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Brittany Shea

Dr Cassel

English 1201

30 July 2020

Effects of a Plant-Based Diet

Everyone always says that you are what you eat! Well, if that’s true then it might be best

for people to start taking a closer look at what they’re eating. A plant-based diet has a plethora of

positive effects. The first being that it can help with weight loss. Obesity and being overweight

go hand in hand with chronic disease and cancer. What if you could prevent or even reverse

disease? Wouldn’t it be worth it to get off the expensive medications? It’s not just good for

physical health, a plant-based diet is more sustainable to for the environment long term. With

climate change worsening, it’s important to be thinking of every way possible to reduce the

negative effects humans have on the earth. Also, the number of animals that are born and kept in

inhumane facilities only to be slaughtered, is astronomical; it’s unnecessary. Switching to a

plant-based diet can help people to lose weight, improve overall health and well-being, positively

affect the environment and climate change, not to mention save the lives of countless animals.

Plant based diets have been around since the 6th century B.C. Many people over the span

of time have adopted a plant-based diet for various reasons, based on, religion, philosophy,

morals, and health. Some people thought it would make them live longer while others wanted to

respect animals. There have been many famous vegetarians; Leonardo da Vinci in the 1400s,

Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s, Gandhi, heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, Paul

McCartney from the Beatles, and Al Gore to name a few. (Hultin) There are many types of plant-
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based diets including vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-

vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan. Different types of vegetarians sometimes eat animal protein in

different forms. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians do eat eggs and dairy, ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but not

dairy, and lacto-vegetarians eat dairy but not eggs. A pesco-vegetarian eats seafood. Then there

are vegans, who don’t eat any products from animals, and raw vegans, who eat the same as

vegans but don’t cook their food. These diets are all slightly different, but they're still all

classified as plant-based diets because their main source of food is from plants. (Hultin)

Between 1975 and 2016 obesity numbers around the world have almost tripled. (World

Health Org.) Obesity is on the rise and it’s something that people need to take seriously. Obesity

raises your risk of getting cancer and other chronic illnesses. Being overweight also lowers your

chance of living a long and fulfilling life. Extra weight is hard on the body, it’s hard on organs

and their functioning, it can be difficult to breath, and it puts extra strain on joints. Not to

mention people don’t feel good when they’re heavy, it’s uncomfortable. If obesity is left

untreated it can cause chronic pain and disease. It used to be, that obesity, was only common in

countries where people had money, but now the problem is spreading to middle class and poor

countries. The World Health Organization estimated that 38.2 million kids younger than 5 were

considered obese, or at least, overweight in 2019. (World Health Org.) That means these

children's organs and joints are under stress at an early age, leading to health problems much

earlier in life. People need to look at what they are eating, and what they are feeding their

children. Obesity is a treatable pandemic.

Studies have shown that people who eat less meat have a lower body mass index. As

meat consumption increases so does body mass index. The body mass index is a number that

tells you if you’re at a healthy size. The BMI based on people’s height, there is a healthy weight
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range that their BMI needs to stay within. Plant-based food is less calorie dense than meat and

dairy. This means that per pound plant-based foods have less calories than animal products and

oil. In Figure 1 you can see a visual representation from the documentary Forks Over Knives,

that shows how calorie density looks inside your stomach.

Figure 1 (“Calorie Density”)

This helps to show why it’s so easy to overeat on diet that includes animal products. In a plant-

based diet people are consuming fibrous, low fat, low calorie foods, and therefore less

cholesterol. Whereas meat and dairy are so rich in fat, sugar, calories, and therefore a higher

level of cholesterol. When eating animal products, it is much easier to overeat with the same size

portion of food. According to the World Health Organization if people want to reduce rates of

obesity, they need to eat less fat, sugar, salt, and processed foods, and consume more whole

foods like, fruits, veggies, legumes, grains, and nuts. (World Health Org.)

