrain from using honey because mass production of honey ends with bees getting squashed in the machines, plus honey is made by the bees for bees.
You could say that vegans follow this lifestyle mainly for the welfare of animals. ​
Technically you could eat a diet of potato chips, faux-meats, cola and candy and be vegan, but it wouldn’t be particularly health promoting. ​

Plant-based/Whole food, plant-based (WFPB)

A bit of a mouthful as names go, hence the abbreviation. :) ​
Plant-based means eating foods predominantly from the plant kingdom, as close to their natural form as possible:
  • An apple, rather than a sugar and fat-filled apple pie
  • A whole orange, rather than a carton of pasteurised juice
  • Rolled oats in porridge, rather than a sugary, boxed breakfast cereal
  • A home-made bean burger, rather than a processed faux-meat one
  • A home-made lentil soup, rather than a high sodium tinned one
  • Cooked grains, rather than white bread
​You get the picture.
Artificial, processed foods aren’t ‘whole food, plant-based’. Often, they barely resemble real food. They contain few or none of the original nutrients and are often laden with sugar, sodium, hydrogenated oils and long lists of unwanted chemicals. At best, they are empty calories (calories that give you little or no nutrient value and just make you fat). At worst they are addictive and are making you sick. 

Is it necessary to go 100% plant-based?

How 'plant-based' do you need to be? In short, I honestly don’t know. Some people following a plant-based lifestyle still occasionally consume a small amount of yoghurt, eggs and/or fish. In some of the ‘Blue Zones’ (parts of the world in which you can find more centenarians than anywhere else in the world), they eat a predominantly plant-based diet but also consume fish. Regarding cheese, in my opinion it’s definitely easier to avoid it altogether, as it can be very addictive. 
Going plant-based​ doesn’t have to be an ‘all or nothing’ situation. If 100% doesn’t work for you, don’t fret, just concentrate on adding more whole, plant-based foods to your day, aiming for a predominantly plant-based plate.
This is a lifestyle, a journey, one that has to work for you, not against you.