The fountain of youth isn’t the myth that people think. It can be found in the healthy, clean eating of a plant-based diet! Your body says thank you!
You Protect Your Heart
In the early 1950's, heart disease was once thought to be caused by aging; however, research is now clearly defining heart disease to be linked to diet and lifestyle through an abundance of irrefutable research. Research now shows, high cholesterol in persons with atherosclerosis is acquired by choices of the foods they consume. The INTERHEART study revealed that factors such as diet, exercise, and smoking accounted for over 90% of the risk of having a heart attack. This accounts for men and women of all ages from around the world.
- The best way to avoid heart disease:
- Avoid saturated fat (found in meat dairy & eggs)
- Avoid Trans Fat (found mostly in processed junk foods & animal products)
The Intake of Cholesterol Itself (especially found in meat, dairy & eggs)
Did you know our bodies produce cholesterol on its own? Any animal products we consume adds cholesterol to the supply our bodies have already made for us. Over time, this additional cholesterol may lead to an increase in our bad cholesterol, “LDL” levels. Elevated LDL levels have also been shown to be due to a lack of fiber, found in whole plant foods. In general, all animal products seem to raise our risk of dying from America’s number 1 killer, while plant foods, greatly lower that risk.
You Have Less Inflammation & Bloating
Did you know your gut bacteria changes based upon the foods you consume on a daily basis? Intake of plant-based foods (especially fiber) from these foods greatly impacts our health. Meat and dairy contain no fiber and require different types of bacteria to break them down. Our good gut bacteria digestion of fiber yields a short chain fatty acid named butyrate, which research shows, may aid against cancer by slowing the progression of colon cancer cells & programming cancer cell death. Because plant-based diets lead to an increase in butyrate, we are now connecting the dots to why plant-based diets seem to lower inflammation in the gut. Another recent study concluded, butyrate seems to exert anti-inflammatory activities by affecting immune cell migration, adhesion, cytokine expression as well as affecting cellular processes such as proliferation, activation, and apoptosis. Let’s not forget, healthy colons and gut bacteria aid in speedy and efficient digestion, keeping bloating to a minimum!
You May Lose that Last 5–10 Pounds
Plant-based foods are less calorically dense than meat and dairy and are inherently lower in fat. Doctors such as Dr. Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, took the opportunity to collectively analyze all clinical research studies focusing on plant-based and vegetarian weight loss trials and found that plant-based diets lead to greater weight loss results, whether or not weight loss is intended. Participants lost an average of roughly 7.5 pounds when adopting a plant-based lifestyle. These findings were published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Knowing what a plant-based diet can do for you, it’s time to get started!
A great way to get you going on resolutions is joining our fitness challenge!
