If you've heard of a "Plant Based Diet", you probably thought it was an extreme diet consisting of nothing but plants. But what you probably didn't realize was that plant based diets have been around for a long time. In fact, they're actually one of the most well-known diets in history.
Plant-based diets were used by our ancestors for thousands of years as they evolved with the natural world and have been continuously popular ever since. And, thanks to the growth in popularity of the modern food industry, plant-based diets have become a mainstream approach to health and fitness in the last few decades.
But did you know that even though plant-based diets have grown in popularity recently, they also come with a whole host of benefits both to your health and the environment? The main difference between the modern plant-based diet and its predecessors is the reduction of meat consumption. This allows us to reduce the environmental impacts we create, while ensuring that we get all the nutrients we need to stay healthy.
In this post, I'll cover the basics of the diet itself and the benefits of going plant-based. Then, we'll look at the impact that it has on our health, the planet, and society.
What is a Plant Based Diet?
"Plant Based Diet" is an umbrella term describing a variety of eating habits where you limit the amount of meat you consume. Typically, this consists of a low or no intake of animal proteins, and sometimes includes dairy, eggs and refined sugars.
The goal of a plant-based diet is to eliminate unhealthy foods and focus on consuming foods that support a healthier lifestyle. These foods tend to be higher in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and lower in calories. Foods that make up a typical plant-based diet include vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, and starchy vegetables.
In the western diet, we typically eat foods like beef, chicken, pork, and seafood. These foods have a huge impact on our health and environment. Meat production requires large amounts of land and water, while producing huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. It's estimated that the production of just one burger produces as much greenhouse gas emissions as a car does during its entire lifetime.
A plant-based diet, on the other hand, has a much smaller environmental footprint.
Benefits of Going Plant Based
The primary benefit of switching to a plant based diet is that it limits your meat consumption and reduces the amount of pollutants created by animal farming. A 2010 study from the University of Oxford found that a vegetarian diet could reduce the environmental impact of meat production by 90 percent.
Another benefit of this diet is that you're supporting smaller farmers, who are much less likely to have to use environmentally destructive practices than large-scale producers. In fact, the average American consumes more than 100 pounds of meat every year, so cutting back on this habit can help us all avoid damage to our environment.
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