Figuring out how we want to live a healthier life is one of those difficult conversations we have to have with ourselves eventually. After all, there are those points in our life where we realize what we’re doing just isn’t working anymore. Most of the time this tends to be the realization in our 30s and 40s that our diet isn’t the most healthy. We all have to sacrifice the habits of our youth eventually. That’s when most of us look into changing our diet in some fashion. The general pattern that doctors recommend tends to be heavy on fruits and vegetables with a bit of meat now and again for the extra support. This diet is honestly better overall than a vegetarian diet as it comes with less rules gives you the flexibility to choose what you’d like to eat without cutting any nutrient options from your diet. The focus remains decidedly plant-based though. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the benefits of any diet that puts plants ahead of another serving of meat on your plate.

Fiber
A huge benefit that most of us don’t think about is that plant-based diets end up making sure we’re getting plenty of fiber. Dietary fiber is one of the keys to good health. It helps regulate plenty of systems within the body and keep things working smoothly. Most of us are entirely aware of our more mature relatives encouraging us to always get our share of fiber to stay “regular”. This is just one actual benefit of fiber though. It is also crucial to helping to regulate your blood sugar and other things as well. Fiber helps to provide a cushioning effect for our blood when we eat that reduces the spike in blood sugar. Furthermore, it is linked to helping to maintain healthy cholesterol levels as well. The end result is that having a regular and healthy amount of fiber in your diet is crucial to ensuring that your body is as healthy as possible.

Lower Fat
Focusing primarily on plants may give you more fiber and help reduce cholesterol all on its own, but the simple fact is that many vegetables are simply low in fat. They are nutrient powerhouses absolutely full of everything your body could need without adding too much fat along for the benefits. This is overall better for your body and makes it easier for all of us to shed weight when we desire. The low fat, high energy combination given by a plant-based diet means that you’re able to maximize your benefits as long as you’re actually making the effort to exercise. This makes such diets perfect for managing conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and even diabetes. The sheer flexibility of the benefits is what can end up making a plant-based diet so rewarding to your health. We’re not done with all the potential benefits yet either.

Full of Nutrients
An important point worth noting is that raw, washed vegetables are one of your best options for maximizing the amount of nutrients that you body gets from your diet. As we touched on above, vegetables wonderful sources for complex nutrients combinations from the vitamins they’re rich in and the compounds that provide them with their color. All of this can benefit your health in countless little ways ranging from being antioxidant-rich to offering you just the right vitamins to produce collagen and other important proteins in your body. Few things offer as many materials at once as vegetables. Fresh produce is your best option, but frozen will do as well as it has a minimum of nutrient loss compared to other options. The clear lesson from all of this is that vegetables are key to ensuring your body both has all it needs and gets a little extra help in everything that it does. Fruits are good as well, but natural sugars mean you need to be wary about eating too much fruit.

A plant-based diet is a wonderful option for improving your health. You don’t need to be a vegetarian or a vegan to get the benefits either. All you need to do is shift your diet to be heaviest in fruits and vegetables while treating meat as the “treat” in your diet. This will help support your health in many ways and help you work towards a better you.