How eating a plant based diet could improve your health
Plant-based foods contain a complex mix of useful chemicals and fibre that, when consumed, work in synergy to lower oxidative stress, dampen inflammation, target your microbiome (by feeding the friendly microbes) and lower insulin resistance.
“While individual plant-based foods may contribute certain benefits, the combination of unrefined plant-based foods, consumed regularly, is most powerful.”
Adopting a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you have to become a vegan or vegetarian, but it does mean consuming a variety of vegetables, legumes, unrefined grains, nuts and seeds, and whole fruits.
Nutrition expert Dr Rosemary Stanton says a diet heavy in plant foods — with or without the addition of animal foods — is the healthiest approach to eating.
“In the past, I think it’s fair to say that most nutritional advice centered on nutrients. We were concerned with making sure that everything had enough calcium, iron and enough of this, that and the other,” Dr Stanton explains.
“But basically what we need to do is get onto a diet-centred, whole nutrition, food-related pattern of eating.’
Growing evidence suggests plant-based diets may help to better manage or reduce the risk of developing a host of health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity and dementia.