Most of us, if not all, are aware that meat is a cultural staple food in many communities across the world. But just in case you have ever given thought to do away with meat in your diet, but not necessarily going vegan, then traverse with me through this piece as I take you over the benefits of consuming meatless meals.
A meat-free diet does not always have to be boring. You could be experimenting on a whole range of different legumes, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and fruits or even find new ways of combining these plant-based foods to your liking. Either way, you choose, this is going to be interesting; you have no idea.
The following are reasons why you should go for meatless meals. Simply cutting off meat from the selection of food you prefer has proven to have a good deal of benefits to your health, including:
Lower Risk of Kidney Disease
If you invest in a meatless diet, you reduce the risk of getting kidney disease. This is because there will be reduced renal hyperfiltration, renal acid load and protein lost in the urine. Aside from preventing kidney disease, a meatless diet will also prevent metabolic acidosis, which is a complication that occurs when the kidney cannot excrete the daily dietary acid load.
A human can be healthy without killing animals for food.
Leo Tolstoy
Metabolic acidosis will increase the risk of developing renal failure, bone loss, muscle wasting, hypertension and even death. A diet rich in vegetables will reverse these conditions by reducing the dietary acid load in your body.
Reduced Amounts of Cholesterol
Religiously adhering to a no-meat diet plan over a while will affect your cholesterol levels positively. Increased consumption of meat, which contains a substantial amount of saturated fats, exclusively adds to the cholesterol in your blood. Practically, high amounts of cholesterol add to the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Also Read: Red Meat and its Negative Impacts on your health.
Being fixed to a plant-based diet may reduce your cholesterol level, lower your chance of getting heart diseases, and prevent cardiac arrest. Moreover, plant-based foods can reverse certain chronic diseases making you have a longer lifespan. I mean, who doesn’t want to live longer?
Reduced Inflammation
Inflammation often occurs when a physical factor triggers an immune reaction; for instance, having meat allergies may lead to inflammation. This affects every aspect of your health and numerous times causes several diseases. Deciding to go meatless then gives you an added advantage, as the inflammation decreases with time. This is due to the anti-inflammatory properties of plant-based foods you’ll consume since they are rich in fibre and antioxidants while low in toxins and saturated fats.
Loss of Weight
Meat has more dense calories and fat compared to fresh produce and grains. On average, vegetarians tend to have less weight than those who eat meat regularly. This is mainly due to eating low energy foods and following a diet that is rich in fibre. This would ultimately prevent you from being obese by watching your weight.
Keep Toxic Food Contaminants Aside
Meaty foods can give asylum to contaminants such as herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. Reason being these toxins are fat-soluble hence they are concentrated in the animal’s fatty flesh. There’s still more to it as the parasites, bacteria and viruses like trichinella, salmonella and other disease-causing organisms like worms and toxoplasmosis parasites would otherwise pose a health hazard. This would infect you with livestock-related diseases. Do you want that? I’m sure your answer is the same as mine.
Reduce the Risk of Getting Cancer
If there’s one disease that has taken most lives globally, it’s cancer. Did you know that consuming a meatless diet will reduce your risk of getting cancer by up to 15%? The main reason being consuming a vegan diet is high in phytochemicals, vitamins and fibre, which are bioactive compounds in plant foods. This will, in turn, protect you against most cancers. Research shows that eating red meat is linked to pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer because these meats are carcinogenic. At this point, I guess it’s high time you have second thoughts about consuming red meat.
Saving on your Hard-earned Money
Most vegetarian meals tend to be less expensive than meat more often than not and again; they also have a longer shelf life than red meats. For this reason, you can buy them in bulk as they are affordable too. Furthermore, having to treat these lifestyle diseases mainly caused by the ignorance to observe a healthy living routine is very costly, making no economic sense later in life. Be wise and properly manage your finances.
Well, if this has not convinced you to stop eating red meat, then nothing will. It is solely your choice to decide whether to consume meat or not. It would be best to consider consulting a dietician or nutritionist once you choose to become meat conscious. There’s no need to change the kind of diet you are following drastically. Allow yourself to take baby steps until you make it to move away from normal meat-eating.
Let your body get used to the routine first. It is advisable, to begin with, manageable steps that you can easily maintain. Come to think of it, avoiding meat will not be a menace to your health anymore once you keep away from it. You will feel better physically and mentally while also taking good care of flora and fauna.
