10 Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet - For People & Planet
Imagine a diet that can strengthen your immune system, reduce your risk of virtually all illnesses and diseases, and save the planet. Well, we have just the diet for you- a plant-based diet!
A plant-based diet is healthy for everyone- packed with nutrients, fibres, protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. A plant-based diet is not strictly limited to vegetables and fruits, it also includes seeds, nuts, oils, whole grains, legumes, and beans.
Here are 10 health benefits of a plant-based diet for personal health and the health of our planet.
Support Your Immune System
When you take care of your gut, you take care of your immune system. Plants provide your body with the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to keep your cells healthy and capable to fight off any germs or infections.
Reduces Energy Consumption
It is significantly more climate effective to produce plant protein than animal protein. Plant-based food sources require way less processing than meat, fish, and dairy products. In fact, it takes about 11 times as much fossil fuels to produce one calorie of animal protein as it does to produce one calorie of grain protein.
Switching to a plant-based diet will help to decrease the demand for these harmful sources of food, which in turn, reduces energy consumption and fossil fuel production.
Author
Hanna Patrick
With a passion for supporting mental health, and working towards a degree in Health Sciences with a specialization in health promotion, Hanna understands how important preserving nature is for good health.
Protects The Land
Livestock requires much larger plots of land than cropland to deliver the same amount of energy and protein to humans. More importantly, agriculture is a huge cause of deforestation to provide land for grazing and animal-feeding crops. If more people ate plant-based, the land use for agriculture could be drastically decreased and more land could remain forests and protect the species that live there.
Improves Gut Health
Foods rich in fibre and prebiotics are gut-friendly and promote well-balanced gut bacteria! Consuming a diet that consists of a wide variety of plant sources will cause you to be healthier by diversifying your gut bacteria. This diet will help enhance your gut’s ability to absorb nutrients and reduce any inflammation.
Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
A diet full of meat, cheese, and highly processed foods places an individual at an increased risk of plaque build-up and ultimately heart disease. Whereas a plant-based diet benefits heart health as they contain no cholesterol, little saturated fats, and plenty of fibre. Consuming more plant-based foods helps reduce high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Livestock produces an abundance of nitrous oxide and methane gas. Cows are the biggest agricultural contributor to greenhouse gas emissions due to their hefty methane release. Eating a plant-based diet can help to avoid the need for livestock, decrease the release of these harmful chemicals, and help to combat the climate crisis.
Decreases Risks of Cancer
Consuming a diet high in fibre can help to reduce the risk of cancers and moderate insulin levels. In fact, research suggests that 25% of cancers can be prevented with proper diet and nutrition.
Helps Stabilize The Ocean
Agricultural carbon makes its way into the oceans and lakes and creates an acidic environment that is harmful to all creatures of lakes and seas. While harmful fishing practices further destabilize aquatic environments. By moving to a plant-based diet, underwater life can flourish.
Help Combat World Hunger
Replacing animal-based food sources with plant-based diets can feed an additional 390 million people while using less farmland to do so.
Conserves and Protects Water
Livestock is a main contributor to nitrogen and phosphorous pollution in bodies of water. By decreasing the number of animals required for consumption, water is not only conserved but protected from runoff.
We hope you enjoyed reading about these 10 Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet - For People & Planet.
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