#plant based diets

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Anthropocene Magazine:

People who follow a diet rich in plants cut their mortality risk by almost a third, while simultaneously slashing the climate impact of their food by a similar amount. These results come from the largest study ever to analyze the health and environmental impacts of the widely-publicized EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet. 

Launched in 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission brought together reams of research to determine what would be the best way for us to eat on a global scale, to limit the environmental impacts of farming and food. The Commission came up with a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grain and plant-sourced proteins, and lower in—but crucially not excluding—animal-sourced products like meat and dairy milk. That became known as the Planetary Health Diet. 

Until now, however, the benefits of this diet have been explored mainly on a small scale. The new study takes it up a notch. “This is by far the longest term, large study in actual people to look at both the human and planetary health benefits of the Planetary Health Diet,” says Walter Willett, the Fredrick John Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, and lead author on the research.

His new paper, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, relied on three pre-existing datasets that drew dietary information from over 200,000 American nurses over a 34-year period between 1986 to 2019. All participants were disease-free when the surveying started, and were required to complete a questionnaire every four years on the makeup of their diets. 

To evaluate this vast trove of data, Willett and colleagues first selected 15 indicator foods that captured the span of dietary impacts, including whole fruits, vegetables, and nuts on the lower-impact end; and red meat, processed meat, and dairy on the higher-impact end. Then, they used these foods to develop an index that allowed them to score the nurses’ dietary surveys by how closely they aligned with the EAT-Lancet suggested Planetary Health Diet. Using a lifecycle-analysis, they estimated the environmental impacts of each reported diet according to those 15 indicator foods.

Because the study also recorded a varied set of health outcomes for the participants—everything ranging from cancer to diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, and neurodegenerative problems—this allowed Willett and team to correlate participants’ dietary trends with their health over the 34-year period. 

Their analysis left little doubt that those who eat diets richer in plants are also healthier, as well as having a lower environmental footprint. In fact, in the top 10% of participants, whose plant-heavy diets most closely matched the Planetary Health Diet, the risk of premature death due to disease was 23% lower than those in the bottom 10% of the survey. These plant-keen participants showed a 14% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, a 10% lower risk of death from cancer, a 28% reduced risk of death from neurodegenerative conditions, and strikingly, a 47% lower death risk from respiratory disease.

Meanwhile, the environmental gains of eating more plants were striking too: their diets produced 29% less in the way of greenhouse gas emissions, required 21% less fertilizer, and 51% less cropland area compared to those whose diets scored lowest in the index. The reduced land use could bring significant further climate gains, if it is turned over to wild habitat again, which would lock in more carbon via new vegetation and undisturbed soils. 

[metellastella]

Get this. Today’s discount Whopper (including Impossible)(every Wednesday), National Veggie Burger Day, World Environment Day, AND National Aromantic Visibility Day. Green all the way around!!!!

[vanalifefoods]

THE SCIENCE BEHIND VEGANISM: HOW PLANT-BASED DIETS IMPACT YOUR HEALTH

UNVEILING THE HEALTH BENEFITS: THE SCIENTIFIC IMPACT OF PLANT-BASED DIETS

HEY THERE, HEALTH ENTHUSIASTS AND FOODIES ALIKE! LET’S DIVE INTO THE JUICY DETAILS OF WHY PLANT-BASED DIETS ARE ALL THE RAGE — AND FOR GOOD REASON. WE’RE ABOUT TO UNCOVER THE SCIENCE BEHIND VEGANISM AND HOW IT CAN SERIOUSLY LEVEL UP YOUR HEALTH GAME.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING VEGAN FOOD

So, what’s the deal with plant-based diets? Well, buckle up because we’re about to spill the beans (pun totally intended). Eating vegan food isn’t just a trend — it’s a lifestyle choice backed by some serious science. Here’s the lowdown on why ditching animal products can do wonders for your health:

PACKED WITH NUTRIENTS:

Picture this: plant-based foods are basically nature’s version of a multivitamin, packed with all the good stuff your body craves. We’re talking about vitamins, minerals, antioxidants — the whole shebang that keeps you feeling and looking your absolute best.

