The benefits of a vegan diet are becoming well known. Vegans have healthier weights, reduced disease risk, and eat more fiber. They also obtain more antioxidants and phytochemicals from plants. In fact studies have shown that as a dietary group, vegans rock. And when it comes to the environment, including animals, it’s a win.
A lot of folks are going back and forth these days about diets, and especially veganism, such as these key points:
They talk about getting enough vitamin D on a vegan diet when studies clearly show that most Americans that eat meat are vitamin D deficient.
They worry about protein, claiming you can’t get all nine of the essential amino acids your body needs (on a vegan diet), when tons of plant foods rock all nine and more.
They talk fatty acids, but forget to mention algae, seaweed, omega-rich seeds.
They sweat B12, which is in plant foods and supplements.
They argue about iron, which rocks spinach, lentils, beans, peas, chocolate, and more.
They claim meats are superfoods, when ‘real’ superfoods are plants.
They say they feel bad—‘weak on a vegan diet’—but never work out. Never rock weights. Never eat ‘healthy’ vegan food and eat processed instead.
They ramp sugar.
Drink alcohol.
And rarely, rarely address the healing crisis—which always happens when your body takes a turn for the good:
“The healing crisis is an acute reaction of the body brought about by an improvement of the vital forces, enabling them to eliminate from the system the diseased conditions and accumulations,” says Dr. J. C. Thomson.
And it can take a second. It can last months, perhaps years. How much damage did you do?
And worst of all, they forget fiber. Which is only in plants. And the news from science? It’s the hands down go-to for a healthy biome.
And if you think that’s not important think again:
“Low-fiber intake in Western societies is purported to be a driver in the depletion of the human gastrointestinal microbiota and subsequent increases in chronic non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer.”
According to Nature:
“Epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated the benefits of dietary fibre on gastrointestinal health through consumption of unrefined whole foods, such as wholegrains, legumes, vegetables and fruits. Dietary fibre has been shown to have a number of important associations with the development and management of various diseases and with mortality in epidemiological and interventional studies.”
And . . .
“Several studies have reported that vegan diets tend to provide more fiber, antioxidants, and beneficial plant compounds. They also appear to be richer in potassium, magnesium, folate, and vitamins A, C, and E.”
And on and on.
The list is huge.
While meat and processed foods, contrarily, cause inflammation, oxidative stress, autoimmune diseases, chronic GI tract issues, heart disease, cancers, high blood pressure, and more.
And at the least, shoddy health. And that’s typically before things catch up. Cancer and disease take time to grow. Chronic doesn’t happen overnight. Cellular metabolism and functions in the mitochondria don’t operate in plain sight.
So I don’t know about you, but I’m good with my results:
- A phone call from a doctor telling me I had the best blood he’d ever seen in all his years of practice.
- A 7% body fat ratio from a hydrostatic water tank that evoked the question, what on earth do you do? (Nope not anorexic.)
- A reversal of years of chronic pain, high blood pressure, and more in relatives and others that went vegan.
- A cholesterol read with triglycerides, HDL and LDL literally off the charts (in all the right directions).
- A longstanding healthy BMI with rock solid muscle mass.
So of course I’m not a centrist. I go all in. A healthy vegan diet helps you live longer too.
According to this report:
“Studies and clinical trials conducted over nearly 40 years reveal the health benefits of eating at least 25g to 29g or more of dietary fibre a day, according to a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in The Lancet. The results suggest a 15-30% decrease in all-cause and cardiovascular related mortality when comparing people who eat the highest amount of fibre to those who eat the least. Eating fibre-rich foods also reduced incidence of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer by 16-24%.”
And those aren’t the only benefits of a vegan diet.
1. A Vegan Diet Helps Fight Factory Farming
So it’s probably not surprising that I’m one of those diehard, bleeding-heart animal lovers who shed a whole lot of tears over Bambi. I even started a little animal shelter in my backyard at the age of 10.
So when I got a little older and witnessed some of the factory farming videos online—you may know the ones—I was shell-shocked. I was glad I’d gone vegan and couldn’t imagine looking back.
In fact the physical and spiritual benefits of a vegan diet are just a fraction of its rewards. According to Animal Aid, “Going vegan is one of the best things you can do to help stop animal cruelty. By refusing to pay for animal products, you reduce the demand for them, which ensures fewer animals are bred to suffer and die on farms and in slaughterhouses.”
