A recent study involving 22,000 people and their dietary habits discovered that after five years nearly all of them had gained weight. However, the people with the least weight gain were those who had chosen a vegetarian diet. These people gained only 4 pounds in 5 years.
It is to be noted that none of the participants were overweight at the beginning or close of the experiment. Of course, exercise played a big part in the overall results as it directly impacts all weight changes. The above is actually just a part of a much bigger study that involved almost 500,000 individuals in ten countries. The main purpose of this study was to determine the connection between diet and cancer.
What the study found was that vegetables generally resulted in better overall health. Furthermore, it is best to consume vegetables in their raw state rather than cooking them as this maximizes their potential benefits.
People can have several different reasons for choosing a vegetarian lifestyle and these reasons do not necessarily have to be directly related to personal health. For example, people can refuse to eat animal products due to spiritual beliefs or moral concerns like the killing of innocent animals just to eat them when there are plenty of alternatives.
However, it is to be noted that the study found that most of these vegetarians were deficient in many essential nutrients because of their eating choices but more so because of badly planned diets through insufficient knowledge about nutrition.
It was found that while adopting a heavily vegetarian lifestyle was a good choice, the absolute cutting out of meat and other sources of animal proteins turned out to be detrimental to general health. Everybody has a unique metabolism type and each type needs a different kind of diet, regardless of spiritual reason, moral, or ethical preferences.
Nearly 65% of people need regular help from animal-based proteins in order to maintain optimum health. Then there is the 33% whose health would suffer tremendously should they consume animal proteins.
This 33% are people who can be vegetarians and still remain healthy. In addition, these are the very people who can go on national television and vouch for the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. It should not lead you to assume that what works for their body type will work for you too. Different people need different diets and lifestyles.
Another problem with vegetarians is the assumption that meat is somehow evil. Based on this belief they conclude that since it is evil it is obviously unhealthy and hence best avoided. Please keep in mind that food is food and that its nutritional values have nothing to do with good and evil.
One thing the study found out repeatedly is that regular exercise is the only thing that really matters when it comes down to weight control. It doesn’t matter what you eat, if you have a weight problem then what matters is how much of what you eat are you working out of your system.
Even with normal weight, nutrition, and exercise are close bedfellows. Any kind of proper diet, vegan or non-vegan, combined with good exercise can help achieve and maintain good health.
