5 Benefits to a 100% Plant-Based Whole Foods Diet
Aug 22, 2018
Your mother was right. Eating more fruits and veggies is never a bad thing and a lot more people are listening now more than ever. Not only will this lifestyle help you lose weight but, adapting a plant-based whole foods diet will make you feel detoxed, refreshed, and increase your overall health.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A PLANT-BASED DIET?
Plant based means relying on plants to provide all of your necessary nutrition. This means cutting out animal-based foods such as meat, eggs, dairy, processed foods, refined sugars, and oils.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE NUTRIENTS IN ANIMAL-BASED FOODS?
It is a common misconception that a plant-based diet will leave you protein deficient, calcium deficient, low on energy, sick, and hungry however this is simply not true. A well-rounded and balanced plant-based diet will provide all of the necessary nutrients your body needs with the help of fruits and vegetables!
ARE YOU CRAZY? WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN?
Believe it or not, protein can be found in natural sources such as beans, grains, greens, and even fruits. In fact, many grains have more protein than some meats! Green peas, quinoa, nuts, and beans are also extremely high in protein. If you have your doubts about protein consumption, there are many plant-based protein powders to help you supplement. Our favorite, of course, is V Pro Plant Protein. V Pro contains 23g of naturally sourced and sweetened plant protein. For more information click here.
THERE ARE TONS OF BENEFITS TO CHANGING OVER TO A PLANT-BASED DIET, BUT HERE ARE THE TOP 5!
IT'S CHEAP
Most people automatically associate eating healthy with expensive but if done properly it can actually be cheaper! Staying away from the processed foods, refined sugars, and oils forces you to spend less money. For the average American, this diet will shorten their grocery list to just the basics; fruits, vegetables, and grains. Buying fruits and veggies that are in season will also help keep costs low. For those of you with a bigger budget, there are plenty of plant-based alternatives to your favorite foods like cheese, ice cream, and different meats (even fish); some plant-based eaters consider this junk food.
Personally, I spend an average of $35 a week at the grocery store for my plant-based diet with no junk food. I’ve seen many large plant-based families get away with spending around $100 every 2 weeks on groceries.
WEIGHT LOSS
A plant-based diet almost always leads to weight loss. Since this diet is lower in fats and refined sugars, it helps your stomach digest food and process nutrients much faster. Many studies have shown that eating a plant-based diet and getting plant-based proteins is linked to a lower BMI and better weight loss results.
Of-course, you will get the best results when combining this diet with exercise.
CALORIE RESTRICTION IS A THING OF THE PAST
Counting every calorie you eat and starving at the end of the day can lead to many different eating disorders like Orthorexia, Anorexia, Bulimia, and binge eating. With this diet, this risk is almost non-existent. Herbivores do not really need to be on top of their calories to lose weight or to be healthy. You won’t be counting the calories in your leaf of lettuce or in the apple you’re eating. Plant-based diets embrace food. Eat until you are full!
Instead, most people on this diet focus on maintaining proper hydration, eating plenty of raw foods, and keeping fat intake low. A popular “diet” trend within the plant-based diet is the ‘rawtil4’ diet trend. This diet only allows raw foods in the morning and then cooked food at 4 o’ clock. To stay full until four and reduce cravings, a lot of plant eaters supplement plant protein powder in the morning. This keeps fat consumption low and energy skyrocketing throughout the day. Losing weight is very easy on this diet.
BEAUTIFUL SKIN & HAIR
Generally, people who begin to eat a plant-based diet are detoxing their body from the processed foods and chemicals that they were consuming before. A lot of those processed foods hinder hair growth and can break out the skin. Refined sugars and oils cause build up on the skin that block pores and can cause acne.
Simply taking these nasty sugars and oils out of your diet will prevent these problems. In most cases, people grow very long thick hair and have beautiful glowing skin once they have detox their bodies. For some, a plant-based diet is a natural acne treatment!
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES HELP FIGHT CANCER
Most countries do not nearly eat as much red meat as Americans do! It wasn’t always this way. In the 1920’s Americans consumed approximately 9.8 billion pounds of meat. In 2012, Americans consumed a staggering 52.2 billion pounds of meat. In correlation, cancer rates have also risen at almost the same rate.
There are many studies and examples that show increasing the intake of plant-based foods and lowering the intake of animal-based foods is a great way to help battle heart disease and cancers. It is becoming more common for doctors to recommend lowering animal-based food intake along with dietary medicine to reduce risk of cancer growth!
THE EVIDENCE IS THERE
The plant-based/vegan/herbivore diet trend is growing more and more every day! Doctors and scientists everywhere are researching and seeing the awesome effects of a plant-based diet on the human body. Plenty of restaurants are even beginning to cater to plant-based eaters. There are health groups and organizations of people who have cured their diseases with this diet.
A full on 100% diet comes with many benefits and virtually zero negatives. There are not many diets that can help you lose weight and also allow you to eat as much as you want.
Even if you decided to only cut down some of your meat and dairy intake, the change will make an impact on your health and your pockets. With the growing popularity of this diet in America, there are more people supplementing with all natural plant based proteins and plant-based meats. There are plenty of recipes and alternatives that will reduce your cravings.
Try this diet out for a week and you will definitely see amazing results!
References
NPR http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/06/27/155527365/visualizing-a-nation-of-meat-eaters
American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@editorial/documents/document/acspc-044521.pdf
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