What are the long term effects of plant-based/mostly plant-based nutrition?

I can’t answer what the extremely long term effects of a plant based diet are. I can only tell you what I have seen in my experience at eating mostly plant based over the past 4 years.

When I say “mostly” I mean this.

• I eat fish 0–3 times a month.
• I eat cheese about 1–2 times a week.

So I am “mostly” plant based and I am likely to limit or eliminate my cheese and fish as time goes on, not increase it…

So what are the long-term effects of a (mostly) plant based diet for me?

To be honest they are all good. I personally have not experienced a single negative side-effect of eating plant based foods for the past few years.

But there is something that I noticed when I eat certain types of foods…unhealthy foods that is.

For a long time I was pretty strict with my diet. I didn’t eat any cheese hardly at all at first and didn’t eat any sweets or junk food at all.

But I am human, and sometimes I eat foods that are not exactly good for me. Sometimes this is because I may be in a hurry and sometimes it may be because I’m lazy.

And sometimes it’s because I just want to eat something that isn’t very good for me.

I am not a perfect eater and don’t claim to be. I am a human and sometimes I make bad food choices. But a majority of the time I really try to eat fresh vegetables, fruits and “whole foods” as much as I can.

Sometimes I feel sick on a plant based diet

But this is specifically when I eat those bad foods. Let’s take today, Friday for example.

Today is Friday, or as I call it, pizza Friday. Like many people I love pizza a lot. And on Fridays I eat a few slices of pizza and it tastes really good.

But every Friday I pay for that pizza. It’s odd that I continue eating it each week because it makes me feel bloated and sick every single time I eat it.

You may be thinking I eat an entire pizza, but I eat 2 pieces. The pieces are pretty big though, but I am still not eating any more than any normal person would eat on a carefree pizza day.

I basically do not eat great on weekends for some reason. This happens more lately, but I am now dialing it back because I am tired of the side-effects.

I sometimes eat a sugary snack like an apple fritter on the weekend “just because”. It’s like my little reward for making it through the week or something. I don’t know why I eat sweets on the weekend, but for some reason I do.

And I get sick every single time.

What’s my point?

When I stick to my whole foods, plant based diet with no added sugars I feel great. I feel light and good and I am happy with myself.

When I let loose and eat an apple fritter or pizza on the weekends I almost always feel sick right after.

So those facts give me some simple and valuable information. A plant based diet makes me feel great, and a plant based diet + a bunch of sugar / junk food makes me feel terrible.

The only other time in my life that I always had a stomach ache or heartburn when was before I started eating a plant based diet.

I have not been to the doctor in a little while but the last time I did see him my blood work was better than it had been in many years. I was 70 pounds lighter than I was before I started a plant-based diet and I almost never had symptoms of heartburn or general feelings of bloat and feeling sick.

This has woken me up to the fact that I need to get back to basics and stop with having a free-for-all on the weekends as far as junk food goes.

I may not give up apple fritters 100% but I will at least limit them to a once in a while treat, instead of a once weekly treat.

I hope that helps. To learn more about eating a plant based diet you can visit my blog where I try to help regular people figure out how to eat at least a little better — Plant Based Synergy

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