10 Reasons to put Plants First
Plants can come in many different forms in our diet including fruits, vegetables, legumes, lentils, and even whole grains. Food producers often alter these beautiful plants for convenience, consistency, packaging, and shelf-life, while stripping away many of their nutrients and adding ingredients we can not pronounce. But, when we eat these plants just as they were grown in nature, we get a bounty of nutrients. Below are 10 reasons to eat powerful plants as close to how we found them in nature as possible.
1. VITAMINS & MINERAL - Just as these plants offer a rainbow of colors, the variety of vitamins and minerals they provide are just as vast. Some of the big players are potassium (helps lower blood pressure), Folate (important for women of child bearing age due to it's critical role in the early development of fetus), Vitamin A (eye health) and Vitamin C (skin health and iron absorption).
2. FIBER - Much like our skeletal system, the fiber in plants holds up their structure. Unlike bones, when fiber is eaten it promotes a healthy digestive track, a healthy heart, lowers cholesterol, reduces risk of stroke, and helps manage weight.
3. PREBIOTIC - We hear a lot about the benefits of probiotics, but for these healthy bacteria to work they need the help of prebiotics to create a hospitable environment in the digestive track. The undigestible fibers from plants are the best source of prebiotics.
4. PHYTONUTRIENTS - There are many versions of phytonutrients including antioxidants, flavinoids, phytochemicals, flavones, and isoflavones just to name a few. Each phytonutrient has it's own health claim, but in general these are compounds produced in plants that are not required by the body but have positive health benefits including reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, and inflammation as well as improved immune system, vision, skin, and bone health.
5. LOW CALORIE - Critical for weight management, most fruits and vegetables come with a very low calorie price tag while packing a punch of nutrients. Even the higher calorie starchy vegetables, legumes, lentils, and whole grains come with some challenging fiber, slowing down the speed we eat these plants and lower your overall portion size, therefore lower calorie.
6. FULLNESS - The feeling of satisfaction after eating food is critical to manage overeating. Plants provide a large volume of food at a low calorie price, as well as fiber that takes longer to digest, providing a feeling of fullness and satisfaction for a longer period of time.
7. GLYCEMIC LOAD - Plants are the carbohydrate of choice. For managing energy levels and/or diabetes, unprocessed plants in general offer carbohydrates with a much lower glycemic load which will help keep blood sugar steady.
8. NO SATURATED FAT, TRANS FAT, OR CHOLESTEROL - Saturated fat and cholesterol mostly come from animal sources, and trans fats come from processed foods. When we eat fat from plants in their unprocessed form (nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, olive oil), we only get the healthy unsaturated fats that can work for our health, not against it.
9. ANTI-INFLAMMATORY - Most inflammation comes from sugars and processed foods. When we eat unprocessed plants, not only are the inflammatory compounds not present, but there are also compounds (phytonutrients above) that have anti-inflammatory properties.
10. NO ADDITIVES - It goes without saying that when we eat mostly from the unprocessed plant world, we are avoiding a majority of the controversial additives that food producers use to make processed foods.