Why is eating more unprocessed plant-based food beneficial to you?

Nowadays many people are in love with the taste of well-prepared meat, baked eggs, fresh milk and highly processed foods. If you ask them about their affection toward those types of foods, they will proudly and profoundly express the words: "I’m loving it". It feels as if nobody can ever get in between them and the foods they adore.

A year ago, I was one of them. I ate the necessary vegetables and fruits, but next to that accepted every type of food that was offered to me. In my perception I was a healthy person and the food I ate would never harm my body. My body looked healthy and was in good shape. I went to the gym twice a week, had enough rest and my stress levels seemed to be low. I was not aware to be in the process of becoming an ill person at the age of 26.

It took a while before I was noticing something was seriously wrong with my body. My allergies were getting worse, increasingly I was experiencing diarrhea and severe muscle cramps, I felt tired after every single meal and a friend of mine noticed I had developed sleep apnea. Although the health issues were gradually accelerating, the extend of my bad health took me by surprise. I was totally unaware about possible main causes of my health issues, neither did I know how to repair my body.

After a while I started to get very concerned about my health since my stool had turned grey. I decided to dig deep into the main causes of my health issues to solve it for once and for all. I decided to make an appointment with multiple experienced healers to delve into multiple healing methods. During recovery I noticed the severe impact unhealthy foods were having on my body. At that time my body was very vulnerable and the food I ate directly impacted me in different noticeable ways. After a few diet-changes I learned my body was only responding well to an unprocessed plant-based diet. I was trying to understand why and learned some fundamental truths!

Our bodies are not optimized to eat lots of animal-based products

We are mainly constructed to eat and digest plant-based foods. It's our primary and best fuel on this planet. Physiologically our body is almost 100% similar to that of a true herbivore. We don't have a big mouth opening, a jaw joint that works like a hinge, dagger like teeth and sharp claws to kill and eat a prey. Instead we have fleshy lips, a small mouth opening, a thick muscled tongue and a much more moveable jaw joint to shatter and crunch food like herbivores. Also, our intestines are much more similar to that of an herbivore and our bodies are making carbohydrate-converting enzymes for the only purpose to digest plant-based foods, since animal-based foods doesn't contain any carbohydrates.

Not only our body, but also our instincts are that of an herbivore. A two-year-old has nearly any learned skills and instead uses mainly their intuition. If you put a two-year-old in a cradle containing a living rabbit and an apple, it will start playing with the rabbit and start eating the apple. Does your instinct tell you to kill an animal for dinner, or do you rather pick some veggies from the land?

When looking to our body and intuition it is clear we are better able digesting plant-based foods rather than animal-based foods, but the differences are not noticable until your body gets ill. In the process of digesting animal-based foods, many potential harmful residues remain in the body, like: animal proteins, cholesterol, saturated fats and trans fatty acids. In moderate or high amounts, the residues play out a negative effect on your digestive tract, body’s mineral reserves and cardiovascular system. Over time it can be the main cause of developing diseases like: cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, types of cancer, allergies and dementia.

When you are having some difficulties with your health, please try avoiding animal-based products for a while, and you’ll notice it’ll help you getting better. At least your body will have more energy to restore your health, since it won’t have to cope with food that your body is not optimized for.

In every step of food processing its health value decreases

The growing demand for convenience, comfort and prosperity urges manufacturers to produce foods which are highly processed. Consumers want food to be cheap, tasty, well-prepared, energy-intense and the shelf life to be long. These characteristics turn out not to be very beneficial to our gut and overall health. The increase of processed foods is resulting in an increase of specific types of illnesses. In the Netherlands the number of type 2 diabetes patients almost doubled over the last 15 years and is continuing to grow to approximately 1/3th of the Dutch population by the year 2050! There is a clear link between consumption of processed foods and the development of type 2 diabetes. To be able to understand the negative health issues it has on people, it is important to understand the eight most important characteristics of a healthy diet.

1. In order for your gut to digest the food quickly, it is important for the food to have a short shelf life. The sooner food can be digested by the gut, the less energy it will drain from your body and the less harm it can cause to your intestinal flora. Tip, the quicker your food starts to mold, the easier it will be digested by your gut;
2. To prevent excess stress on your pancreas and vascular system it is important for your food to contain a balance of healthy fats, proteins and carbohydrates. In the process of extracting cheap oil from seeds, a lot of heat is being used, which changes the fat structure from healthy to unhealthy. Excess unhealthy fats promote chances of getting vascular diseases. Refined quick sugars are causing a high peak in blood sugar levels, which increases stress on your pancreas and promotes chances of getting insulin resistance;
3. If your food contains a rich variety of important vitamins, minerals and trace elements, it will support many processes in your body. Some micronutrients are essential for the buildup of cells and tissue, while others are beneficial to maintain a strong resistance against a variety of body stresses (i.e. virus, bacteria, fungal and parasite infections);
4. Foods that are packed with fiber and water reduce your chance of overeating and improves your stool. You will need less calories for getting a saturated feeling, so you will eat less and won’t feel hungry for quite some time after having a meal;
5. There should be a delegate balance between the consumption of alkaline and acidic foods. Once there is a chronic imbalance, it can lead to a mineral deficiency. The body uses more minerals for correcting the pH imbalance created by the consumed foods. Western people are mainly consuming too many acidic foods and drinks. Plant-based foods tend to be predominately alkaline;
6. When there are low amounts of toxic chemicals in the foods you eat, it lowers the chance of toxification in your body. Toxification can lead to irreversible health effects;
7. Healthy foods contain no additives (e-numbers and sugar substitutes). They are proven not to be health beneficial and tends to disrupt the intestinal flora;
8. Low amounts of free radicals help you to minimize the chance of experiencing DNA- or tissue damage. The less processed the foods are, the less free radicals will be contained.

If you start defining the health of all products in your supermarket due to the eight most important characteristics, you'll definitely come to the following statement:

"Nearly all processed foods are putting excess stress on your body and nearly all unprocessed plant-based foods are stimulating your body to heal and repair."

Not only will a mainly unprocessed plant-based diet be beneficial for preventing or healing your body from a variety of illnesses, it will also prevent the earth from excessive animal suffering and climate devastation.

One more thing. Unprocessed plant-based foods can be very delicious and tasty. By using the right combinations, herbs and spices, the taste will truly overwhelm you. It is the art of finding the correct recipes and in no time, you will prefer to have an unprocessed plant-based diet for dinner, existing of vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, nuts, healthy oils, herbs and spices.

Are you Dutch and would you like to gain a deeper general understanding in the role of food in healing your body? Please check out the following article!