The Humane Society says this:
- Eating more plant-based meals lowers demand for meat, dairy and eggs, which dramatically reduces animal suffering on factory farms around the world.
- Choosing to replace meat, dairy and eggs with plant-based proteins even once a week can improve energy and prevent diseases.
- Raising billions of animals for food each year contributes significantly to climate change, pollutes our air and water and uses a tremendous amount of land, water and other precious natural resources.
- Industrial farm animal production causes significant emissions of three key climate-changing gases, disrupting weather, temperature and ecosystem health.
“In today’s world, cruelty and exploitation of other beings – human and non-human alike – are accepted, practiced, and profited from by most every institution of society – from commerce and science to education and entertainment.”
2. A Vegan Diet Is More Sustainable
Going vegan helps the environment by reducing deforestation, soil erosion, water and air pollution, and more.
It helps preserve Earth’s resources and supports sustainability.
Here’s how a vegan diet helps the environment:
Vegan Diet Benefits
-
Fights deforestation.
-
Contributes to energy conservation.
-
Helps prevent soil erosion/degradation.
-
Fights environmental pollution.
-
Helps conserve water and protect waterways.
-
Helps the oceans.
-
Helps tropical rainforests.
-
Supports endangered species.
-
Preserves Earth’s resources.
According to this report:
A plant-based diet may not only be optimal for our personal health, but for the health of our planet, too. The least healthy foods tend to cause the worst environmental impact, while the foods with the most nutrition just so happen to be the foods that cause the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, a systematic review found that eating a completely plant-based diet may be the optimal diet for the environment. Diets that include meat require about 3 times more water, 13 times more fertilizer, more than twice the energy, and 40 percent more pesticides than those that don’t. Looking at the total environmental impact of omnivorous versus vegetarian versus vegan diets—that is, looking not only at global warming, but also ocean acidification, agricultural run-off, smog, ecotoxicity of the water and soil, and direct human toxicity of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil in which we grow our food—eating eggs and dairy may be 9 times worse than plants, and eating eggs, dairy, and meat may be 17 times worse than sticking to plant foods.
3. A Vegan Diet Boosts Health and Longevity
There are many factors that go into health and longevity, and among them is diet.
Studies have shown that a vegan diet helps fight about every disease, reduces all cause mortality, and is one of the best diets ever for human health.
I speak from experience when I say that going vegan, in addition to a variety of healthy lifestyle hacks like saunas, fitness, fasting, Earthing, meditation, etc., is one of the most profound and significant changes you can make for your health.
According to this report:
“Studies have shown plant-based eating can improve not only body weight, blood sugar levels, and ability to control cholesterol, but also emotional states, including depression, anxiety, fatigue, sense of well-being, and daily functioning. Only one way of eating has ever been proven to reverse heart disease in the majority of patients: a diet centered around whole plant foods.”
Harvard notes that multiple studies have linked eating plant-based protein instead of meat to increased longevity and a “10% decrease in death from any cause.”
In particular, “Replacing eggs and red meat with plant proteins appeared to reduce death risk by as much as 24% in men and 21% in women — especially in people with high intake of eggs and red meat.”
So if replacing eggs and red meat with plant protein appears to reduce death by as much as 24% in men and 21% in women, imagine what an ‘optimized’ vegan diet can do.
Thankfully I don‘t have to imagine, because I’m in.
Here’s what else:
Vegan Diet Benefits
-
Fights free radicals.
-
Fights oxidative stress.
-
Reduces inflammation.
-
Oxygenates the blood.
-
Ramps ATP.
-
Boosts circulation.
-
Improves digestion.
-
Revs metabolism.
-
Supports regularity.
-
Balances blood sugar.
-
Mitigates stress.
-
Promotes restful sleep.
-
Alkalizes pH.
-
Detoxifies pollutants.
-
Supports the biome.
-
Helps heal the gut.
-
Increases fiber.
-
Provides cleaner protein.
-
Boosts mitochondria.
-
Helps fight disease.
-
Reduces nutritional deficiency.
-
Supports mental health.
-
Helps you lose weight.
Do Vegans Get Enough Protein?
Studies have shown that vegans and people on a plant-based diet get plenty of protein.
According to one report, they get more than enough:
“An analysis of the eating records of a large sample of people following plant-based diets showed that, on average, they got 70% more protein than they needed every day.”
