In recent times, a greater number of people are inclining towards vegetarian diet and vegan food system, this includes fitness enthusiasts, common people, and also celebrities. Anyways, choosing more healthier one between vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet remains a controversial topic.
A vegetarian diet is rich in minerals, fiber, vitamins, and unsaturated fats. Vegetarian diet also offers immense number of health benefits. It also helps our body to protect from various life-threatening diseases and enhances our overall physical as well as mental well-being.
We can classify vegetarian diet into three main categories: total vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, and lacto-ovo vegetarian. Let’s dive deeper into these categories.
Total Vegetarian: This diet includes different type of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. But this diet excludes foods those are derived from animal sources.
Lacto-Vegetarian: This diet mainly contains products like butter, milk, and cheese. But this excludes meat and eggs.
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian: This type of diet includes both eggs as well as dairy products like milk, butter, and cheese. But this excludes fish and meat.
Let us go through some of the main benefits of adopting a vegetarian diet lifestyle:
Balanced Diet
Non-vegetarian foods like meat and fish are rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, fats, and protein. But these nutrients alone can not fulfil entire nutritional requirements of the body. But plant-based foods like vegetables, green leaves, fruits, grains, and nuts are power packed with a huge range of essential nutrients required for our body. Hence, following a well-balanced vegetarian diet will definitely going to ensure you get a wide range of nutrients for achieving a great health.
Prolonged Life
Scientific research indicates that people who follow vegetarian diet have a lower risk of developing chronic health problems like obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart diseases. These health issues are often related to consuming high amount of saturated fats. As a result, vegetarians generally live longer than people who follow non-vegetarian diet. However, we should also note that longevity is not only depends of vegetarian choice of a diet. But it also influenced by several other factors like physical activity, active lifestyle, and other health habits.
Better Skin Health
Fruits, vegetables, green leaves, and nuts contains vitamins and antioxidants. These vitamins and antioxidants help in promoting healthy and glowing skin. These nutrients also help to support skin repair, reduce inflammation, which leads to vibrant and attractive skin.
Imrpoved Kidney Health
A vegetarian diet is related to better kidney function and this also reduces a risk of forming kidney stones in our kidneys. These plant-based foods are rich in antioxidants, fiber, and low in animal proteins. This helps in enhancing overall kidney health and prevents kidneys from forming stones.
Less Risk of Weight Gain
Research indicates that vegetarians tend to be leaner and slim, compared to non-vegetarians. Hence they have well-maintained blood pressure, low cholesterol, and healthier BMI (Body Mass Index). Health experts agree with the fact that vegetarian diet can help in managing the healthier weight. However, this can also variate based on other types of foods consumed. If vegetarian consistently eats junk food, which is very unhealthy then they may not lose weight.
Enhanced Heart Health
A balanced vegetarian diet is rich in minerals, fiber, vitamins, and low in saturated fats. This diet helps to maintain a healthy blood pressure as well as good cholesterol. If we regularly consume vegetarian diet, it significantly lowers the risk of developing a heart disease. To prevent against cardiovascular health issues, it is very important to make sure that our everyday intake of foods high in fiber, and potassium, while consuming low amount of sodium and fats.
Improved Digestion
Compared to a non-vegetarian diet, vegetarian diet is high in fiber content. Because of this non-vegetarian’s experience more issues related to digestive system. Plant-based diet, like fruits, legumes, vegetables, grains provide high amount of dietary fiber. This enhances healthy functioning of our overall digestive system. This also promotes regular bowel moments.
If you are considering on adopting a vegetarian diet lifestyle, many researches and studies proved its numerous health benefits. However, we should always avoid consuming junk foods, fast foods, high-fat and processed vegetarian foods. It’s always better to consult a good nutritionist to understand your regular vegetarian diet plan. We should also ensure that intake of proper nutrition is very essential for both vegetarians and vegans. If weight loss is your goal, then do not consume foods those are high in calorie and high in fat.
Have a healthy and happy life!