GUT HEALTH GURU:

Ever heard of fiber? It’s your gut’s best friend, and guess what? Plants are chock-full of it. Fiber keeps things moving smoothly in your digestive system, promoting gut health and keeping you feeling satisfied

HEART HAPPY:

Want to keep your ticker ticking? Say hello to plant-based eating. Research shows that vegans have lower rates of heart disease, thanks to their cholesterol-free, low-saturated fat diets. Your heart will thank you for choosing plants over processed meats any day.

SLIM DOWN SECRETS:

Looking to shed a few pounds or maintain a healthy weight? Veganism might just be your secret weapon. Plant-based diets tend to be lower in calories and higher in fiber, helping you feel fuller for longer and nix those pesky cravings.

DISEASE DEFENDER:

Brace yourself for some serious superhero action — plant-based diets have been linked to lower rates of certain cancers, diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s disease. With every bite of broccoli or spoonful of lentils, you’re arming your body with powerful disease-fighting nutrients.

[veganfoody]

Vegan Yaki Udon

[plant-diets2savehumans]

This all checks out, except, not all that sure that lab grown meat that requires mining, materials, building, electricity, machinery, refrigeration, transport, is in any way a better alternative than plopping a biodegradable, bug-hungry chicken down in a nearby field.

(I say biodegradable becasuse all the things a chicken produces-including poop- are easily absorbed back into the landscape. That mine that blew up half a mountain and disrupted its surrounding forest to supply and create that lab and its metals is not)

Lab meat is probably better compared to red meat?? I guess?? but that’s because red meat is just awful on every spectrum imaginable. Including human health. Yes even venison.

If you have to have meat, make it white, make it less, and make it local.

And unless we’re building computer chips out of materials that no longer rely on child slave labor, the tech is being wrung out of little humans’ sweat and tears, too.

So. Support Heifer International distributing birds, or plant based stuff like it for those kids.

Get a chicken. Put in backyard. Or. Buy local chicken meat.

Lab meat is for vegans who are about laser-focused specific ethics, not larger environmental concerns.

It’s solar and wind and tidal and geothermal and hydropower.

It’s plant-based diets and regenerative livestock farming and insect protein and lab-grown meat.

It’s electric cars and reliable public transit and decreasing how far and how often we travel.

It’s growing your own vegetables and community gardens and vertical farms and supporting local producers.

It’s rewilding the countryside and greening cities.

It’s getting people active and improving disabled access.

It’s making your own clothes and buying or swapping sustainable stuff with your neighbours.

It’s the right to repair and reducing consumption in the first place.

It’s greater land rights for the commons and indigenous peoples and creating protected areas.

It’s radical, drastic change and community consensus.

It’s labour rights and less work.

It’s science and arts.

It’s theoretical academic thought and concrete practical action.

It’s signing petitions and campaigning and protesting and civil disobedience.

It’s sailboats and zeppelins.

It’s the speculative and the possible.

It’s raising living standards and curbing consumerism.

It’s global and local.

It’s me and you.

Climate solutions look different for everyone, and we all have something to offer.

[oediex]

Cutting out as many animal products from your life as you can is probably the most effective thing that you, as an individual, can do to fight the climate crisis.

I know many of you feel like there is nothing you can personally do to battle the climate crisis, but this is one of them. This, you can do. However small your contribution is, it will make a difference.

You don't have to do it all at once. Take your time. There are plenty of resources online, and I know it can be overwhelming, but again, take your time. If you need help, feel free to send me an ask or a message, or other vegans on here like @acti-veg (in fact, check out www.acti-veg.com). We are experienced vegans and have been living on a plant-based diet for years.

You don't have to figure it out on your own. You won't be doing something no-one has done before you. We are here and happy to help you.

Yes, it will be a change. Yes, you will have to learn new things. But you can be part of the solution. This is something you can do.

