In honor of Vegetarian Awareness Month, DASHA® is sharing the top eight health benefits of going vegetarian:
LONGER LIFE. You can add up to 13 years to your life by switching to a vegetarian diet.
REDUCE RISK OF FOOD BORNE ILLNESS. The FDA reports that foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood are frequently involved in food-borne illness outbreaks, which account for 76 million illnesses a year.
BETTER WEIGHT MANAGEMENT. The standard American diet is high in saturated fats and processed foods and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates. Vegetarians can lose weight without counting calories or carbs or measuring portions.
PREVENT DISEASE. Vegetarians, because they consume no animal fat or cholesterol, are more healthy than average Americans. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. A vegetarian diet also reduces the risk of cancer.
BETTER ENERGY. Too much fat in your bloodstream means that arteries won’t open properly and that your muscles can’t get enough oxygen. The whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables of a vegetarian diet are high in complex carbohydrates and supply the body with plenty of energizing fuel.
POOP BETTER & REGULARLY. Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming more fiber, which pushes waste out of the body.
AVOID TOXIC CHEMICALS. The EPA also reports that nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Be sure to read the labels on everything you purchase.
EASE THE SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSE. Certain foods are rich in phytoestrogens, the plant-based chemical compounds that mimic the behavior of estrogen. Since phytoestrogens can increase and decrease estrogen and progesterone levels, maintaining a balance of them in your diet helps ensure a more comfortable passage through menopause. Soy, apples, beets, cherries, dates, garlic, olives, plums, raspberries, squash and yams contain phytoestrogens.
REDUCE POLLUTION. The EPA reports that chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today.
REDUCE FAMINE. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million.
SPARE ANIMALS. Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year, and most animals are factory farmed, crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics.
SAVE MONEY. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each non-vegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.
DASHA® is a luxury lifestyle brand and New York City-based wellness center created to offer a truly holistic approach to wellness. To learn more, visit dashawellness.com.
