Plant Based Diet

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Changing the way you eat can be difficult. Diets have flaws, people do not tend to stick with them and most are very limited in what you can and cannot eat. With all the flaws, there are benefits to each diet, but some have more than others. The one diet that is getting a lot of attention recently is the plant based diet. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which is the the world’s largest organization for food and nutritional professionals and contains the most recent up to date evidence based nutrition research, states that well planned plant based diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and can provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.

Plant Based diets, including vegetarian and vegan diets, are shown to reduce chronic disease. The American Institute for Cancer Research encourages a plant based diet stating that Americans need to consume ⅔ of their daily food intake from vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans. A well planned plant based diet means that it must contain vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. The difference between vegan and vegetarian diets is that vegan diets does not include eggs or dairy products while vegetarian diets it is optional. According to a poll done in 2016:

1. 3.3% of American adults are vegetarian or vegan

2. 46% of vegetarians are vegan

3. 6% of young adults, ages 18-34 years old are vegetarian or vegan

Below is a infographic I made containing a summary of the position paper written on vegetarian diets by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

I hope this was informative. As I learn more and more about nutrition, I am realizing the significance that a plant based diet has on health and disease.

Source: MELINA, V., CRAIG, W., & LEVIN, S. (2016). POSITION OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS: VEGETARIAN DIETS. JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS,116(12), 1970-1980. DOI:10.1016/J.JAND.2016.09.025