If you have ever watched Cowspiracy or What the Health on Netflix, you know of all the benefits of a vegan or plant–based lifestyle. I say lifestyle because a lot of people use this as a way of losing weight but not because of ethical or environmental reasons.
However, regarding health benefits, there are many. A vegan diet is full of fibre which cleans out the intestines and reduces bloating. You may also change the bacteria in your gut which may decrease inflammation in the gut which also reduces bloating. According to Reader’s Digest, people who eat meat are at a greater risk of developing intestinal infections.
When it comes to a vegan diet, you may lose weight but you also may gain weight. It depends on what you eat and when people turn to a vegan diet without any planning, they tend to eat lots of carbohydrates which will eventually lead to weight gain.
With lots of planning and researching, a vegan diet is fully beneficial when it incorporates carbohydrates, vegetables and also protein which can be found in nuts, chickpeas, lentils and beans. This is where most people go wrong as they are not used to eating a meal which is mostly filled with vegetables so they fill it with carbohydrates instead.
Once you go vegan, you will most likely find that your skin has cleared up and this is because dairy has been cut from your diet. Often people who have rosacea have to cut out dairy to control flare ups of the condition. Rosacea is a skin condition characterised by red, dry and cracked skin and many people who suffer from this have to become vegan.
According to Dr. Kim A Williams in the ‘What the Health’ documentary, beef is a number one carcinogen meaning it is now just as fatal as smoking. He also mentioned that fish is becoming just as bad as consuming meat because of pesticides, herbicides, mercury, saturated fat and cholesterol “which is all over the place in tuna, in water, to salmon which has more cholesterol than pork.”
This documentary outlines how people think it’s okay to eat fish because it is less toxic but this does still not mean it is good for you. The same goes for chicken which is believed to be healthier than chicken which is completely untrue because of infections in animals.
When it comes to dairy, humans do not need to consume milk to survive as milk is designed for calves to gain weight rapidly and Canada have discovered the health risks associated with dairy and have removed dairy from their nutrition guide.
However, what is worrying is that most of the world see animals as a way of getting protein but that we should avoid sugary and fattening foods even though animals contained a lot of saturated food. The problem lies with money, the meat and dairy industry makes too much money to have the truth told.