A question I hear often is, “Why eat a plant based diet if I’m exercising regularly and eating the right portions of food?” It’s a common question among people who are keen on their health and have started their fitness journey. Wouldn’t you say that achieving your ultimate health and fitness goals require that you combine physical exercising with the right nutrition? You can’t do one and ignore the other. It’s like Peanut butter no JELLY! Cereal No MILK! Biscuits No GRAVY! You get the point?
Nutritionists give varying reasons why you should or shouldn’t eat a raw vegan plant-based diet. Those opposed to a raw plant-based diet lay emphasis on the importance of cooking food and possible nutrient deficiency. However, they don’t dispute the importance of plant-based diets to human health.
If you’re unsure about shifting to this diet, read on and learn the benefits of plant based diets to your fitness journey.
What is a Plant-Based Diet?
It’s important to define a vegan plant-based diet before we go further and discuss its benefits. Many people confuse a vegan diet with a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians eliminate animal products from their diet based on philosophical and religious beliefs.
A vegan plant-based diet is based on health benefits and includes unprocessed foods and little or no animal products. A plant diet includes whole nuts, vegetables, fruits, legumes, seeds, pseudograins, and beans. The diet may include unprocessed animal products such as eggs and milk. A strict vegan diet does not include any animal products.
Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet
As indicated earlier, you can only achieve your fitness goals by combining exercises with the right diet. Eating a raw plant-based diet has the following health benefits:
1. Plant-based diets contain little cholesterol
One of your fitness goals is probably to reduce your cholesterol level. A strict vegan diet contains no cholesterol and will help you reduce bad cholesterol in your body. Animal products increase your bad cholesterol levels especially when processed. Eating a plant-based diet ensures that you don’t regain the cholesterol you burn during physical exercises.
2. A plant-based diet helps you control your blood sugar
Vegetables have a high fiber content, which slows down the absorption of sugar into your blood stream. This controlled absorption of sugar keep you energized all day. You reduce your intake of snacks and sugars to boost your energy levels in between meals.
3. Raw plant-based diets are rich in nutrients
One rule of preparing some plant-based diets is to eat them raw or cook them for a short period and under low heat, under 118 degrees. Include as many raw products as you can in your daily diet. You can eat vegetables raw or steamed. The key is to avoid processed plant-based foods. Raw vegetables and fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. Over-cooked food may be tasty but the prolonged heat reduces its nutritional value
4. Plant-based diets reduce your risk of some diseases
You can reduce your risk of many lifestyle diseases by changing your diet. A plant-based diet will help you reduce your risk of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. The fiber in this diet improves digestion and reduces your risk of digestive complications. Plant-based diets reduce your exposure to toxins, increase antioxidants in your body and detoxify your body.
The Importance of a Plant Based Diet to Fitness
Eating a raw vegan plant-based diet support your fitness journey in many ways.
These include:
1. The Diet Helps you Lose Excess Weight
Most fitness programs are focused on burning fat and shedding excess weight. A plant based diet reduces your meal and snack times by controlling your sugar absorption. In addition, the diet contains little or no cholesterol that is found in animal products. You can maintain a low body weight with this diet without losing your muscle mass due to less stress on your body versus the traditional North American diet, which normally consists of refined, processed foods with little to no nutritional value.
2. A Plant-Based Diet Helps You Recover from Physical Exercises in a Healthy Way
Physical exercises drain your energy especially if you have signed up for an intense program. Such exercises are necessary if you have lots of excess weight to lose.
However, many people tend to regain their weight after a weight loss program because of the wrong diet. Eating animal products and processed foods after exercising will make you regain your weight. A 4to 1 carb to protein ratio including no fiber and little to no fats within 45 minutes of your workout will help your body recover quickly. When done properly, a plant-based diet ensures that you do not lose the benefits of physical exercises.
3. Plant based diets improve your workout performance
Why eat a plant based diet before a workout session? Preparing for a workout sessions does not just involve choosing the right gear and a few warm up sessions. It also involves eating the right foods to ensure that you have high energy throughout the workout sessions. Your pre-workout meal determines your performance in terms of burning fat and building muscles.
Depending on your exercise intensity and length, you can formulate an effective pre workout snack that will prepare you for optimal performance. Eating plant-based foods ensures that you do not run out of energy in your workout session. Fruits, especially dates, that are rich in glucose are excellent fruit to eat before a workout session because it goes straight to the liver for immediate energy.
4. Muscular Development
If your fitness goal is to build your muscles, you can achieve your goal without risking your health. The key to building muscles is taking quality proteins in every meal. A lean diet helps you build a lean muscle mass. You can increase you calories intake without taking processed foods and energy boosters in your workout sessions. Plant-based diets provide calories and energy from healthy sources.
5. Better Sleep
One of the benefits of a consistent plant-based diet is the ability to sleep better. With a healthy digestive system, you are likely to sleep better every night. You may have lots of energy during the day but your nights will be peaceful. Getting enough rest every day is as important as regular exercises to your health and fitness journey. Many people focus on exercises and ignore the importance of rest to your body.
If going plant based is something you really want to do, the best way to make the transition is to gradually get rid of processed bad foods and replace them with nutrient dense foods such as greens, fruits, seeds, legumes, etc. Don’t go all commando on the first day. You’ll stress yourself out as well as your body. It needs time to adjust, usually about 6 weeks minimum to fully make the transition without adding stress to your body.