Obviously, your dietary preference is a choice that you are free to make. You can eat meat if you want, you can cut out meat and only eat fish, or you could go the whole way and avoid animal products altogether.
Veganism gets a bit of a bad rep because there are loads of people out there that try to force it on you. Your stereotypical vegan will introduce themselves as plant-based before lecturing you on why you need to stop eating meat. As such, people get annoyed at this and actively avoid going vegan or cutting down on meat.
It’s a shame because this lifestyle can present some interesting benefits. So, if you’re teetering on the edge of becoming vegan, here are some pretty cool health & beauty benefits you could see when taking the plunge:
Healthier skin
It’s not too difficult to see how eating a plant-based diet can lead to healthier skin. Veganism cuts out a couple of things that are known to cause common skin concerns, such as acne. Meat and dairy consumption is linked to an increased risk of acne, and removing them from your diet can clear up your skin and make it look more vibrant and healthy.
Plus, consider the added vitamins and nutrients you get when you’re eating a lot of plant-based foods. Your vegetable and fruit intake should increase, so you’re getting lots of good nutrients in your system to fuel healthy skin – like vitamin A.
However, you should be aware that going vegan isn’t a solution to certain skin conditions, like psoriasis or eczema. There’s always a debate surrounding psoriasis vs eczema and if they’re the same problem. They’re not, but they are both conditions that your food intake won’t really affect. So, if you suffer from either, don’t go vegan if you think it will clear them up!
Better hair & nails
Usually, if something gives you good skin, it will also have beneficial effects on your hair and nails. Again, it’s all thanks to the foods you’re almost forced to eat as a vegan. Because there’s no meat or dairy in your diet, you have to seek out other protein sources.
Consequently, you eat a lot of nuts or gains – like quinoa – and you opt for things like nutritional yeast to give a boost to your meals. All of these food substances are really high in B-vitamins, which are great for making your hair and nails strong & healthy. You tend to eat healthier fats as a vegan too, with things like avocados becoming a staple in your diet, filling you with omega-3 fatty acids. There is some evidence that omega-3s could improve hair thickness and growth.
Reduce your risk of diseases
That’s right, a plant-based diet could help your body ward off a lot of diseases. On a basic level, vegan diets are packed full of things called phytochemicals. These are basically chemicals you find in plants that fight off diseases. They include antioxidants, of which you get plenty when you’re vegan and you eat lots of fruit and veg.
Effectively, by cutting out lots of other food products, you force yourself to eat healthier foods to stay full during the day – like fruit. Thus, you boost your immune system and ward off diseases. There’s even a study that backs this up!
Furthermore, cutting out a lot of processed meat products – like bacon – can help you avoid cancer.
Maintain a healthier weight
A typical diet that contains meat and veg will be higher in calories than a vegan one. This is simply because you have meat and dairy products that tend to be pretty high in calories. When you remove them from your meals, you start to eat less, which can be good if you’re trying to lose weight.
Additionally, vegan diets are typically really high in fiber. As mentioned before, you eat plenty of nuts and grains to replace the protein lost from a “normal” diet. This, combined with all the fruit and veg you consume, will mean you get lots of good dietary fiber, which has the benefit of making you feel fuller for longer.
In terms of weight management, this is genuinely really helpful. It means you can reduce your calories, and avoid overeating, yet still feel full and content. When combined with a good exercise routine, it will be much easier for you to lose weight and maintain it.
Lower cholesterol
LDL (or bad) cholesterol is not good. Unfortunately, modern diets do lean towards people having higher levels of this in their bloodstream. This is thanks to all of the bad fats and greasy foods you tend to eat. Again, bacon and other processed meats are big culprits, but the typical Western diet is pretty much designed to make you have high cholesterol.
We’ve just become accustomed to eating certain things, getting fast food, and so on. Vegan diets can help you lower your LDL cholesterol, which reduces the risk of a whole host of heart problems. You see, when you have too much bad cholesterol in your body, it basically hardens in your arteries and can lead to heart disease or heart attacks. Going vegan can mean you cut out most of the foods that cause bad cholesterol to form.
As such, your blood pressure can reduce, your heart stays healthy, and you don’t run the risk of developing long-term cardiovascular problems.
One final note
You can see that vegan diets do come with benefits. However, it is very important to note that we are talking about healthy vegan diets. This means you eat whole foods and foods that aren’t processed. If you’re eating fake meat products every single day, you’re unlikely to see the benefits because you’re pretty much just adding loads of processed foods to your diet.
So, if you do go vegan, remember that you still have to be conscious of what you eat. Removing meat, dairy, and other animal products from your diet won’t automatically mean you see any of the potential benefits. Eat whole foods and limit your intake of fake meats – have them on special occasions – and you will start seeing the many health & beauty benefits.