A well-planned plant-based diet can prevent or reverse certain medical conditions. The

American Dietetic Association wrote an article that covers the ability of a plant-based diet to

fend off health conditions including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity,

cancer, osteoporosis, renal disease, and dementia. In an article called “Vegan Diet and Chronic
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Disease: A Brief Report”, they state that a plant-based diet has shown to lower the risk of getting

ill with a chronic disease and lower the risk of dying from a chronic disease.

Vegans when compared to other people tend to have low cholesterol levels, low blood

sugar levels, low blood pressure, and reduced inflammatory markers. Inflammatory markers are

what doctors look for in the blood when they think you might have an autoimmune disease; they

show inflammation levels in the body. Low blood sugar keeps people from becoming diabetic,

and low cholesterol and low blood pressure keeps people from getting heart disease and having

strokes. People who eat a diet high in fiber tend to have a lower risk of dealing with any of these

diseases.

There is a well-known documentary on Netflix called “Forks Over Knives” that follows a

few doctors and the discoveries they made while researching the correlation between disease and

diet. It follows them as they treat a few of their patients who had heart disease others with high

blood pressure, some with diabetes, and some with multiple health problems. The goal of these

doctors was to get their patients to switch to a plant-based diet and get rid of some of their

dependency on medication. They believe that healthy food is the medicine that people truly need

to treat their ailments. The two main doctors that they follow are Dr. Colin Campbell, a

nutritional biochemist from Cornell University, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who was a former

surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. They both proved through their research and case studies that

most cases of diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer can be avoided or healed with a

plant-based diet.

A plant-based diet is also good for digestion. Vegetarians have a lower risk of

diverticular disease. (McEwin, et al.) Diverticular disease is when bulges develop on the internal

edges of the large intestine, they can be painful and dangerous if they get infected. According to
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an article by Bradley McEwen and Maddie Bingham case studies have shown that people who

switched to a plant-based diet that were constipated or having diarrhea developed more normal

bowl movements. Having healthy digestion is important for having a healthy immune system. In

the stomach and digestive track there are good bacteria and bad bacteria. It’s important to feed

the good bacteria by eating lots of fiber from plants and avoiding feeding the bad bacteria by

eating lots sugary foods. This bacteria ratio will affect how healthy successful digestion is, and

how well your immune system works. Having healthy gut bacteria means less inflammation in

the body, and thus a lower risk of disease.

I interviewed a close friend of mine that spent the majority of his young life suffering

from abnormal bowl movements. Starting at the age of 14 he had bouts of bloody diarrhea, pain

and bloating. By his early 20’s he was miserable, things had gotten much worse. He had

developed substantial joint pain, he said that when he walked, he felt like a 75-year-old man. He

never told anybody when he was younger because he assumed his problems were normal, until

he got older and talked to some friends. He then became worried that he might have cancer, so he

finally went to see a doctor. The doctor did some tests and found that he was suffering from

Crohn’s Disease and that he had antibodies for gluten, meaning that he was allergic to gluten.

Crohn’s Disease is a terrible digestive disease that involves chronic inflammation and scarring of

the intestines. It’s incredibly painful and can lead to serious complications and even death.

People that have Crohn’s have frequent diarrhea, sometimes with blood, they can be fatigued and

anemic, some people lose weight, and they have a higher risk for intestinal cancer. His doctor

recommended that he cut gluten out of his diet immediately, and that he should move toward a

plant-based diet. At first, he was reluctant but after having another horrible flare up after eating

all the wrong foods at a festival, he decided to change his diet. He became a strict, gluten free
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vegan, overnight. This was over two years ago, sense then he feels like a whole new person. His

joints are healed, he goes on backpacking trips and goes rock climbing regularly. His Crohn’s

flareups used to be four times a year for about twenty days, and now he only has around two

flareups a year, but they only last a few days. He also managed to lose around twenty pounds

without intentionally trying. The weight just slowly came off and stayed off. This is a beautiful

example of what can happen when you fill your body with whole foods and plants and cut

animal products from your diet.

