Don’t Miss Out on the Power of Plant-Based Eating

What if one of the simplest ways to support your health and the health of the planet started with what food you put on your plate?

From “meatless” meat to all-vegan restaurants to flexitarian diets, plant-based eating is becoming increasingly visible in our grocery stores, restaurants, and kitchens around the world. 

While there are many interpretations of what a plant-based diet is, a plant-based diet centers on fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, while reducing or eliminating meat, fish, dairy, and other animal products.

But why should you make the switch to plant-centered plates? A growing body of research points to significant health benefits including improving cholesterol levels, supporting heart and gut health, and reducing the risk of certain chronic diseases.  And the benefits extend beyond your own health; shifting towards more plant-based foods can also reduce the environmental pressures associated with how our food is produced. 

Every meal is an opportunity to put more plants at the center of your plate. And the benefits that plant-centered plates serve up to our health and to the environment may make you crave a diet change.

Food For Your Health

The health benefits of eating plant-forward can be significant. Research has linked greater adherence to healthy, predominantly plant-based dietary patterns with a lower risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have also been associated with a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. 

Heart health may be one of the areas where the benefits are particularly important. In a Stanford study comparing healthy vegan and omnivorous diets, participants following the vegan diet experienced greater reductions in LDL cholesterol.

Shifting toward more plant-based plates can also reduce consumption of foods associated with greater health risks, like processed meat. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified processed meats as Group 1 “carcinogenic to humans,” the same carcinogenic classification as tobacco. 

Even relatively modest dietary shifts could have an impact. One U.S. modeling study estimated that reducing processed meat consumption by 30%, an average of 8.7 grams per day, could decrease cases of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and all-cause deaths.

High-Fives for Fiber

Plant-based foods are also rich in fiber, an essential carbohydrate for your overall health. This is particularly important because most people consume less than the recommended daily fiber intake. Soluble fiber — found in plant-based foods such as legumes, oats, tofu, and sweet potatoes — causes food to move through your digestive tract more slowly, in effect decreasing jumps in your blood sugar and cholesterol. Insoluble fiber — found in beans, whole wheat products, avocados, and berries — helps ensure that your bowel movements are regular.

Fiber also supports the health of your gut microbiome, the microorganisms in your small and large intestine. Fiber nourishes “good” bacteria that live in the large intestine, enabling them to spread across the gut lining such that “bad” bacteria have no space. 

Additionally, studies have shown that dietary fiber consumption by the gut microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that contribute to many important bodily functions such as colon health and anticancer activities. For example, researchers are exploring the role of one SCFA, butyrate, in cancer risk reduction due to its tumor-suppressing capabilities.

Plant Protein Can Pack a Punch

You may be wondering, can you get enough protein from a plant-rich diet? The answer is … yes! A well-balanced diet rich in plant-based foods can provide enough protein to meet your daily needs. 

Protein is essential for building and repairing tissues and supporting many of the body’s everyday functions. but it cannot produce all the compounds to build proteins on its own. Proteins are made up of amino acids, including nine essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce on their own and must get from food. Plant-based foods contain essential amino acids in varying amounts, which is why eating a variety of protein-rich foods throughout the day is important.

When building your plant-based plates, try including one cup of cooked lentils for 18 grams of protein. Or add half a cup of firm tofu to your dish for 20 grams of protein. Fun fact: tofu is made from soy, and soy has all the protein-building compounds you need from your diet! Some other possible protein-rich plant-based foods to pile on are beans, nuts, and chickpeas.

Eating Environmentally

Eating more plant-based foods isn’t just beneficial for our health — it can also reduce the environmental footprint of what we eat. Plant-based foods tend to have lower environmental impacts requiring less land and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to animal products.

The difference can be significant. Beef production generates large quantities of greenhouse gases from cattle, feed production, and land use. In fact, producing a gram of edible beef protein emits 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions and requires 20 times more land than that of popular plant proteins, like beans.

Comparing the environmental impact of dairy milk to popular plant-based alternatives — soy, oat, almond, pea, and coconut — reveals that cow’s milk generates the most amount of water and averages three times more greenhouse gas emissions.

You can power your body and the planet by swapping beef for plant proteins and cow’s milk for plant-based milks!

Making the Switch

But what does starting a plant-based diet actually look like? Even without eliminating meat and dairy entirely, shifting toward more plant-based foods can make a meaningful difference. One study found that people who attempted to reduce animal-based foods cut their meat and dairy consumption by about half, regardless of age, gender, or how difficult they expected the change to be.

As with any diet, it is important to pay attention to what types of foods you are consuming within your plant-based diet. Whole and minimally processed plant-forward foods should be at the heart of a healthy diet. Pastries, fries, chips, and sugary drinks can technically be plant-based too, but that doesn’t necessarily make them healthy. Diets centered on whole and minimally processed plant foods can improve your health. 

And adding more plants can be easier than you think! Try steel-cut oatmeal with fruit for breakfast, add beans or lentils to your favorite dish, choose a veggie burger, or snack on an apple with peanut butter. The options are endless — and tasty!

Once you start your plant-based journey, you are likely to want to keep trying to reduce your animal consumption.

Take It One Bite at a Time

Moving towards a plant-based diet doesn’t have to happen overnight. Small changes into what we eat can build lasting habits. 

Start by making more of your meals plant-based each week. Swap in beans, lentils, tofu, or other plant proteins, experiment with new fruits and vegetables, or try a plant-based version of your favorite meal!

EARTHDAY.ORG has resources to get you started. Explore some of EARTHDAY.ORG’s fact sheets and articles to learn more about the benefits of a plant-based diet. Take action and sign our commitment to go plant-based once a week. Need some cooking inspiration? Check out some of our recipes!

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