1- Lower your fat intake and improve heart health
It’s not a secret that America has an obesity problem. With over a third of our population being obese or morbidly obese, it is not surprising that the leading cause of preventable death is heart disease. Changing your diet to being vegan, eliminates many of the foods that contribute to our poor health as a nation. Red meats and cheese, for example, are both high in cholesterol and saturated fats. This clogs your arteries due to excess plaque build up in the body. By going vegan, you are reducing the amount of these detrimental fats, and therefore a by-product of this change would make you less at risk for developing heart disease.
2- Reduced cancer risk from a variety of nutrient intake
Most people know that it good for your health to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet – something you would automatically do while eating vegan. Not everyone knows exactly how a colorful diet is good for you, however. Their rainbow colors don’t just look pretty, they also are proof of the vital phytonutrients packed in there that your body craves to function at its best. Those phytonutrients working together have the ability to lower one’s risk for developing cancer by decreasing the damage done by oxidants, blocking inflammation, or even slowing the growth of cancer cells.
3- See the seeds and eat them too
To replace the proteins you aren’t getting from animal products, it is imperative that people on a vegan diet consume nuts, seeds, beans, and more to stay well nourished. The benefit of choosing these three foods in particular over the standard meats is that they also contain high amounts of omega fatty acids. Regular intake of these healthy fats have shown to reduce your risk of developing chronic eye diseases later on in life. In addition, beans are naturally high in zinc which can ease the damage light does to the retina. The retina is the part of the eye that helps you interpret light and is susceptible to many chronic disorders, found at retinatucson.com. Simply by choosing to eat plant-based, you can help protect your vision for years to come.
4- Stabilize your blood sugar and lower your risk of diabetes
Going vegan and staying vegan is also beneficial for your blood sugar and keeping your body’s response to insulin on track. Many processed foods happen to be extremely high in sugar, even ones that you don’t always expect, and are not always free of animal products. By maintaining a vegan diet, you would be more likely to choose unprocessed foods which would lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes for a couple reasons. This type of diet will help your blood sugar levels stabilize due to the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables you would be eating. Compounded with the potential for weight loss on a plant-based diet, your risk of getting type 2 diabetes is significantly lower than the average consumer.