As the world's population continues to rise so does the consumption of food, and most

concerning, meat. This causes an even bigger threat to the environment which Is already in

trouble. It’s important that we find a diet that is more sustainable. (Castañé, et al.) There is quite

a lot of scientific research stating that a plant-based diet is better for the environment due to

lowing your carbon footprint. Humans have a huge impact on climate change and misuse of land,

one third of that impact is due to our diet and the food chain that supplies it. (Castañé, et al.)

Behind the meat and animal products that you buy at the store is a long list of environmental

impacts. People switching to a plant-based diet would have a positive effect on the environment

by cutting down on mass animal farming.

I want to explain the negative impacts of industrial animal farming, also known as factory

farming. Factory farming was created to maximize production and minimize cost. Industrial

animal farming creates methane gas which is bad because it traps heat in the atmosphere which

contributes to global warming. Then there’s the waste that is created from the animals, the water

given to the animals, and the water used to grow the food to feed the animals. Also, the land to

grow the food and keep the animals on leads to deforestation. Deforestation puts carbon dioxide

into the air leading to more greenhouse gases and global warming. Trees normally remove
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carbon dioxide from the air, so trees are vital to life on earth! Not to mention the animals that

lose their homes that normally live in the forest. This is a long chain reaction of environmentally

harmful events that need to be avoided. A study was done comparing the impact of a

Mediterranean diet and a Vegan diet. A Mediterranean diet includes a lot of whole foods, but

they also eat animal sourced products and fish. The results were clear that if humans were to at

least cut back on their meat consumption and eat a plant-based diet if would have a significant

effect on the environment (Castañé, et al.)

Farming animals wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t happening on an industrial level.

If people ate a normal serving size of meat farmers wouldn’t need to produce so much meat, but

people love to overeat meat. It is recommended by the World Cancer Research Fund that if you

consume meat, you should eat somewhere between zero and three servings per week. (World

Cancer Research Fund) Some people are eating meat three times a day! After watching the

documentary on Netflix called Cowspiracy, I learned that more greenhouse gases are produced

by dairy and meat farming than the exhaust from all transportation methods combined!

(Anderson, et al.) The film has a lot of facts about the livestock industry’s negative effect on the

planet. For instance, raising livestock uses 34 trillion gallons of water per year. (Anderson, et al.)

Figure 2 shows stats from the Cowspiracy website. Look at the difference that could be made by

just one person switching to a vegan diet.

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Figure 2 (“Cowspiracy”)
Something needs to change, there must be a more sustainable version of farming then what’s

happening now.

In industrial farming animals are crammed into warehouses standing so close together

that they are unable to walk around. They are forced to stand in their own excrement. What kind

of a life is that? Animals feel pain and fear just like people, so why treat them like they don’t?

People don’t like to think about where their food comes from when it’s on their plate, but maybe

if they knew they would feel different about finishing their meal. I want to give a direct quote

from PETA and what they have to say about the moment animals are slaughtered. “They are

mutilated without the use of painkillers and deprived of everything that is natural and important

to them—they won’t be permitted to see the sun or breathe fresh air until the day when they are

forced onto trucks bound for the slaughterhouse. On the killing floor, many animals are

completely conscious and struggling to escape while their throats are cut—and some are still

conscious while their bodies are hacked apart or when they are dunked into tanks of scalding-hot

water.” (PETA) Why not lower the consumption of meat to a level that allows animals to be

treated with kindness, or at the very least, be allowed to live outside and move around before
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they die? If just one person switches to a plant-based diet PETA estimates that they will save

eight or more animals per month, and one hundred plus animals per year! (Kretzer) It’s not

reasonable to assume that everyone will become plant based but just imagine if meat eaters cut

down their consumption of meat to three times per week. Change is possible!

Here are a few other facts that are worth mentioning. The American Cancer Society states

that a healthy diet includes foods that are rich in nutrients, foods that are low in calories, colorful

fruits and vegetables, grains, and beans. They say that a healthy diet should limit or not include

red meats, processed meats, sugary foods and drinks, refined grains, and other processed foods.

