Plant Based Eating

Description

Plant Based Eating. A beginner’s guide to optimal health, sustainable weight loss, and increased energy. Are you searching for an organic solution to better health? Want To Reach Optimal Health, Lose Weight And Increase Your Energy?

Kick-start your plant-based eating journey today! Are you tired of diets that don’t work? Do you want to improve your health? Do you feel like you don’t know what is good or bad food for you? Do you want to learn more about plant-based eating?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then plant-based eating is for you! We are hearing the word plant-based nutrition more and more in our society.

With the launch of documentaries, books, and the emergence of athletes changing their nutrition to be plant-based, one has to wonder what this is all about. Plant-based eating can be for everyone and it doesn’t have to be a complex commitment.

Health research

Plant based diets are of interest in preventing and managing chronic diseases.

Diet quality

Not all plant based foods are equally healthy. Rather, plant based diets including whole grains as the main form of carbohydrate, unsaturated fats as the predominate form of dietary fat, an abundance of fruit and vegetables, and adequate n-3 fatty acids can be considered healthy.

With ultra processed plant based foods, such as vegan burger patties or chicken nuggets, becoming more available, there is also concern that plant based diets incorporating these foods may become less healthy.

In practice lacto-ovo vegetarians or vegans seem to have a higher overall diet quality compared with nonvegetarians. The reason for this is the closer adherence to health organisation recommendations on consumption of fruits, whole grains, seafood and plant protein and sodium. The higher diet quality in vegetarians and vegans may explain some of the positive health outcomes compared with nonvegetarians.

Weight

Observational studies show that vegetarian diets are lower in energy intake than non vegetarian diets and that vegetarians have a lower body mass index than non vegetarians.

Two reviews of preliminary research found that vegetarian diets practiced over 18 weeks or longer reduced body weight in the range of 2–3 kilograms (4.4–6.6 lb), with vegan diets used for 12 weeks or longer reducing body weight by 4 kg.

In obese people, a 2022 review found that plant based diets improved weight control, LDL and total cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin resistance, and fasting glucose.

Diabetes

Vegetarian and vegan diets are under clinical research to identify potential effects on type 2 diabetes, with preliminary results showing improvements in body weight and biomarkers of metabolic syndrome. Some reviews indicate that plant based diets including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts are associated with a lower risk of diabetes.

When the focus was whole foods, an improvement of diabetes biomarkers occurred, including reduced obesity. In diabetic people, plant based diets were also associated with improved emotional and physical well-being, relief of depression, higher quality of life, and better general health.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine stated that diet can achieve remission in many adults with type 2 diabetes when used as a primary intervention of whole, plant based foods with minimal consumption of meat and other animal products. There remains a need for more randomized controlled trials “to assess sustainable plant based dietary interventions with whole or minimally processed foods, as a primary means of treating diabetes with the goal of remission.”

Cancer

There is some evidence that plant based diets decrease the risk of cancer. Vegetarian diets are associated with a lower incidence from total cancer (-8%). A vegan diet seems to reduced risk of incidence from total cancer by -15%. However, there was no improvement in cancer mortality.

Microbiome

Preliminary studies indicate that a plant-based diet may improve the gut microbiome.

Cardiovascular diseases

Clinical trials show that plant based diets, including vegan and vegetarian diets, may lower blood pressure, and blood cholesterol levels.

People on a long term vegan diet show improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors. Clinical trials also show that the changes in blood pressure associated with a vegan diet without caloric restrictions are comparable to those of dietary practices recommended by medical societies and use of portion-controlled diets.

Prospective cohort studies show that vegetarian diets are associated with reduced risk of CVD and Ischemic Heart Disease, but not stroke. For vegan diets only a reduced risk in IHD was found.

Bone health

The effect of plant based diets on bone health is inconclusive. Preliminary research indicates that consuming a plant based diet may be associated with lower bone density, a risk factor for fractures.

Inflammation

Plant based diets are under study for their potential to reduce inflammation. C-reactive protein – a biomarker for inflammation – may be reduced by consuming a plant based diet, particularly in obese people.

Mortality

A 2020 review stated that dietary patterns based on consuming vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, unsaturated vegetable oils, fish, lean meat or poultry, and are low in processed meat, high-fat dairy and refined carbohydrates or sweets, are associated with a decreased risk of all-cause mortality.