Vegetarian is more than just a lifestyle, it is a choice of life. It is because you cannot just following the trend of eating greens but you should make a commitment of the lifetime to stay that way, not only the way you eat but also the way you live.
What Is Vegetarian?
Vegetarian which is a popular term of vegetarianism is a practice motivated by certain factors (religion, personal or even popular trend) in where people are abstaining from the consumption of all animal products from meat, seafood, poultry and dairy products though some people are still consuming milk or egg.
As mentioned above, vegetarian is more than just what you eat but also about how you live. You cannot call yourself a vegetarian just because you only eat greens but you still use products made from animal products.
There are a lot of reasons why people are committing to vegetarianism but most the reasons are for the sake of its health benefits. Below is the list of health benefits of being vegetarian that may inspire you to be one.
- Great for Heart
The key to healthy heart is consuming foods that are rich of potassium and low in sodium. Most of animal products are rich of sodium, so by not consuming it you will reduce the possibility of sodium entering your body, instead most of greens are packed of potassium and the main benefits of potassium is promoting healthy heart.
- Natural Solution to Prevent Cancer
When talking about cancer prevention, consuming foods that are rich of antioxidants is one of the effective solutions. If compared to antioxidants found in animal products and vegetables, the percentage is higher in vegetables. One of the health benefits of only eating fruits and vegetables is you will have better chance to consume more antioxidants than being non vegetarian.
- Excellent for Digestion
The benefits of fiber are excellent for digestion and most of vegetables and fruits are excellent source of fiber. When you meet a doctor and complain about your digestive track, all doctors will suggest you to consume more veggies and fruits. It means just by being a vegetarian you shouldn’t worry about constipation anymore.
- Defense Against Diabetes
There are three types of diabetes but mostly people are suffering from diabetes type 2 caused by insulin resistance when body couldn’t use the insulin properly for metabolism. A vegetarian should not worry about this matter because their diet which is packed with plant-based foods that low in fats such as whole grains, legume, vegetables and fruits are excellent in stabilizing the blood sugar level.
- Promotes Healthy Skin
You must be surprised to find out that just by being a vegetarian you could have healthy skin; it is because the amount of antioxidants you consume in daily basis is higher than those who are not vegetarians. Antioxidants are helping to optimize the skin cells regeneration to keep your skin healthy, firm and young.
- Natural Mood Booster
A vegetarian means you have low arachidonic acid in your body, types of acid that only found in animal products. Studies stated that arachidonic acid has close relation to mood disturbance. In other words, one of the health benefits of giving up meat is you could reduce the amount of arachidonic acid in order to improve your mood.
- Better Cholesterol Management
The main source of cholesterol substance is animal fats. If you want to reduce it is just by simply avoiding animal fats. Some studies have clear results about this matter that vegetarians could manage their cholesterol level better than those who are not vegetarians.
- Reduce the Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack
As mentioned above just by being vegetarians you should consume foods such as whole grains, greens, vegetables, legumes, nuts and fruits that are all great for heart. While animal products are the source of unhealthy fat that could be bad for heart. So, reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack is one of the main benefits of being vegetarian.
- Lower the Risk of Obesity
It is obvious that animal fats are the main reasons why people are hardly managing their eating habit and exposed to the health risks of obesity. There are some factors that could lead to obesity, unhealthy eating habit and disturbed metabolism process. Have you met a vegetarian who is also an obese? It is impossible, so it is clearly that being vegetarian could help lowering the risk of obesity.
- Reduces the Risk of Kidney Stone
A study conducted in Langone Medical Center of New York University stated that by eliminating the consumption of animal protein from the daily diet will lead to the higher urine pH because in replacements you should consume more vegetables. Higher urine pH means you have lower risk to the symptoms of kidney stones.
- Solution to Ideal Shape
Some people are lucky enough to be born with excellent and ideal body shape but others should strive and work harder to reach the goal. Well, if you are among those people who are struggling perhaps switching your current diet by being a vegetarian is actually the most effective solution to lead you to ideal body shape.
- Slowing Down Aging
You cannot stop the aging process but just by conducting a healthy lifestyle everyone could slow down the aging process. Eat more veggies and fruits are excellent solution and even better if you be a vegetarian and remove all the bad effects of animal protein for your body system. It means your body will always in fresh state to prevent premature aging.
Those are only the smaller size list of health benefits of being vegetarian because you could add more benefits based on your own experience. Furthermore, being vegan is not only bring a lot of benefits to you personally but also for your surrounding because being vegetarian is considered to be sustainable for environment as well.
However, still before you decided to go completely vegan, you need to consult it with the expert to make a diet plan because naturally your body still required animal protein which provides amino acid and vitamin B12, so you need to find out the alternative or replacement.