It’s hard not to notice the media attention and discussion around eating more vegetables. Numerous studies and even movies about Americans and their diets have explained how we need to eat more vegetables and grains and less animal products.
Southside Works Cinema screened Plant-Pure Nation [1] last month and it was a packed house. Many attendees were already believers in a plant-based, whole foods diet. Many had stories of survival and health after embracing a life with more vegetables.
Diet has been linked directly to many diseases and even cancer. Diet also is hard for most of us to change. We have emotional attachments, social and peer pressure, and the plain old excuse of “I like it” or “It tastes better.” Diet is our largest environmental exposure, so one could easily reason that many of our physical ailments can be prevented or reversed with our diet.
A stereotype goes along with the words “vegan” or “vegetarian” to which many cannot relate. But eating more plants is so much more than saving animals; it’s about saving ourselves too. Based on many of the studies it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing.
More Vegetables = Fewer Health Issues
Modern medicine definitely has its place, but our health continues to decline while our healthcare costs continue to incline. Pills and procedures can and should be used in acute settings. Prevention, before health complications occur, or reversal of disease is really what we need to focus on.
Any change towards eating more plants is a positive one, according to the research. Obviously the more you can embrace this the better you will feel and the better the results. Everyone has to do the best he or she can do. So, try a Meatless Monday, try meatless workdays, or try no meat for 30 days and see how you feel.
Why should we all be thinking of eating more plants?
Here are just a few links to the research results and statistics:
Plant based foods and the prevention of Cardiovascular Disease [2]
Plant-based diet shows diet as effective as Diabetes Treatment [3]
7 Reasons to choose a plant-based diet [4]
This is where my journey began after watching Forks over Knives:
So maybe our moms were right: #EATYOURVEGGIES
Girod is a nurse with more than 20 years experience in healthcare. She has her diploma in nursing from Washington Hospital School of Nursing, her bachelor’s in Nursing from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and her master’s in Nursing and Business from Case Western University in Cleveland. She also is a spin instructor. You can read more of her writing on her blog, Meatless Mentor [5].