As the awareness about nutrition increases day by day, people all over the world face the great question, whether to go with a plant-based vegan diet or a flesh-based non-vegetarian diet. Although there are a significant number of people today who understand the nutritional aspect and environmental benefits of opting for a complete plant based diet, many are still confused about the advantages and disadvantages.
100% plant-based vegan diet is much in discussion today. As an increasing number of people become aware of the various benefits of whole plant based nutrition, vegan dietary habit is catching up fast all over the world.
However the concern remains, is a plant based diet enough for complete nutrition? Is stopping the intake of animal products going to affect the health?
Thus, this is an in-depth comparison between plant-based and meat-based diet, which will help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Plant Based Nutrition
Advantages:
- Lowers Blood Pressure, Stress and Anxiety: Plant-based foods are high in Potassium and thus help to keep the blood pressure stable. Most whole grains, legumes, nuts, fruits and green vegetables are a great source of Potassium and Vitamin B6. Thus, these foods have great effect on lowering blood pressure, stress and anxiety.
- Stabilizes Blood Sugar: As fruits and veggies are high on fibre, a whole plant based meal works wonders to stabilise the blood sugar level. Also, fresh fruits and vegetables have less salt content, which is great to keep the blood sugar in check.
- Aids in weight loss: Today, when obesity has been accepted as a disease, plant-based food can be the answer to this problem, think most doctors for nutrition in Australia. High on fibre and vitamins and low on salt, sugar and fat content, plant-based food helps to reduce the body fat naturally.
- Lower cholesterol level: One of the major plus points of plant-based nutrition is that plants contain no bad cholesterol. A vegan/vegetarian diet will automatically eliminate the bad cholesterol from your food, giving you healthier heart and body.
- Other benefits: The other benefit of vegan diet is a healthy digestive system etc.
Disadvantage
Animal food is a major source of protein for humans. Removing it from your diet can lead to protein deficiency resulting in fatigue and weakness. But one can easily make up for it by consuming more protein-rich vegetables and legumes.
Flesh Based Nutrition
Advantages
- Rich in protein: Meat-based diet is generally high on protein and helps to build and strengthen body muscles.
- Rich in iron: Meat and fish are great sources of iron, thus a meat-based diet is rich in iron.
Disadvantages:
- High on fat and cholesterol: A meat-based diet is extremely high on fat and cholesterol, which is the main reason of obesity and heart disease.
- High salt and preservative content: Processed meat such as ham, bacon, sausages etc have high salt content that can affect your blood pressure and blood sugar lever adversely. Also, the high preservative content makes it potentially dangerous for health.
- Cancer risk: It was seen in the studies that woman who follow a meat-based diet are more susceptible to breast cancer.
To sum it up
The list of advantages and disadvantages clearly indicate the difference between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian diet. This is the reason that an increasing number of people are opting for a vegetarian lifestyle in Australia.