(American Cancer Society) According to PETA researchers have proven that people who eat a

vegetarian diet are half as likely to develop some forms of cancer! (PETA) This means that there

is a correlation between eating meat and getting certain types of cancer! Another point worth

mentioning is that meat and dairy often contain dangerous bacteria, toxins, and chemicals that

shouldn’t be consumed. Lastly, farm animals are overtreated with antibiotics due to bacterial

infections. These are the same animals that end up at the supermarket and on people’s plates.

(PETA)

There are many misconceptions about vegans, the first being that plant-based food is

boring or gross when in truth there is so much variety in vegan food. Think about how many

foods are vegan. There are so many kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, beans,

legumes! Let’s not forget tofu, and other plant-based meats and cheeses. Companies are coming

out with new fake meats and cheeses all the time! Not to mention there are so many spices from

all around the world! There are so many styles of cooking to try. Or, don’t cook, there are tons of

raw food vegan meals! There are endless cookbooks, YouTube videos, and websites that have

recipes and tutorials on how to eat plant-based food.

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Another common misconception is that vegan food is expensive. Vegan food is only

expensive if you are buying imitation meats and cheeses or buying a lot of packaged foods.

Packaged foods are less healthy anyways simply because they have been processed and are

usually full of sodium and sugar and other things the body doesn’t need a surplus of. When you

go to the produce section nothing is that expensive except when buying mass quantities of each

item. Even when I shop at Fresh Tyme or Whole Foods, which are technically health food stores,

known for being expensive, I only get in trouble when I start buying packaged items. If I stick to

whole foods plant-based items, I have two weeks' worth of food for twenty to thirty dollars. Most

people spend well over 60 dollars on a months’ worth of groceries. You can also save money by

shopping in the dry food isle where they have nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, popcorn, grains, dried

fruits, the list goes on. When you don’t buy packaged foods, you don’t have to pay for the name

brand of the item. If anything, switching to a plant-based diet saves money.

Lastly, another misconception is that all vegans are healthy. It is possible to be quite

unhealthy and even overweight on a plant-based diet. It’s important to take the time to learn

about your body and the nutrients you need. You can make food choices that are vegan but

unhealthy. (McEwin, et al.) Some vegans end up eating too much salt, sugar, oils, and processed

foods. When people eat a plant-based diet that is too high in plant foods that are calories dense

and high in fat it has been shown to increase their risk of disease, especially heart disease.

(McEwin, et al.) For example, if somebody is frying all their vegetables in oil and adding oil to

every meal, that’s a ton of unnecessary calories. Most oils are around 120 calories or more per

tablespoon. So, if you're using oil at every meal the at least 360 calories or more that you don’t

need, and it’s all fat. Another mistake people make is eating too many packaged foods, and

imitation meats and cheeses. All things in moderation! These things always have added oil, salt
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and sugar, and that adds up over the course of time. Eating too much salt and sugar and fat is

unhealthy and certainly won’t help with weight loss. Another mistake people make is baking,

there are lots of tasty treats that are considered vegan, but you can’t eat sugary foods all the time

either if you want to be healthy and lose weight. The point I'm trying to make is that just because

somebody is eating a plant-based diet doesn’t mean they're automatically healthy, they still must

be mindful of what they eat and how much they eat.

The biggest argument against a plant-based diet is that you can’t get all your nutrients

without eating animal products. Many people worry about not getting enough protein, omega 3-3

polyunsaturated fats, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, and zinc. (McEwin, et al.)

This is a valid worry. It is possible to be lacking in nutrients if you don’t eat enough quantity of

food or if you're eating the wrong foods. This doesn’t mean that eating a plant-based diet is

unhealthy it just means that eating without paying attention can be unhealthy. Before switching

to a plant-based diet, do some research! While fruits and veggies do contain protein and many

vitamins and nutrients, it’s important to also incorporate beans, nuts, and seeds into your diet, as

well as possible supplements to help you transition. It is vital that Athletes or pregnant or nursing

mothers understand how to eat a balanced diet. Without research, it’s a good idea to consult with

a doctor or a dietician. They can help monitor important health factors and steer people in the

right direction while they’re learning how to eat what their body needs to function properly.

