Pros of Switching to a Vegetarian Diet

Have you been thinking about switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet? A plant based lifestyle is a great way to improve your health on an emotional, mental, and physical level. Check out the top 5 plant-based diet benefits:

1. Maintain a Healthy Weight. Plant based, whole food diets include plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans—all foods that are jam-packed with fiber. A high fiber intake can help you feel fuller for longer periods of time while consuming fewer calories, which helps you control your weight.
2. Reduces Risk of Diseases and Certain Cancers. Plant based foods help to increase the consumption of nutrient-rich foods because they are high in fiber, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. Loading up on these types of nutrients have been scientifically shown to improve health and reduce risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and other health-related illnesses that are correlated with disease and cancer.
3. Supports the Immune System. Incorporating certain types of fruits and vegetables helps to boost immunity, which is critical these days. Some of these plant-based foods include ginger, beets, turmeric, garlic, carrots, oranges, and strawberries. When following a plant-based diet, you don’t even realize that you're increasing your antioxidant consumption, which makes it easy to protect against immune deficiencies and enhance immune function.
4. Offers a Wide Range of Nutrient-Rich Foods. Well-balanced plant-based meals offer a wide range of nutrients because they consist of plant proteins, healthy fats, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. This allows individuals to obtain the required amount of nutrients per day while also decreasing high cholesterol, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar intake. 
5. Contains Environmental Benefits. Shifting from an animal-based diet to a plant-based diet has been shown to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, help fight climate change, and preserve water and land. The main issue related to negative impacts on the environment is due to the production and consumption of animal products because of the increase in land, water, and energy use. Thus, reducing the amount of animal products while boosting plant-based products can cut your carbon footprint in half.

If you are looking to go plant-based and reap the benefits of vegan diets, try adding in an OWYN plant-based protein shake as a midday snack to help fill you up and stay energized. OWYN is full of plant-based nutrients, so you can start enjoying the plant-based diet benefits with every sip!