I have personally experienced these 8 benefits of eating a more plant-based diet. It all started my sophomore year of high school! I decided to turn my diet around into more plant based foods and eliminating meat. This is what I have experienced over time:
I have reduced my risk for any chronic diseases. Plants have minerals and many nutrients that help support the body heal properly and thoroughly to avoid or minimize dis-ease in the body.
My body mass index is at a healthy level. I do not weigh myself, I avoid weighing my body on a scale because it allows me to feel my body more knowing where I am comfortable with my weight. I am not over weight nor underweight. I am pleased with my body, it gets better and better everyday. The more I focus on the internal feelings of my body the external body will reflect.
I have reduced my exposure to toxins and harsh chemicals. meat, dairy, ,fish, and non-organic produce have many toxins due to feed and processing. These products are contaminated with heavy metals, chemical growth hormones, PCBs, and antibiotics (which destroy natural gut flora). These toxins disrupt the hormones in the human body leading to dis-eases, or chronic illnesses. I am consuming more organic foods and more plant-based proteins to limit my exposure to these harsh toxins.
I have saved couple hundred dollars going on a plant-based lifestyle. Most people think it is expensive to eat organic whole foods. It really is not, I am an example to this statement. I am living proof. It takes reading books and visiting your local farmers market or traveling to a nearby farmers market to get the idea. shop smart. Make a list of items and decide what you are going to eat for the next two weeks and buy food for that period of time. I always visit my farmers market every two weeks, it took some time to develop a plan for this consistent grocery planning. You will have to figure out what works best for your lifestyle. I may change it up every once in while depending on my lifestyle, I am always flexible for change.
one word. ethical. I am ethically aware of the treatment in animal processing plants. I do not support the cruelty of how animals are slaughtered, murdered, and displayed. Eliminating meat from my health is a vote against inhumane treatment of animals. Minimizing meat consumption or buying more organic, grass-fed meat is better than nothing, too.
I am helping the planet. I have read, researched, and watched how animals are one of the leading causes to deforestation. The demand for animal products is very high. Therefore the government has to find ways to expand and supply the demand for it. They have been going to South America and destroying the wild rainforests for more grazing lands. Farm animals are also a main contributor to greenhouse gases due to the expelling of flatulence. farm animals naturally flatulate but they are also releasing toxic gases wastes due to their feeding and processing. Their wastes spoils the soil. Not only that, but animals consume gallons on gallons on gallons of water, Causing water shortages for humans.
Upon my discoveries with researching plant based lifestyles, plant-based foods require less energy, space, and water! Plant-based foods are less taxing on our resources than animal based products.
I am feeling as if the more time passes me by, getting older is not what others have been telling me. I am noticing more levels of energy than when I was younger. I am only 22 and I can testify that I look, feel, and think better than my younger self. I give it to my plant-based lifestyle to be the answer for that. Plant foods are high in antioxidant compounds which fight against free radicals, or oxidative stress. Free radicals, or oxidative stress cause humans to age faster. Plants have compounds such as vitamin C, Selenium, Vitamin E, and many more that help combat these free radicals. Some of the world's longest living humans are in Asia and and the Mediterranean that follow a more plant-based lifestyle with exception of humane kosher meat, dairy, and fish products.