The food you eat is the difference between energy to get through your day and sleeping through your meetings. Live your life fueled by Plant Power!
As a person whose job it is to help people eat more plants (you know - fruits and vegetables?), I find that I’m often focused on the how’s rather than the why’s. But it turns out that focusing on the why’s make the how’s much easier to do! Because when the going gets tough and reaching for the processed food seems easy, being able to connect emotionally to the why’s of healthy eating can save you a bag of chips. Or more. Here are 7 reasons to eat more plants today and every day:
More Plants Means More Energy!
The food you put into your bod will be the difference between you leaping out of bed in the morning to greet the day or hiding under the covers groaning and pressing snooze button 20 times and then needing an afternoon nap. Eating a diet full of plants (you know, real foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, nuts, and legumes) will help stabilize your blood sugar to keep your energy level steady throughout the day and avoid those dreaded crashes. Plus, plants, when eaten raw, provide you with an abundance of live nutrients that makes your body want to be alive - even early in the AM!
More Plants Means Better Sleep!
When you eat more and more plants, you leave less and less room on your plate for crap (crap = chemicals, refined, artificial, and processed foods). Eating crap, it turns out, can really negatively affect your snoozes, especially due to all the sugar that sneaks its way into processed foods. Plus, there are plants that actually have sleep-inducing effects! Chamomile tea has mild sedative effects which could help knock you out, bananas are high in tryptophan: the sleepiness-inducing hormone that raises melatonin & serotonin levels, which promotes stable sleep, cherries are of the few natural plant sources of melatonin – a serious sleep-inducing hormone and both kale and almond butter are high in magnesium which can help you sleep awesome-er.
More Plants Means More Glowy Skin!
Having skin that glows like woah is surprisingly more tied to what you eat than you might know. Because the truth is, having clear, glowing skin is really a reflection of your inner health. Again like with the sleep, cutting out crappy processed and fried foods that wreak havoc on your skin will be a game-changer, but also like with sleep, there are plants that strategically can help your skin shine.
(NOTE: Check out this list of 18 of the best foods for glowing, vibrant, younger skin.)
More Plants Means Better Immunity!
It’s not just your outer health that turbocharges on plants; your inner health gets a loving kick in the pants from eating plants, too! Those live fruits and vegetables, packed with live nutrients actually work to keep you alive and kicking: sniffles free! When you give your body the nutrients it needs, and you don’t give it the crappy food it doesn’t need (nor knows what to do with!), your immune system stronger than you can imagine!
More Plants Means Less Weight!
It’s no surprise or secret that eating more plants can help shrink your waistline. Fruits and vegetables contain a lot of water and fiber, keeping you feeling full without consuming a lot of calories. Surely, you’ve never heard anyone say, “Oh, man, I ate too many bell peppers; I feel stuffed and so uncomfortable!” Because of this inability, really, to overeat plants, you can eat your heart out while still keeping your calories low and your pant-size down. Also, when you eat healthier you naturally just bring your body into balance. And when your body’s balanced, your weight balances too. That’s why so many people shed weight when switching primarily to plants without even trying! (or complaining).
More Plants Means Better Poops!
Plants work wonders on pooping abilities. The fiber found in plants is magnificent at helping your body push out the old stuff, there’s magnesium found in plants which can help your body relax enough to “go,” and some plants even contain probiotics which populate your gut with good bacteria which help make the whole digestive system move properly. Plus, again, when you’re eating more plants you have less room for the unhealthy non-plants which wreak havoc on your gut and cause bloat, gas, constipation, and stomach aches.
More Plants Means More Happiness!
Umm, did you read the list above?! I’d say that better poops, better sleep, better skin, better pant-size, and better energy all add up to a heck of a lot more happiness! And a heck of a better ability to live life to the fullest, doing all the activities that make you feel most happy, fulfilled and alive. But even all that aside, eating whole, real plant foods like spinach, sweet potatoes, berries, and avocados can actually help raise serotonin levels which’ll fight off symptoms of depression and fight to keep you feeling healthy and happy from the inside out!