Source for data & relevant quotes below:

Eating a vegan diet massively reduces the damage to the environment caused by food production, the most comprehensive analysis to date has concluded. The research showed that vegan diets resulted in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than diets in which more than 100g of meat a day was eaten. Vegan diets also cut the destruction of wildlife by 66% and water use by 54%, the study found.

However, it turned out that what was eaten was far more important in terms of environmental impacts than where and how it was produced. Previous research has shown that even the lowest-impact meat – organic pork – is responsible for eight times more climate damage than the highest-impact plant, oilseed.

Prof Peter Scarborough at Oxford University, who led the research, published in the journal Nature Food, said: “Our dietary choices have a big impact on the planet. Cutting down the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference to your dietary footprint.”

The researchers who conducted the new study said diets enabling global food production to be sustainable would mean people in rich nations “radically” reducing meat and dairy consumption. They said other ways of reducing the environmental impact of the food system, such as new technology and cutting food waste, would not be enough.

[sunkissed-abs]

[vegan-nom-noms]

Pumpkin Lentil Curry

[fortheloveofnutrition]

I knew people use cayenne pepper to season food and drank the "master cleanse" with the herb in it, but I often forget that cayenne pepper helps with circulation and apparently it can help stop bleeding! Who knew! I only knew of raw honey being safe to put on cuts but now we've got another one!

Ah, the healing power of herbs.

[hashtagveganproblems]

Vegan Grain Bowl with Soy Tenders

Check out the 🌱VegansBeLike Discord server🌱 for more

[captlok]

It’s almost like chimpanzees eat 60%+ of their total diet as fruit and we share 99% of their DNA or something. Funny how that works.

“Paleo” dieters maligning fruit has to be the silliest and most ironic case of Pseudoscience ever.

We’re frugivores.

It’s why money-grubbing capitalists can hijack our natural inclinations with sugar-stuffed Hostess cakes and other industrialized processed things and cause us nerve damage and kidney damage. We’re sugar hounds, and when fruit was all we had access to, that was fine! We even lost the ability to synthesize Vitamin C, which ... one of the only other few animals who lacks that? Fruit bats.

By contrast: Cats are obligate carnivores. Their tongue/brain literally doesn’t have receptors for sweetness.

Dogs do because they’re more akin to bears (who love honey, berries) quite literally: they’re both in Caniformia. You rarely hear about wolves snacking on berries, but it does happen. (it’s more show-y to film them collectively hunting deer, when that’s not their preferred prey food, either.)

Fun fact: both the avocados and the tomatoes making up guac and salsa mentioned above are also fruit. I had some bangin’ grilled zucchini today, which is also fruit. Now I want some pumpkin soup or some butternut squash soup. Also both fruit. Some people make it a lifestyle and maximize fruit. (fruitarians eat 70 to 80%) No idea if chimps have access to any not-as-sweet fruits......

Research has shown that pleasure affects nutrient absorption. In a 1970s study of Swedish and Thai women, it was found that when the Thai women were eating their own (preferred) cuisine, they absorbed about 50% more iron from the meal than they did from eating the unfamiliar Swedish food. And the same was true in the reverse for the Swedish women. When both groups were split internally and one group given a paste made from the exact same meal and the other was given the meal itself, those eating the paste absorbed 70% less iron than those eating the food in its normal state.

Pleasure affects our metabolic pathways; it’s a facet of the complex gut-brain connection. If you’re eating foods you don’t like because you think it’s healthy, it’s not actually doing your body much good (it’s also unsustainable, we’re pleasure-seeking creatures). Eat food you enjoy, it’s a win-win.

[vanalifefoods]

HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS: BLACK BEAN CHIPOTLE RECIPES FOR PLANT-BASED FOOD

Looking for a healthy and delicious way to spice up your plant-based meals? Look no further than black bean chipotle recipes! Whether you’re a seasoned vegan or just dipping your toes into the world of plant-based eating, these recipes are sure to satisfy your taste buds and keep you coming back for more.

