Vegans are a group of people who abstain from consuming all animal products due to health, social, political, personal preference, or environmental reasons but vegetarians do not eat the meat of any animal or fish but they can use some items made up from animal products.
Benefits of a vegan lifestyle
Many people today are adapting to a vegan lifestyle more than ever before because of numerous merits that are associated with consuming vegetables, whole grains, and other foods from plants. Here are the top advantages that nutritionists suggest occur to vegetarians.
Health benefits
Apart from vegetables, a vegan diet includes fruits, nuts, and seeds. Studies have indicated that this type of diet contains rich fibers, antioxidants, and high levels of minerals such as potassium, magnesium, folates, and vitamin A, B12, C, iron, calcium, iodine, and zinc. Conversely, those minerals play an important role in preventing, treating, and even minimizing the risks of suffering from certain diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, cardiovascular attacks, and other heart conditions. In fact, researchers compared the prevalence of diseases on vegetarians and non-vegetarians and realized that the former has a low probability of getting certain types of cancer than the latter. Another disease which can be avoided by consuming plants and vegetable diet only is type 2 diabetes. The reason behind this is that fruits, grains, legumes, and vegetables have very little cholesterol which keeps the body healthy.
Weight loss
Health and nutrition experts have witnessed significant weight loss on some specific people who choose to focus on eating particular types of vegetables and fruits. A study that was conducted by the Dean Ornish who also the Director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in California discovered that the obese and overweight people who follow a ceratin vegetarian diet and combine it with physical rigorous exercise for at least one month, they begin recognizing immense weight loss. Dean Ornish argued that this change is realized because of cutting the number of calories without feeling hungry. Moreover, vegans tend to have a longer life span as compared to meat-eaters and this is linked to the revelation that excess consumption of meat weakens the energy, clogs arteries with cholesterol, reduces the immune system, and as well as leading to sexual dysfunction and accelerated cognitive aging.
Strong bones
The eating of vegetables and fruits has proved in building strong bones in the body. Unlike the meat-eaters who may have weak bones as a result of excess fats, food nutritionists advise a regular diet of plants and vegetables with phosphorus, vitamin D, which enables the formation of strong bones and ensures you are safe from bone diseases. Additionally, women who focus on fruits and vegetables may experience comfortable sessions with low levels of hormonal imbalances. This happens because some plants and vegetables have chemical compounds that help generate estrogen hormone. These compounds are present in apples, garlic, olives, yams, plums, and squash. Therefore, vegetarians are likely to remain more energetic because of fewer calories in the body that enables efficacy in the circulation of blood and oxygen in all parts of the body.
A Vegan diet is one of the best choices which people are implementing to live a healthy life, reduce the risks of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. However, these benefits do happen immediately and they may require consistent practice and professional prescription by health professionals and nutritionists. But if you do not have funds for consultation, following informative blogs, and doing extensive research on books or online platforms can still provide meaningful results and ensure you remain healthy and live longer!