Studies show that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers— most notably colon cancer. A 2013 study of over 70,000 Seventh-Day Adventists, who are encouraged to eat a whole food, vegetarian diet, found that those who followed the church’s advice to avoid meat were less likely to die of
any cause than the meat-eaters. But what if you really like meat? The good news is you don’t need to make a choice. Centering plant foods with smaller than normal servings of meat, dairy, and eggs can lead to better cardiovascular health. A study by the American Heart Society found that a flexitarian diet consisting of 70 percent plant-based foods reduced the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke by 20 percent! This is because fruits and vegetables are so good for you. When you base your meals on plant foods, you’re packing your diet with the fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats that most Americans don’t get enough of. If you’ve decided you want to eat a more plant-based diet, there are lots of ways to go about it:
1. The simplest way is to
eat more fruits and vegetables, even if you don’t really cut back on meat. The key is to include fruits and veggies at every meal and snack. And that includes breakfast! So if your eating yogurt for breakfast, add fresh strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries. If your making eggs, throw in some fresh or frozen spinach.
2.
De-center meat. Make vegetables the stars of your stir-fry, even if you include some beef or shrimp in it. The key is using the right spices. Try using flavored salts like chipotle, black garlic, and coconut-lime flavors!
3. Think about the kinds of meat you’re eating. The basic idea here is your meats should be whole just like the rest of your food. So keep the chicken breasts, New York steak, pork chops, and lamb kabobs but
cut out the processed stuff — hot dogs, sausages, bacon, and lunch meat.
4.
Eat more fatty fish like salmon, which is high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids. An interesting finding of the study of Seventh Day Adventists cited above was that the pesco-vegetarians, those who ate a vegetarian diet plus fish, had an even lower rate of mortality from all causes than the vegans.
5.
Meatless Mondays. (Yes, it’s as simple as it sounds. Go meatless one day a week.) or Vegan Before 6 p.m., in which you eat no meat, fish, dairy or eggs for breakfast or lunch, but include them at dinner.
