What are the long term effects of plant-based/mostly plant-based nutrition?
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
Source: Quora Answers Feed