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People all over the world are choosing to become vegan, and each has their own reason for doing so. For some, it is about optimising their own health, reducing their long-term disease risk or just feeling “better” in themselves. For others, it is more to do with reducing their environmental impact or that they do not wish to fund factory farms and slaughterhouses. For some, it is all these reasons and more! There is no wrong reason to try vegan, and so much to gain from making the change.
This is a diet that contains no animal products at all. So it excludes meat, fish, eggs, dairy and honey, but includes the wealth of vegetables, grains, fruits, herbs, nuts, seeds, legumes, salads and the thousands of products made from them. It is also called a “plant-based diet”, but when people choose it for ethical reasons, this dietary choice sits within a broader movement of compassion for animals, the planet and the wider world.
There are so many potential health benefits to being vegan, and they range from improvements that can happen within days or weeks – such as better skin, digestion and sleep – to truly astounding long-term benefits including a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It’s long been known that dairy is associated with skin conditions like acne, psoriasis and eczema. Obviously, those who experience these conditions can find huge improvements in their skin when they quit dairy and instead choose from the delicious range of plant milks, yogurts and cheeses. But it’s not just those with existing skin complaints that see improvements. When we put plants front and center in our diets, all those antioxidants from eating more fruits and vegetables nourish our skin and give us what many people call “the vegan glow”.
Dairy is also associated with digestive troubles and that’s not all that surprising when you consider we are drinking the milk intended for the baby of another species. Almost 100 percent of people with Asian, African and Native American ancestry develop an intolerance to lactose (the sugar in milk) by the time they are adults. In black communities, the rate is over 70 percent. Gastroenterologist Dr Angie Sadeghi says that milk is “such poison to our gut” so everyone – not just those who experience bloating, abdominal cramps, diarrhea or other digestive upsets – would do well to avoid it.
Ditching dairy is one digestive benefit of going vegan but the increase in consumption of plant foods is another. Plants contain natural probiotics, prebiotics and antioxidants which nourish and support our gut biomes, and keep us healthy inside and out.
During sleep, our bodies and minds recharge, which helps us function optimally and protects our long-term health. Without sufficient sleep, our immune systems become compromised, we are more prone to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, and we may also experience mental health problems. Getting enough sleep is essential to our wellbeing and yet for so many of us, it proves elusive.
There are lots of ways we can improve our chance of sleeping better but it is curious that so many new vegans say it comes automatically when they adopt a plant-based diet. Research indicates that diets that are rich in fiber and low in saturated fats lead to deeper, more refreshing sleep, so perhaps that is the reason. Maybe, improvements in digestion help. Maybe, knowing your diet is the best choice for animals and the planet removes a layer of anxiety you didn’t even know you had. Whatever the reason, it’s got to be worth a try!
Type 2 diabetes is increasingly common, extremely serious and can ruin lives. But it is not inevitable. It runs in families only because diets and lifestyle choices run in families. That means we can prevent, halt and even reverse this disease with simple lifestyle changes. Eating a plant-based diet can control blood sugar three times more effectively than the recommended diabetes diet. Participants in one study experienced dramatic improvements within weeks, and eating a whole food plant-based diet is now at the center of many diabetes-management programs.
Nothing kills more Americans than heart disease and stroke. More than 868,000 Americans lose their lives to these conditions every year but it doesn’t have to be this way. We know how to give our hearts the best chance to keep on beating, and eating a whole food plant-based diet is a significant part of the answer.
Fruits and vegetables are our heart’s heroes, and the more we eat the better. Five servings of vegetables a day lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke a little, but if we eat ten servings a day, we can reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease by 28 per cent, and premature death by 31 per cent.
In 2015, the World Health Organization was sufficiently satisfied with the weight of evidence to state categorically that all processed meat causes cancer and all red meat is “probably carcinogenic”. When we cook any meat at high temperatures, such as when we grill, fry or roast meats, chemicals known as heterocyclic amines form, and these are also linked to an increased cancer risk. And it’s not just meat. Research suggests a link between high milk intake and prostate cancer and breast cancer. Cutting these products out of our diets can only be a good thing.
On the other side of the coin, eating plant-based foods has been shown to be cancer-protective. Research shows that those who eat a healthy vegan diet have “a marked reduction in mortality and age-adjusted incidence of many cancers common in Western society. These cancers include breast, prostate, colon, pancreas, ovary, and uterine endometrium cancers.”
