Being a vegetarian means changing eating habits, stopping consuming meats and including only plant-based products in the diet, then following what is called a vegetarian diet (some also include milk and eggs, they are ovo-lacto-vegetarians).
In this article I will show you the advantage of being a vegetarian for health that have been scientifically proven. If you are considering changing your diet and starting a meatless diet, check out the following advantages you can get.
Of course, the reasons for being a vegetarian don't just come down to losing weight or avoiding the negative consequences of eating too much meat. Some people follow this custom to avoid the suffering of animals.
A vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of colon and rectal cancer by up to 20%, according to the results of a recent scientific study. This benefit can be obtained even by including fish in the diet.
The study was carried out at Loma Linda University in California and more than 77 thousand adults participated, whose medical records were controlled for seven years.
It was observed that in people who followed a vegetarian diet, the risk of colon cancer was significantly lower than that of the group who followed an omnivorous diet.
Those who obtained this benefit not only avoided eating meat, but also decreased the consumption of sweets, sugary soft drinks and refined grains, while including more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes in their diet.
While the exact mechanism by which the vegetarian diet helps to reduce the risk of colon cancer is not known, it is believed that avoiding red meat and increasing fiber consumption could be the key factors in obtaining the benefit.
Various scientific studies have suggested that those who follow a vegetarian diet tend to have lower blood pressure, compared to those who include meat in their diet.
Although the exact mechanism of action is not known, these studies have concluded that a vegetarian diet can be a useful tool to reduce high blood pressure without the need for medication, or as a complement to pharmacological therapy.
Did you know that vegetarians can live longer? Research revealed that a vegetarian diet can increase life expectancy, by reducing the risk of various diseases, while lowering the death rate.
As the saying goes, the fish dies through the mouth. The health, well-being and diet you follow are closely related. The same scientists who found that the vegetarian diet is able to reduce the risk of colon cancer also found this diet decreased the mortality rate by 12%, compared to omnivores.
This is due to the decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases, kidney and hormonal disorders. This benefit turned out to be more marked for men than for women..
A vegetarian diet can help you lose weight. Some recent investigations whose results were published in Nutrition Reviews observed that vegetarian diets can be very effective in achieving weight loss.
This loss does not depend on the amount of exercise performed or the calorie count. Simply stopping meat can help you lose up to 2 kilos per week.
However, you have to be careful. While vegetarian diets are generally low in calories, there are exceptions. Those who choose a diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and excludes meats are likely to lose weight.
But vegetarians who choose to eat plenty of simple carbohydrates (such as white bread, potatoes, white rice, etc.), sugary drinks, fried foods, etc., may not be able to lose weight, due to the caloric intake of these foods and the spikes in the levels of glucose in the blood that they are capable of generating, which can lead to the accumulation of fatty tissue.
Another of the great benefits of a vegetarian diet is its ability to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
In a study carried out in an Adventist health center in North America, in which more than 22 thousand men and more than 38 thousand women participated, it was found that the vegetarian diet is capable of reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, thanks to which helps to avoid obesity as it is generally part of a healthy lifestyle.
The greatest benefit is obtained by following a vegan diet, although the ovo-lacto-vegetarians also presented a modest benefit. In people who followed a semi-vegetarian or fish diet, the benefit was less.
Those who want to lower their cholesterol and triglyceride levels can also opt for a vegetarian diet.
By eliminating animal products from the diet, vegetarians have lower levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (this is called "bad" cholesterol) compared to those who follow an omnivorous diet.
This benefit is mainly obtained by people who have followed a vegetarian diet for a long time.
Scientific studies carried out on this subject show that vegetarians have a higher concentration of antioxidants in their tissues and, therefore, they suffer less oxidative stress, less inflammation and consequently the risk of cardiovascular diseases is reduced, compared to omnivorous people.
If you are already diabetic, a vegetarian diet probably will not cure your disease, but it can help you control it in the best possible way.
As mentioned above, the vegetarian diet helps to lose weight, which is very important in diabetic patients. In addition, consuming more fruits and vegetables while avoiding meats reduces the risk of complications associated with diabetes and it is possible that this type of diet also helps your body be more sensitive to insulin.
Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and legumes can help control blood sugar levels and lower insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes, which means fewer medications and lower risk complications.
But beware, a vegetarian diet can also have the opposite effect, increasing blood sugar levels, if it is full of simple carbohydrates, such as white bread, cakes, white rice and potatoes..
Therefore, it is not only a question of being a vegetarian, but of making an adequate choice of the foods that are consumed, in order to obtain all the benefits.
In addition to increasing the antioxidants in your body, a vegetarian diet also reduces the risk of heart attack, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases through other mechanisms.
Since they do not include meats, vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, and generally include good amounts of soluble fiber, all of which help prevent heart and blood vessel disease.
It has been observed that the vegetarian diet can prevent the formation of kidney and gallstones.
Diets rich in meat, and therefore rich in animal protein, increase the elimination of calcium, uric acid and oxalates in the urine. These substances are the main components in the vast majority of kidney stones.
Some English doctors recommend following a vegetarian diet in patients prone to kidney stones, to avoid the accumulation of calcium, oxalates and uric acid in the kidneys.
Similarly, a relationship has also been found between the consumption of large amounts of fat and cholesterol (typical in omnivorous diets) and the formation of gallstones. So the vegetarian diet, by providing a low amount of saturated fat and cholesterol, also helps to avoid gallstones..
Lithiasis is a rare disease in countries where vegetarianism predominates.
Various epidemiological and clinical studies have shown that vegetarian women have a better risk of breast cancer.
In countries like China, where meat consumption is low, the incidence of breast cancer is much lower compared to countries like the United States, where most of the population consumes meat almost daily.
And it is not only a genetic component, because in women of Chinese origin who have settled in Western countries changing their diet and increasing the amount of meat they consume, an eight times higher risk of breast cancer has been observed, compared to those who still live in their country of origin following a mainly vegetarian diet.
If you are considering a vegetarian diet, then you should first consult a health professional who is an expert in nutrition to help you create an eating plan that is appropriate to your needs..
So that your diet does not lack calories, essential amino acids, vitamins or minerals, your eating plan must be balanced and well controlled, and thus you will avoid possible long-term nutritional deficiencies.
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