5 Reasons to try a plant-based diet… coming from a meat lover person.
Yes, plant-based diets are gaining strength in our culture, Kim Kardashian is plant-based now, Burger King has its new Rebel burgers, and even in Mexico word is going out; my social media is filling up with stories of #MeatlessMondays and vegan dishes. So what ‘s in it? Why a meat lover like myself tried this diet?
There are plenty of personal reasons, but I’ll highlight some, taking into consideration that my diet is more flexitarian now than 100% plant-based.
1. Feeling bad is not normal
Like you, surely, I believed that the “everything changes when you’re 30” song, was just something people liked to sing about but was a lie. How can everything suddenly change when you turn 30? But as I come closer (i turn 30 this year) I’ve come to realize that, sadly, it is true. Bad habits start charging us, bodies slow down and genetics diseases or medical conditions appear. I’ve always taken care of my diet, but suddenly it became 10 times more important as hypothyroidism showed up, and I found out that a lot of people in my circle have some kind of condition and they consider it normal. Guess what? It’s not! And they are completely preventable and improved by a healthy lifestyle, which is mostly eating right; giving our body the right nutrients.
You can find this info in a lot of places but I’ll mention Super Life from Darien Olien, where you can find an amazing list of foods and how they heal your body. In my case it helped me control my symptoms and make my body stronger. For example for muscles we should introduce to our diets almonds, chia seeds, garlic, leafy greens, pecans, pumpkin seeds; for joints health avocado, black pepper, pineapple, turmeric; for energy apple cider vinegar, ginseng, green tea, raw local honey, mushrooms; for our brains blueberries, brazil nuts, nuts, quinoa, rosemary; anti-inflammatory foods as leeks, onions, fermented foods, flaxseed, hazelnuts, seaweed; for fiber, apples, chickpeas, coconut, oats and walnuts. Food can heal us!
2. Helps you maintain a healthy weight
In Mexico 3 out of 4 persons over 20 years old present an overweight or obesity problem according to the INEGI, INSP and the Mexican Health Department (2019). Why is this bad? Because excess weight causes inflammation and hormonal imbalance. The MD Anderson Cancer Center (2019) mentions that if you are overweight or obese, your risk is higher for developing up to 12 different types of cancer. In addition to a lot of other diseases like diabetes, cardiac and renal problems, etc… And in México, besides Covid-19, these were exactly the top reasons of death in 2020.
So having a plant-based diet, a good one, can help us maintain a healthy weight, not being skinny (which I’ve never been) but healthy, giving your body a balance between fat, muscle and hydration; and therefore, prevent and control alterations in our health.
3. Helps you support your immune system
What happened when Covid-19 struck? We all ran to get some Vitamin C to reinforce our immune system and protect it. However, Vitamin C is not the only one we need. We need a variety of vitamins, antioxidants like carotenoids and flavonoids, and phytonutrients; some of them can only be found on fruits and vegetables; so, eating a great variety of these is the only way to provide our body the right nutrients.
Maybe you know this already, but I’ve never paid much attention to this extent so I’ll quickly explain some of them if you, like me, didn’t really thought about this before:
The MD Anderson Cancer Center mentions that more research is needed to determine how phytonutrients work but this are some of their potential benefits:
- Strengthening the immune system
- Reducing inflammation
- Preventing DNA damage and helping DNA repair
- Slowing cancer cell growth
- Regulating hormones
- Preventing damaged cells from reproducing
Paraphrasing the U.S. National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health, antioxidants help us prevent or delay cell damages by fighting free radicals. We need free radicals, they are naturally produced by our body, but antioxidants help our body maintain a healthy balance. “Free radicals are highly unstable molecules that are naturally formed when you exercise and when your body converts food into energy.[…] Free radicals can cause “oxidative stress,” a process that can trigger cell damage. Oxidative stress is thought to play a role in a variety of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and eye diseases such as cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.” We get antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, as well as plant-based foods; specially blueberries, raspberries, apples, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, eggplant, and legumes like red kidney beans or black beans. Other sources may be green tea, black tea, red wine and dark chocolate.
4. It provides you good quality protein
Don’t get me wrong, I hated vegetarians and vegans telling me I was wrong, for me, it was like “we need protein too, and meat is the place to get it”. Besides, I exercise 5 days a week so I need protein and energy, how could I rely on only fruits, vegetables and grains?
But it turns out, there are lots of grains and vegetables that provide protein; sure, we might need to eat more of them to take the same amount as a steak, or roasted fish; but that isn’t necessarily bad. “A very high-protein diet can strain the kidneys and liver. It can also prompt excessive loss of the mineral calcium, which can increase your risk of osteoporosis” (Australian Better Health Channel). Protein needs will vary depending on sex, age, physical activity etc… Having a plat-based diet can help us maintain a better balance as in how much protein we give our body and more importantly the quality of that protein. “The key to ensuring you eat sufficient high-quality protein is to include different types in your diet, rather than relying on just red or processed meat” (helpguide.org).
But what’s the problem with meat? Quoting Darien Olien again, the problem isn’t us eating meat, it’s the process of how we get it nowadays; meat gives us protein, but it also gives us GMOs which affects our bodies. Hormones that affect our hormones, and as we read before, this opens the door for new diseases. Meanwhile, plant-based diets give us not only high quality proteins but fiber and iron in beans and pulses; and good fats and potassium, in nuts and seeds.
Needless to say, my plant-based days fill me with energy and it turns out I can rely only on fruits, vegetables and nuts even when working out.
5. I eat delicious
So by now I’m sure you’ve realized that the key to all of this is variety, plant-based isn’t just eating lettuce and potato. In order to do this right, and by that I mean really nurture our bodies, we need to learn about food and how to incorporate what we need in our meals. Nature gives us so much and yet we only integrate in our diets 7% of the available fruits and vegetables (Biodiversity International, 2018).
When I started trying this out, I realized I depended on meat and eggs a lot, this was my main course and just had some salad or random veggies or rice to accompany it, so of course I hated diets even though I’ve been doing them almost all my life. Eating healthy meant eating boring food. So, in order to really take advantage of plant-based, I was forced to try out new fruits, veggies and nuts, I was forced to learn new preparation methods, I was forced to include many new and rich ingredients, I was forced to eat tastier. Because that’s what happened, I started eating tastier, meals full of flavor. Even my husband didn’t complained when he had quinoa yakimeshi or sweet potato curry instead of a steak as a main course. I discovered I like so many other things and got excited about eating healthy.
So even though I’m not 100% plant-based, I’m learning how to take advantage of it, slowly incorporating it more into my routine; started with 1 day a week, now I can go 3 days. Eating delicious and making myself feel better, making my body stronger. Why? because yes I love meat, but I love my body more.
