Have you ever thought about transitioning to a fully plant-based daily menu? More Americans are doing so every day, especially with new evidence continually being presented on the powerful health benefits plant foods offer. According to the National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and other highly respected organizations in the United States and abroad, a low-fat, high-fiber diet based on fresh produce offers the best disease prevention across the board. Do you not owe it to yourself to learn about the benefits of deleting animal products in favor of healthy plant-based alternatives? These five reasons are bound to inspire you:
Your health
Thanks to the abundance of scientific evidence demonstrating the health benefits of a plant-based diet, even the federal government recommends that we consume most of our calories from fruit, vegetables, beans, legumes and whole grains. It makes sense when you realize that an estimated 70 percent of all diseases—including one-third of all cancers—are related to the standard American diet (SAD) which is centered on animal products. A plant-based approach, on the other hand, reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and numerous forms of cancer including colon, breast, prostate, stomach, lung and esophageal cancer.
Weight loss
The SAD diet—high in saturated fats, cholesterol, and processed/refined products and low in fresh, whole plant foods—is clearly linked to treacherous excess body fat. In fact, a 2016 Gallup survey revealed that the obesity rate among adults surged in 2015 to a new high of 28 percent since 2008. That means the ranks of dangerously overweight Americans increased by 6.1 million adults over just that seven-year period. One of the best ways not to be among these grim statistics and to reach and/or maintain a healthy body weight is to treat yourself to healthy plant-based foods. That means embracing a menu of naturally filling, fiber-dense fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds, all of which are jam-packed with nutrients, which your appestat─an area in the brain that is believed to regulate appetite and food intake─is highly responsive to. This means you are less likely to overeat in a quest for essential vitamins and minerals.
Environmental concerns
Did you know that the single most important and immediate step you can take to reduce global warming is to adopt a plant-based diet? According to both the United Nations and the World Health Organization, factory farming generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Plant-based eating also reduces pollution. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is wreaking havoc on our rivers and streams. In fact, runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today, especially egregious in the face of a growing scarcity of drinking water globally. Estimates by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that agriculture is the leading source of pollution of the nation’s rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and among the leading sources of pollution of estuaries. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.
Compassion for animals
Each year in the United States, billions of animals are inhumanely raised and slaughtered in factory farm conditions. Modern high-pressure agriculture commonly keeps cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other animals in overcrowded stalls, cages, crates, or sheds where they can barely move as long as they are living. Typically deprived of veterinary care, exercise, and sunlight, these living, breathing, thinking, feeling sentient creatures die at the rate of millions per day, ending up on the dinner plate, and yet, that is strictly a matter of preference, rather than necessity, given that all our nutritional needs can easily be satisfied without eating these animals. Balanced, plant-based cuisine offers every single nutrient we need for optimal health. We have an opportunity with every bite we take to tune in to our innate spirit of compassion and move towards a kinder, gentler society in which we exercise a moral choice to protect animals—not exploit them.
Longevity
What’s the one thing most of us want more of? Time! Now, what if there was a way that we could increase our chances of living a long and healthy life─free of illness in our final decades? Research suggests that following a varied, primarily plant-based diet is a sure fire way to boost the odds in your favor! Physicians looking for cost-effective interventions to improve health outcomes should encourage their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or obesity, to adopt a plant-based menu (defined as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods in place of animal products and refined/processed foods). Plant-based diets are cost-effective, low-risk interventions that may lower body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol levels while reducing the number of medications needed to treat chronic diseases.
In the face of this compelling information, you may well conclude that it is only logical to make the simple diet changes that have such a positive impact on so many levels. Food for thought indeed.