[Power V] Benefits of Being V!

White quinoa, Red quinoa, cabbages, potatoes & scallions

Becoming a vegetarian isn't as hard as you might want to believe. Start mellow with setting aside 1 vegetarian day per week and progressively increases to full vegetarian diet over a course of a month can be a great way to kick off the transformation!

You may wonder why the transformation? What benefits does turning into vegetarian offer?

Trust us, there are so many benefits that each of them can become your motivation to become one of us!!

Here is a list of top 10 reasons to become a vegetarian (adapted from Vegetarian Times). Munch on...

1. Stay healthy 

• Ward off cardiovascular diseases and reduce the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely.
• Vegetarian diet is inherently healthy because vegetarians consume no animal fat and less cholesterol, and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce
• Reduce likelihood of contracting food-borne diseases. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood are frequently involved in food-borne illness outbreaks

2. Keep your weight down or optimal

• Stop the standard American diet that is high in saturated fats and calories. Replace with the healthier plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates that would also prevent obesity.
• Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average of 24 lbs in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later

3. Obtain better "regularity" (umm, we mean your bowel movement =D ) 

• Meat contains no fiber, while vegetables contain more fibers that help push the waste out of the body. 
• People eating lower on the food chain (vegetarians) tend to have fewer instances of constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.

4. Promote longevity

• Japanese residents living in Okinawa, Japan, have the longest life expectancy of any Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy in the world. Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.

5. Be more energetic

• Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of cholesterol-laden, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow us down. 
• Whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are high in complex carbohydrates, which supply the body with plenty of energizing fuel.

6. Save $$$!

• Substitue the annual consumption of 200 lbs of beef, chicken and fish with veggies, grains and fruits would save an amazing US$4000 per year!

7. Help reduce pollution

• According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today.

8. Spare the animals from poor farming practice & excessive slaughtering

• 10 billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. 
• Farm animals no longer roam freely nowadays, instead most animals are factory farmed—crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics.

9. Help reduce famine

• ~ 70% of all grain produced in the U.S. is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billions livestock animals in the U.S. consume 5 times as much grain as is consumed directly by the Americans.
• ~ 800 million people could be fed if all the grain fed to livestock were consumed directly by people.

10. Colorful, tasty meals with lots of variations!

• Disease-fighting phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich and varied hues.
• Rich yellow and orange fruits and vegetables—carrots, oranges, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pumpkins, corn—­owe their color to carotenoids. Leafy green vegetables are also rich in carotenoids but get their green color from chlorophyll. Red, blue and purple fruits and vegetables—plums, cherries, red bell peppers—contain anthocyanins.

Of course, it goes without saying that there are still more benefits of going veggie.

If you are worried about a lack of protein intake from going vegetarian, that's not going to be a problem. Plenty of vegetarian food provide excellent source of protein! Not convinced? Just see our other post [Power V] Protein Eye for the Vegetarian Guys~ for more info!

So why not give it a try now? Go on a date with the veggies, beans and tofu among others! Take this new relationship gradually, maybe you will fall in love with them after hanging out with them several times!!