Solution #3 in creating a healthy diet plan is to eat less animal food and more plant foods (If you missed solution #2 to creating a healthy diet plan click HERE). Watch the video below to learn more about why it’s important to eat less animal foods and more plant foods…
The 4 Benefits of “Flexitarian” Eating
Environment and animal rights aside, there are four key health reasons for encouraging a predominately whole foods, plant-based diet. In comparison to diets rich in animal foods, a whole foods, plant-based diet with moderate allowance for animal foods will be:
- Substantially lower in saturated fat
- Richer in micronutrients such as antioxidants and phytochemicals
- Richer in fiber
- Naturally less calorie dense
If such a diet contains the optimal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats, it will also be highly anti-inflammatory. This way of eating can help keep you slim, slow the aging process, reduce the symptoms of a wide variety of inflammatory conditions, and offer protection against certain types of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
And for the scores of women who experience ovulatory infertility, findings from the Harvard-led Nurses’ Health Study, which included more than 18,000 women, indicate that getting more protein from plants and less from animals can improve the chances of conception substantially; the study showed that replacing 25 grams of animal protein with 25 grams of plant protein was related to a 50 percent lower risk of ovulatory infertility (1).
Try Eating 1 or 2 Meat-Free “Whole Foods” Meals Per Day
You don’t need to be an extremist, you can reap tremendous health benefits simply from eating meat-free meals one or two times a day. Of course just because it may be meat-free doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy either. Eating vegan cupcakes made with margarine, sugar and refined flour isn’t exactly going to take your health to the next level! The point is, you need to eat unrefined plant foods in their “whole”, natural and nutrient-dense state.
Here are some great examples of plant foods in their “whole” and natural state:
- All vegetables (the more the better—especially dark leafy greens!)
- All fruits (fresh is great, but it’s ok to eat organic dried and frozen fruit too)
- All beans & legumes (black beans, chickpeas, lentils, cannellini beans, red beans, etc.)
- Whole grains (steel cut oatmeal, barley, quinoa, sprouted whole grain bread, brown rice, black rice, millet, etc.)
- Raw nuts (and raw seed butters)
- Raw seeds (and raw seed butters)
- Avocados
- “Whole” soy (such as tempeh, edamame beans, soymilk, tofu)
- Potatoes
**Note: Although we encourage you to eat less meat we also encourage you to eat more seafood, especially fatty fish, at least 2 or 3 times a week to get enough omega-3 fats. The omega-3 EPA & DHA found in seafood is not found in plant foods. Plant foods such as walnuts and flaxseeds contain an omega-3 fat called ALA, alpha linolenic acid, that can be converted to EPA & DHA but the conversion process is often thwarted by many factors, including poor nutrition, age, stress, etc. For optimal health you really need to get EPA & DHA directly from seafood.
References:
1. J.E. Chavarro, et al. “Protein intake and ovulatory infertility,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 198 (2008):210. E1-7.
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[…] diet plan is to increase your intake of omega-3 fats from both seafood and vegan food sources (If you missed solution #3 to creating a healthy diet plan click HERE.) Watch the video below to learn more about why it’s important to eat omega-3 fats from both […]