In fact the abundance of high-protein foods available to vegans and plant-based eaters is immense.
Think nuts, seeds, beans, grasses, veggies, fruits, on and on.
And there are tons of foods—tofu, for instance—that are stacked.
So the whole argument that vegans can’t get enough protein falls apart.
Go here for 12 complete protein foods > Vegan Sources of Proteins
4. Vegan Diet Benefits: Fitness Powerhouse
For some people it took the release of the documentary film Gamechangers to literally change their minds about veganism.
For others, like myself, who’ve been athletes for years, it didn’t tell us much we didn’t already know.
According to this report:
“Athletes who follow plant-based diets could see improvements in their heart health, performance and recovery, suggests a new review of studies published online Thursday in the journal Nutrients . . . . It’s possible that, low-fat, vegan diets have properties that could help protect vulnerable athletes from heart disease risk factors and improve their performance, researchers suggested. Such diets can help reverse plaque, improve high blood cholesterol, and reduce blood pressure, excess weight and diabetes risk.
A vegan diet also . . .
- Lowers body fat and promotes leaner body composition.
- Improves glycogen storage in muscle cells through higher carbs found in grains, legumes and root veggies, for greater endurance.
- Increases blood flow and oxygen to the body’s tissues.
- Reduces oxidative damage by combating free radicals with antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies.
- Decreases inflammation and speeds the body’s recovery after intensive training.
- Protects the heart from risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol for safer competition.
A note from Runner’s World:
“A diet rich in foods with nitric oxide—which is found in beets and other plant-based foods—helps improve blood flow, which helps you recover faster.”
Improved blood flow equals stronger health.
Research has also linked a vegan diet to the following:
Vegan Diet Benefits
-
Lower risk of allergies.
-
Lower risk of bladder cancer.
-
Lower blood pressure.
-
Smaller BMI and slimmer waist.
-
Lower total cholesterol.
-
Phosphorus for kidney disease.
-
Lower risk of Crohn’s disease.
-
Lower risk of endometrial cancer.
-
Lower heart disease and cancer mortality.
-
Lower risk of inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis.
-
Life extension.
-
Beneficial effects on psychological disorders linked to low serotonin levels.
-
Better preservation of muscle mass as one ages.
-
Beneficial effects for Parkinson’s disease patients.
-
Lower risk of premature puberty.
-
Slower progression of prostate cancer.
On the other hand, diets high in processed animal foods are associated with negative effects:
-
Cancer.
-
Diabetes.
-
Heart disease.
-
High blood pressure.
-
High cholesterol.
-
Autoimmune disease.
-
Gastrointestinal tract diseases (GI).
-
Neurological diseases.
-
Bone diseases.
-
Arthritic diseases.
-
Dermatological issues.
-
Mental health issues.
And more.
Not to mention organic plant-based protein is typically lower in fat, more nutrient-dense, more fibrous, more alkaline, and loaded with phytochemicals and micronutrients that are essential to human health.
And when it comes to weight loss . . .
5. A Vegan Diet Rocks
Going vegan can help you lose weight because it’s a high-fiber diet and lower in calories and saturated fats.
Studies have shown that among all dietary groups, vegans have the healthiest weights.
So if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s the efficacy of the right vegan diet.
And by ‘right’ I mean an optimized plan that includes a variety of organic plant-based foods, exercise, saunas, fasting, and additional lifestyle hacks—like ditching sugar.
According to this report:
“The largest study ever to compare the obesity rates of those eating plant-based diets was published in North America. Meat eaters topped the charts with an average body mass index (BMI) of 28.8—close to being obese. Flexitarians (people who ate meat more on a weekly basis rather than daily) did better at a BMI of 27.3, but were still overweight. With a BMI of 26.3, pesco-vegetarians (people who avoid all meat except fish) did better still. Even U.S. vegetarians tend to be marginally overweight, coming in at 25.7. The only dietary group found to be of ideal weight were those eating strictly plant-based (the “vegans”), whose BMI averaged 23.6.”
And that’s just another of the benefits of going vegan.
Trust me, there are more.
Healthy Plant-Based Breakfast Ideas
The medical and health topics covered on the Plate of Grass website and blog have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to prevent or cure any disease. This article and its content is presented ‘as is’ for informational purposes only.