WHY BLACK BEAN CHIPOTLE?

Black beans are not only a staple in plant-based diets but also a nutritional powerhouse. Packed with protein, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals, they’re a great addition to any meal. And when you add chipotle peppers into the mix, you get a smoky, spicy flavor that takes your dishes to the next level.

BLACK BEAN CHIPOTLE RECIPE IDEAS:

Here are some creative and delicious ways to incorporate black bean chipotle recipe into your plant-based cooking repertoire:

CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN TACOS:

- Grab some soft or hard taco shells, whichever vibes with you.

- Load ’em up with spicy chipotle black beans, fresh salsa, and avocado slices — major flavor alert!

- Squeeze some lime over the top for that extra zing.

- Sprinkle on some cilantro and chopped onions to level up the taste game.

- Get ready to vibe out with this zesty and satisfying meal! 🌮

CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN BURRITO BOWL:

- Cook up some brown rice or quinoa, your call — get that base ready to roll.

- Pile on a big ol’ scoop of chipotle black beans for that spicy kick.

- Toss in your fave veggies — roasted bell peppers, sweet corn, and juicy cherry tomatoes.

- Finish it off with a drizzle of creamy avocado dressing or cashew cream for that smooth, dreamy vibe.

- We are ready with a bowl of goodness! 🥑🌽🍅

CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN SOUP:

- Get cozy with a bowl of chipotle black bean soup when the weather’s chilly — it’s like a warm hug for your taste buds.

- Throw together black beans, onions, garlic, and chipotle peppers in a pot with veggie broth — let it simmer until it’s super tender.

- Blend it all up until it’s smooth and creamy — no chunks allowed.

- Top it off with some chopped cilantro and a dollop of vegan sour cream for that extra hearty goodness.

- Here’s your comforting meal — it’s soup-er satisfying! 🍲

CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN QUESADILLAS:

- Grab a whole grain tortilla and spread on some chipotle black beans — get that flavor party started!

- Add on some vegan cheese, sliced bell peppers, and onions for extra yum.

- Fold that bad boy in half and pop it in a skillet — cook until it’s crispy and golden on both sides.

- Serve it up with salsa and guac for an appetizer or main dish that’s sure to please the crowd.

- Get ready to munch on this crispy, cheesy goodness — it’s a vibe! 🌯

CHIPOTLE BLACK BEAN SALAD:

- Mix up cooked black beans with diced bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, corn kernels, and chopped cilantro — get those flavors dancing!

- Whip up a tangy lime vinaigrette with a kick of chipotle powder — spice things up!

- Toss everything together until it’s all coated in that zesty dressing — let the flavors mingle.

- This salad’s ready to rock at picnics and potlucks — fresh, flavorful, and totally Insta-worthy! 🥗✨

[notbecauseofvictories]

I’ve now seen the “would you eat lab-grown meat” poll twice, which means it is time to air one of my least charitable opinions---namely, I think imitation meat is an abomination. I could pretend this is for noble reasons (and I want to believe I have a couple in the mix) but truthfully its existence revolts and annoys me. It feels like a kind of hypocrisy; I mean, I’m sorry if you crave chicken wings for whatever reason? but you’re the one who gave up an omnivorous diet and refused to get creative with the foods left to you. Eat your cauliflower in buffalo sauce and shut up.

[chiaberries]

[captlok]

Lions who were actually designed to maximally gorge on meat and only eat once a week or less after such gorging: you poor little pretender

Do yourself a favor and graze 2 or 4 or more times a day like biology and nature intended

chimpanzees (98% DNA similarity) munch on fruit and seeds much of the day, and greens

As a plus, if you can manage to evade it, not eating a huge dinner like artificial capitalism has sort of forced us into (hard to wake up to eat a substantial breakfast, only 30 min for lunch) vastly improves your sleep quality

ordered pizza from a small local place and they didnt actually cut it so i've chosen to revert to a wild animal and begin ripping it apart instead of just using a knife to portion slices