Health and Wellness: Plant Foods
Blog 3.0: What is so great about plant foods?
The post below is meant to serve as an introduction into the numerous benefits of a whole food plant based diet. We will explore the topics discussed below in greater detail on future posts.
Plant protein is superior: Unlike animal protein, protein from plants is not accompanied with cholesterol, saturated fats, and carcinogens. Please, refer to Blog 2.0 for more details.
Plant foods contain fiber: Though nondigestible to minimally digestible, fiber is essential in maintaining good health. Fiber allows the foods to break down more slowly resulting in better blood sugar control. Prevents constipation and aids in reducing risk for colon cancer, diverticulosis and diverticulitis. Fiber gives us feeling of fullness and satiety and prevents overeating. This prevents obesity and leads to better weight management. Recall, animal foods have no fiber.
Plants foods contain Phytonutrients: These compounds are potent antioxidants and have powerful anti-inflammatory properties which enhance our immunity and repair DNA damage. This results in reduced risk for cancer and multiple other chronic disease where inflammation plays a key role. Some of the chronic diseases ameliorated by plant foods include diabetes, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases. https://www.livescience.com/52541-phytonutrients.html
Plant foods are good for the environment: Animal agriculture is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution. http://climatenexus.org/climate-issues/food/animal-agricultures-impact-on-climate-change/ Furthermore, it takes a lot more resources to produce animal foods than plants foods. For example it takes approximately 34 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of potatoes, but it takes approximately 1847 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/food-water-footprint_n_5952862.html
In the last 2 posts we’ve focused primarily on the health benefits of switching from animal foods to a plant based diet. Making this switch provides benefits far greater than improved individual health. We’ll explore some of these other merits on our next post.
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