Why eat plants?
These are 10 things I learnt from interviewing almost 100 experts on health, nutrition, longevity and athletic performance.
Adopting a whole foods plant-based diet can dramatically reduce your risk of certain cancers, alzheimers, type II diabetes, heart disease, many auto immune conditions (arthritis, MS, lupus, skin allergies) and gut issues (crohns, ulcerative colitis and IBD).
Factors that promote healthy ageing (we are talking living and thriving beyond 90-100s) include daily movement, a positive mindset, community, life purpose and a predominantly plant-based diet.
High amount fat (particularly from animal based sources and trans fats) contributes to long term insulin resistance.
Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid when gut bacteria feasts on fibre. Butyrate provides cellular energy, is anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous. The minimum RDI is 30g per day, a person on a SAD diet consumes up to 15g a day while someone on a wfpb diet gets anywhere from 40-50g a day.
A plant-based diet optimises athletic performance because it is rich in carbohydrates (glycogen is the preferred fuel for muscles), anti-inflammatory (plant based foods have up to 64x more antioxidants than animal based ones), promotes healthy digestion/detoxification (fibre rich) and promotes heart health (being virtually free in saturated fat = more supple arteries, better blood flow and increased tissue oxygenation).
Top reasons why some fail on a plant-based diet? Lack of calories, lack of nutrient diversity, lack of support and pre-existing physical, mental/emotional issues that have not been addressed.
Fasting can help improve insulin sensitivity, promote autophagy (cell renewal), increase lifespan, recalibrate taste sensors (particularly water fasting) and hunger signals.
We have the power to change our gene expression. Lifestyle factors (what we eat, how we move/think/feel) takes precedence over genetic predisposition.
On average we eat about 3-5 pounds of food a day. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are at around 100-600 calories/pound), while animal based foods, oil rich foods (are at 4000 calories/pound), flours/sugars (1500-1800 calories/pound). When you focus on eating less calorically dense yet nutritionally rich foods, long term fat loss is effortless. Plus you get to eat lots of food without feeling like you are starving yourself in anyway.
If there’s a one sized fits all diet out there, it is a whole foods plant-based diet. Plant-based diets are “appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” American Dietetic Association.
Research shows that the Roman Gladiators were “mostly vegetarian”. It was found that their diet was grain-based and mostly meat-free. Of course there are arguments are both sides but my take on it is that the closer to plant-based we can be, the healthier we are…the healthier the planet will be.
As the Brazil rainforest goes up in flames, reports show that the fires connected to the clearing of forests for cattle grazing and “if saving the rainforest isn't enough to convince carnivores to stop eating Brazilian beef (which is exported all over the world) - the greenhouse gas emissions the cattle create may be.” CNN.
I love this quote by Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary “If we could live happy and healthy lives without harming others… why wouldn't we?”. I’d like to do a second take on it “If we could live happy, healthy and high powered lives without harming others… why wouldn't we?"
Want to learn more about living a high powered life?
Tune into the upcoming FREE Plant Fit Summit..
Launching August 31st 2019 1pm EST (1am Singapore time, 3am Sydney time).
Be the person they think about most when The Game Changers is officially released..it cannot come soon enough!
The most muscular pose when I was a bodybuilder was the ‘crab’..now into gymnastics/calisthenics…ring support ;)
#dadbod #plantpower
