What is a Plant-based Diet?
Have you ever heard about plant-based diets and its benefits? If not, let’s dive into it with me.
A plant-based diet mainly comprises fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and cereals. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t take any animal food. You can still eat eggs, cheese, butter, and all the dairy products. Don’t worry you can have meat occasionally too.
Now you will be wondering how this plant-based diet is. The answer is plant-based diet is of many types and you can choose according to your taste. Come and have a look at its types.
How do you classify a plant-based diet?
If you are on a plant-based diet but still have some meat, fish, and dairy products a few times a week, it means you are on a Mediterranean diet.
And if you are caught having meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products occasionally then you are on a Semi-Vegetarian diet.
There is a friend of yours who is on a plant-based diet and does not eat meat but still includes some fish, egg, and dairy products then he/she is on a Pescatarian diet.
Your sibling is eating all the fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts but excludes meat and fish and still has dairy products. It means he is on a Vegetarian diet.
Being on a plant-based diet without eating any meat, fish, egg, or dairy products makes you a Vegan.
You might be wondering even though there are a lot of types of this diet then what are the possible health benefits of this diet? Let’s not keep you waiting and look into its advantages.
Health benefits of Plant-based Diet:
- Research has proved that eating plant-based diets helps you control and prevent diabetes and if you are not diabetic it helps control the risk factor.
- A plant-based diet helps you lose weight because you are mostly taking fiber so it reduces obesity.
- According to research, eating less meat and more plant-based food helps you to prevent cancer. It also reduces the risk of breast and prostate cancer.
- Plant-based diets also keep you away from heart diseases, manage your cholesterol, and maintain your blood pressure.
How Should You Start Having a Plant-Based Diet?
You can start by taking small proportions of plants and vegetables in your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can also look for delicious and healthy recipes on the internet and try some of them. Change your view about meat and treat it as a side dish. You always have a lot of options for a plant-based diet. Don’t be shy and try incorporating it into your diet and soon you will be reaping its benefits. It’s always worth giving a chance.
