Meat has become a staple for most countries. In fact, meat is one of the major sources of protein, and it is often included in meal plans to make the diet “balanced”. For this reason, meat has become readily available. Most restaurants serve various kinds of meat. However, what most people don’t realize is that meat-loving earth has caused adverse consequences to the planet and to human health.
Eating meat often (especially those with fat) can lead to high cholesterol levels. High-fat storage in the body can also result in weight gain. As for the effect on the planet, the transformation of forest spreads into agricultural lands to accommodate beef, pork, and poultry businesses have led to increased methane production, which in turn, led to speeding up global warming. In this regard, vegan earth who commit to a vegan diet plan could really help make the human population healthier and slow down the heating up of the planet.
Positive Effects of Going Vegan
Going vegan provides many opportunities to better one’s life. Aside from lowering blood cholesterol levels, a healthy vegan diet plan can also lead to weight loss. Becoming a vegan means getting rid of meat and other animal by-products. This means one will be able to veer away from ingesting carbohydrate-filled dairy products. One will also be able to avoid fatty foods that mostly come from animals. Therefore, reducing fat and carbohydrate intake can result in a reduced number on the scale.
Another advantage of a vegan diet is that it helps prevent the occurrence of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart diseases, and various forms of cancer because of phytonutrients that can only be found in plant-based food. Vegan diet meal plan can also improve your metabolism and make you feel less bloated. This is definitely a good thing as you would be able to get rid of your body wastes more regularly.
Challenges of Going Vegan Diet Plan
Of course, a vegan weight loss plan diet also has its challenges, just like any other diet plan. The most difficult challenge is the personal discipline to stick to plant-based food. While you will be recommended to not make the change drastically, maintaining the diet after you’ve gone full gone will be challenging.
Another difficulty is getting the right balance of nutrients. Since meat is the usual protein source and animal fat as the usual fat source, you will have to find alternatives to fill in these nutrient requirements.
If you like working out, going plant-only can affect your performance at the gym. Not getting enough iron and zinc can impact the oxygen flow in your body, and you need a good oxygen flow for you to be able to endure tiring activities and to keep your body stamina. Vegan diet plan for weight loss fast tracks your number reduction at the scale, but it may also reduce your energy capacity during workouts if you don’t get the needed body nutrients for optimum body function.
Getting Vegan Diet Plan
The good thing is, all these challenges can be overcome if you have the discipline and the knowledge before you make the switch. A vegan diet plan for weight loss will not be difficult if you put your mind into it and if you don’t limit yourself with just the goal of losing weight but also of making your body and the planet healthier.
What should a vegan diet plan weight loss regime contain? First, you must know the various nutrients that your body needs and that is currently being supplied by meat. You need protein for muscle growth and repair. In this regard, you can opt for tofu (a soy-based food) or legumes (beans) to get this dietary requirement. If you need to get your daily fat requirement, you can get these from nuts (like almond and pistachio) and avocado. As for carbohydrates, you can go for corn and potatoes. However, you should still be careful especially if you like your potatoes fried as it can still be considered fatty and may mess up your weight loss goal.
You may also want to check out calcium alternatives for your milk. You can go for broccoli, kale, and soybeans as your calcium sources. This is to ensure that you can keep your bones strong.
As for sources of iron and zinc, spinach and cashews can give you these nutrient requirements. To allow better absorption, incorporate vitamin C loaded fruits, like berries. This raw vegan diet meal plan will surely give you the supplements your body needs.
Conclusion
There are so many obstacles for one to transition to a vegan lifestyle. However, each of these obstacles can be overcome if one is committed to this healthier and safer lifestyle. By going vegan, you are not only moving your body away from lifestyle diseases and slowing down its aging process, but you are also reducing the number of animals that needed to be consumed. In this way, you are prolonging your life and the life of the animals that humans normally use for meat production.
You are what you eat. Just like a regular machine, if you’re giving your body a clean fuel, then you can get it going for longer and have it perform better.