Plant-based dieting is a personal issue, I’ve had so many people in my family get cancer.

Most survived, but it’s a horrible thing to go through. I’d like to do what I can to lower my risk.

Five years ago, I started having horrible joint and muscle pain and two years ago I lost half the

site in my right eye for a month. Doctors have tested me for every autoimmune disease, tumors,

blood clots, anything they could think of and never found anything. I took it upon myself to try
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and get better on my own. All the research I've done has led back to the same basic information,

a need for a healthy diet, moderate exercise, adequate sleep, and drinking lots of water! Today I

can see 20/20 and 95% of my pain is gone. The biggest change I made was to my diet. In this age

of fast food and pleasure-seeking people it’s harder than ever to get people to eat healthy, even

when they know they should. It’s vital that we get the word out that a primarily plant-based diet

will not only save our health, but save animals, and our planet!

Works Cited
American Cancer Society. “Diet and Physical Activity: What’s the Cancer Connection?” 9 June

2020. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/diet-physical-activity/diet-and-

physical-activity.html Accessed 10 July 2020.

Andersen,Kip. Kuhn,Keegan. “Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret” 26 June 2014. Appian

Way Productions, Netflix. Accessed 27 June 2020.

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“Caloric Density” Forks Over Knives, https://www.forksoverknives.com/wp-

content/uploads/Caloric-Density-FINAL.jpg. Accessed 18 July 2020

Castañé, Sílvia, and Assumpció Antón. “Assessment of the Nutritional Quality and

Environmental Impact of Two Food Diets: A Mediterranean and a Vegan Diet.” Journal

of Cleaner Production, vol. 167, Nov. 2017, pp. 929–937. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.04.121.

Corry,John. Fulkerson,Lee. “Forks Over Knives” Orfanopoulos, John. Crance,Brian. Fahey,

Michael. 6 May 2011. Netflix. Accessed 27 June 2020.

“Cowspiracy” Cowspiracy, https://www.cowspiracy.com/blog/2016/4/12/potus-can-do-one-

simple-thing-to-help-alleviate-climate-change. Accessed 18 July 2020

Hultin, Ginger. “The History of Vegetarian Diets: Explore the Progression of Plant-Based

Eating.” Food & Nutrition. 30 Aug. 2019, https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-

magazine/the-history-of-vegetarian-diets-explore-the-progression-of-plant-based-eating/.

Accessed 4 July 2020.

Kretzer, Michelle. “How Many Animals Have You Saved? Find Out!” 19 June 2013,

https://www.peta.org/blog/many-animals-saved/. Accessed 10 July 2020.

Long, Jake. Phone Interview. 27 June 2020

McEwen, Bradley & Bingham, Maddie. “Vegan Diet and Chronic Disease: A Brief Report.”

Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, vol. 25, no. 2, June 2019, pp. 77–

79. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=137322002&site=ehost-live.
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PETA. “Vegan Diets: Healthy and Humane” https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-

food/animals-used-food-factsheets/vegan-diets-healthy-humane/ Accessed 10 July 2020.

World Cancer Research Fund. “Limit Red and Processed Meat” May 2018,

https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/recommendations/limit-red-processed-

meat#:~:text=Dietary%20goal,%2C%20if%20any%2C%20processed%20meat. Accessed

10 July 2020.

World Health Organization. “Obesity and Overweight” 1 April 2020, https://www.who.int/news-

room/factsheets/detail/obesityandoverweight#:~:text=In%202016%2C%20more%20than

%201.9%20billion%20adults%20aged%2018%20years,women)%20were%20obese

%20in%202016. Accessed 10 July 2020.