Becoming a vegan is fast becoming a trend amongst many of us including well-known celebrities. It’s becoming more of an accessible lifestyle choice than ever before and there are many benefits why you should give it ago.
For those of you unaware, being a vegan means you don’t eat any animal-related products, this means things like meat, eggs, and dairy products.
It can be a difficult change to make at first, so it’s always advisable to take things slow and steady. A great way to become a vegan would be to gradually change things over time.
This helps you avoid becoming overwhelmed and deterring away from your decision. However, if you want to be tempted to give this lifestyle a go, here are some amazing benefits to becoming vegan. With a few not-so-obvious ones to get you thinking.
It’s great for weight loss
If you want to lose some weight then having a vegan diet could be a great way to shed those pounds. Cutting out animal products from your diet makes it much easier to lose weight and keep it off.
You find you eat much better than you would have previously. Just make sure you still get all the vitamins and minerals you need. There is plenty of research online to help you discover what vegetables have what in them.
Why not have a look at my healthy Slimming World vegan recipes and see if any inspire you?
You’re thinking of the animals
A huge benefit, and possibly the reason you decided to become vegan, is thinking of animal welfare. You have made it one step closer to better treatment of animals in the future. You may not think you are making a difference but even just talking about your lifestyle choice will raise questions with others. You may even convert a few to your way of life and thinking.
Becoming vegan shows your support for conditions in which animals are treated changed. The unfair treatment of animals, especially ones bred for slaughter, can be horrific in some cases. This might be your sole reason for becoming a vegan in the first place.
It’s an easy way to get your five a day
This could be a fairly obvious benefit but it wouldn’t be surprising if you smashed the five-a-day target and doubled it. Who could blame you when you are on a vegan diet? It’s a great benefit because you know what you are putting into your body.
Your body will be getting an abundance of vitamins and minerals it possibly wasn’t getting before you started.
You become a much healthier person
Vegans have a typically lower level of cholesterol than other people on other diets, which means you are a healthier person. Vegans also have lower rates of type 2 diabetes and lower body mass index. Even the rates of death, heart disease, and cancer are significantly reduced.
So not only is it good for the environment, but you are also taking the right steps to take care of yourself. A lot of science and research has gone into discovering that you don’t need to eat meat to be healthy. Those statistics say it all.
Being a vegan boosts immunity
As a lot of fruit and vegetables are rich in nutrients, your body is getting a good dose of your daily diet. These all go a long way to boosting your immune system and making your body much stronger to fight off bugs and the common cold.
this is one of the benefits of a vegan lifestyle which is often overlooked but very important for day-to-day health.
There are many plant-based alternatives
There are many companies now that have developed plant-based alternatives to different food products. Making life as a vegan much easier to stick to.
It never used to be easy to buy vegan-friendly products, but now you will find a huge choice and some of them are great alternatives for things you may consume regularly, such as mayonnaise and cheese.
You will boost your energy levels
Your energy levels are much improved on a vegan diet. You have a much higher intake of complex carbohydrates which slowly release energy. Your diet is much more varied, surprisingly.
So you will find your energy levels are boosted both physically and mentally. This is great for everyday life as you will be able to concentrate more and do more things.
You will live longer
Some studies support that a vegan will live approximately 3-6 years longer than a carnivore would. Whether that has anything to do with the diet, you will never know.
But as you do have an increase of nutrients and vitamins in your diet and with lower rates of illness and disease it’s obvious there could be some truth to it.
No bad breath or body odour
Eliminating meat and dairy products means that you significantly reduce body odour and bad breath. There are elements to those products that can cause odour in your body.
Not a very obvious benefit but a great one if you ask me. Imagine waking up in the morning and not having any bad morning breath.
Women feel reduced PMS symptoms
Many women who are on a vegan diet report that the symptoms of PMS have been reduced since they took on this new lifestyle.
It is thought that this is because you eliminate dairy from your diet. Some women say that the painful symptoms disappear completely.
Boosts hair and nail growth
Becoming a vegan means that your hair and nail growth will increase. This is great for any woman. This will be down to the increase of nutrients in your body from the new foods you will be eating.
Benefits to the environment
Overall, plants are easier to grow and maintain than it is to have animals roaming fields being bred for food. Plants are a much financially better choice when it comes to the world economy.
Animals need grain to feed and space to roam, whereas plants are a little less maintained. If more people following a vegan lifestyle, there would be less need to spend money on unfair animal treatment.
Let’s hope these benefits have inspired you to think about a vegan lifestyle or switch things altogether. There are many benefits of a vegan lifestyle to you as a person and also to the environment.
Is it something you will consider? How about making the change just one day a week initially?
More articles to help with a vegan lifestyle
If you are considering or already following a vegan lifestyle then these articles may be helpful.
A few vegan recipes that are popular – Moroccan tagine, banana pancakes, aubergine soup, carrot soup, how to marinate tofu, chia pudding,
How to raise a vegan child to be healthy
Can a vegan pregnancy be healthy?
Mistakes to avoid on a plant-based diet
Foods you didn’t realise were vegan but are!
Not all dairy-free recipes are vegan but a lot are by their nature. Check out these 18 Dairy-free recipes to try this week and see if any suit you.
Here are five simple vegan recipes you may find helpful