We know that diet plays a key role in depression and mood. Studies show, for example, that eating too much sugar, processed meat, fried foods and high-fat dairy products could be associated with anxiety and depression. It’s a complex area to study but it is becoming increasingly clear that the foods that are good for our physical health are also beneficial to our mental health, and the work to understand why is increasingly focusing on the link between the health of our gut biome and our brains. Keeping our digestive systems happy could keep us happy, too.
We need to talk about “free radicals”. These unstable molecules are produced naturally by the body but our lifestyle choices can increase production of them, which is a problem because they cause oxidative stress. This, in turn, is connected to a range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Research is also suggesting that free radicals may play a role in psychological disorders, including depression and anxiety. The best way to combat free radicals is to eat foods that are rich in antioxidants – fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and grains.
Maybe. With evidence suggesting reduced depression and anxiety, improved physical health and the sense of peace we get when our food choices align with our principles, there is every reason to think that vegans may, on balance, be happier than other people. Here, we could look to Matthieu Ricard, dubbed “The World’s Happiest Man” after brain scans showed that areas of his brain connected to compassion and love were highly activated while he meditated. Is it a coincidence that Ricard is vegan?
Avoiding Alzheimer’s
Two neurologists who both lost parents to Alzheimer’s dedicated their professional lives to finding a cure. But Drs Dean and Ayesha Sherzai actually did better than that – they found a way to prevent the disease in the first place. The doctors state that 90 percent of all Alzheimer’s cases can actually be prevented and for those who have a strong genetic risk, the disease can be delayed by up to fifteen years. They developed a five-part program that includes exercise, stress reduction and yes, a plant-based diet.
Everything is connected. Our physical and mental health cannot be separated, and nor can our own health from that of the planet. And the farming of animals has a devastating impact on the Earth in many ways. These are just three of the good reasons why we need to be moving towards a plant-based diet for the sake of the environment.
There are more farmed animals on the planet than people, and the vast amount of waste they produce must somehow be dealt with. Some is spread on the land and much is stored in huge tanks or ‘lagoons’ that all too often leak or spill. When the slurry gets into waterways – which it does regularly – it causes algal blooms, kills aquatic species and creates ocean dead zones.
The 150-plus pathogens in manure from America’s factory farms include ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane and particulate matter. These pollutants can have serious health consequences for people who work in farms and those who live in the neighborhood. Ammonia can cause breathing problems including lung disease, and exposure to the particulate matter over a longer period is linked with heart attacks. Asthma rates are higher in people who live near a factory farm. See what we mean about the health of the planet being linked to our own health?
The farming of cows (‘cattle’ ranching) is the number one cause of deforestation in virtually every Amazon country, and accounts for 80 percent of current deforestation. This is all down to the utter inefficiency of producing meat. Because animals need more nutrients than are returned in their meat, milk or eggs, it takes a lot more land to produce meat than it does to produce plant-based foods. That land has to come from somewhere, and so vast swathes of forest and other habitats are cut down to graze farmed animals or to grow crops like soy to feed them. (80 percent of Amazon soy is grown to feed farmed animals like chickens, pigs and fish all around the world.) Meat consumption drives deforestation. And deforestation drives climate change.
Animal agriculture is responsible for 16.5 percent of all human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, which makes eating meat more damaging than the exhaust from every car, bus, plane, ship and train on the planet. Research by Oxford University examined the climate impact of different foods and found that just about every animal product was worse for the planet than every plant product. Beef was the worst offender, but there was no good meat, and dairy milk was worse than soy milk.
In order to reduce our own climate impact, switching to a plant-based diet is the most powerful, positive and immediate thing we can do.
The only risk is in being a “junk food vegan” and not paying sufficient attention to your diet. Every single nutrient we need can be obtained without eating animals or their by-products, but we should know where to get those nutrients to make sure we are optimally healthy.
As for disadvantages, it can take a little time to adapt to a vegan diet, and to learn new ways of cooking and eating. To begin with, some research will be required and there will be a lot of label-reading. But this phase tends to last only two to three weeks, after which time everything becomes second nature.
Whether animals, the planet or your own health is your main motivation for choosing to eat a plant-based diet, all three will benefit! What is good for us is good for animals is good for the planet. So, try it for a week or month or for the rest of your life, and make a truly positive difference in the world.
Source: https://genv.org/benefits-of-being-vegan/
Image: https://www.freepik.es/
And receive a home pack ready to cook
And receive a home pack ready to cook
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