June Challenge Day 19 – Two Major Reasons to go Meatless

Hey Ladies, It’s day 19 of our June Challenge.  I hope that you have decided to join us and that you are feeling more healthy and full of energy since you’ve commited to going meatless and to regular exercise.

I want to share 2 major reasons to go Meatless from Vegetarian Times:

You’ll ward off disease. Vegetarian diets are more healthful than the average American diet, particularly in preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States. But the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians, says Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume no animal fat and less cholesterol and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce—another great reason to listen to Mom and eat your veggies!

You’ll keep your weight down. The standard American diet —high in saturated fats and processed foods and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates —is making us fat and killing us slowly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A study conducted from 1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later. They lost the weight without counting calories or carbs and without measuring portions or feeling hungry.

Even if you don’t decide to leave all meat alone, I think that it’s a positive for all of us to know the potential benefits of eating less meats or more healthy types of meat.  This journey is not just about weight loss.  It’s about your long term and overall health.