A team of researchers at Loma Linda University in the United States has shown vegetarian men live for an average of 10 years longer than non-vegetarian men — 83 years compared to 73 years. For women, being vegetarian added an extra 6 years to their lives, helping them reach 85 years on average.
Life expectancies show linear positive regression on meat consumption, while child mortality is negatively exponentially related to meat intake. All regressions show strong correlations – meat intake explains at least 50% of variance in life expectancy and mortality.
People who follow a vegan diet tend to eat more carbohydrate-rich foods such as wheat, white rice, and sugar, as it is difficult to feel satisfied with the lack of meat and other foods. As a result, blood sugar levels rise, and the skin ages more easily.
Your blood cholesterol levels will plummet.
Elevated blood cholesterol is a key risk factor for heart disease and strokes, two of the leading killers in the United States. Saturated fat—primarily found in meat, poultry, cheese, and other animal products—is a major driver of our blood cholesterol levels.
If you avoid eating meat for a month, you should notice a decrease in your overall inflammatory markers. This happens due to the anti-inflammatory properties of plant-based foods that you consume instead of meat (5). They are rich in fiber and antioxidants and low in toxins and saturated fats.
Vitamin Deficiencies
However, iodine, zinc, and vitamin B12 are hard to come by when you leave meat, seafood, and dairy products out of your meals. Without these nutrients, you can suffer from goiters, fatigue, diarrhea, loss of taste and smell, and even neurological damage.
Even though it is a source of quality proteins and vitamins, red meat can be a health hazard, especially if you're over 40. If you value your health, you should try other low-fat protein options and leave the beef grill for special occasions. These are some health problems eating red meat regularly can cause.
While eggs are not considered dairy, they are also not considered to be meat. We do consider them to be poultry products, but that isn't the same as meat. That's why vegetarians can eat them, but vegans can't as they are still animal byproducts.
Exercise. The best way to slow down aging is to stay in great shape. One study published in Aging Cell found that older people who exercised regularly throughout their lives had the muscle mass, cholesterol levels, and even immune system function of much younger people.
Exposure to light is a top cause of premature aging: Sun exposure causes many skin problems. Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin.
A team of researchers at Loma Linda University in the United States has shown vegetarian men live for an average of 10 years longer than non-vegetarian men — 83 years compared to 73 years. For women, being vegetarian added an extra 6 years to their lives, helping them reach 85 years on average.
Improved Public Health
If people no longer ate inflammatory animal-based foods, cholesterol and blood pressure could lower, acne could become less frequent, people could experience better digestion, and the rate of disease could decrease.
"If meat is simply removed and not substituted, the consumer is at risk of iron or B12 deficiency, anemia, and muscle wasting," Levy-Wollins explains.
Many seniors have digestive disorders, and eating too much high-fat meat can exacerbate these issues. Avoiding meat and eating more raw foods may regulate the digestive system. To maximize their digestion, seniors should eat raw foods like pineapples, avocados, mangos, and bananas.
Avocado has a wide range of culinary uses and can be enjoyed by anyone following a plant-based diet. The versatile green fruit is a great cooking substitute for animal products, such as meat or traditional spreads, for anyone on the plant-based diet.
The healthiest meat substitute will be natural vegetarian foods, high in protein and minimally processed. Great, healthy meat substitutes include beans, tempeh, lentils, jackfruit, mushrooms, nuts, and seeds.
Fruits, green leafy parts of plants, shoots, seeds, nuts, roots and tubers are the fundamental components of the primate eating pattern – and common sense tells us that these foods should be the foods that humans eat, too.
Initial Three-Week Period. There has been some serious, mainstream research into the possibility of meat addiction but in truth people can become addicted to just about anything. In the book, Breaking the Food Seduction, Dr. Neal Barnard argues that it takes three weeks to stop craving foods like meat or cheese.
If you're not ready to take the plunge into a fully plant-based diet, or if you're restricted from doing so for health reasons, substituting meat with fish could be an ideal compromise. There are plenty of reasons why you might want to consider pescetarianism, i.e. relying on fish and seafood as a source of protein.