10/1 Every Meal Matters
Happy first day of October.
During our road trip to Toronto I read everything veg related I could fit into my portion of the back seat. I found an interesting tid-bit in the winter 09 issue of Vegetarian Journal worth sharing.
A recent study conducted by Loma Linda University showed that vegetarians, especially vegans, are half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as compared with meatatarians. The researchers studied more than 60,000 Seventh-day Adventists that ranged from vegan to non-vegetarians. Type 2 diabetes was found in only 2.9 percent of vegans and 3.2 percent of ovo- lacto vegetarians (vegetarians that consume dairy). The number doubled (7.6) for non-vegetarians.
I am not usually motivated by scary statistics or profound numbers. If any of us really were, none of us would smoke or weigh more than our healthy weight. The reason I found this article so inspiring is that I believe every meal in between these lifestyle choices matters. If a meatatarian or omnivore has double the chance of developing type 2 diabetes than a vegan…think of how beneficial it would be to indulge in just one meatless meal a week. That would mean in a year you would have eaten 52 meatless meals. That matters.
If you tried two a week, it would be 104 meatless meals. As far as I am concerned, you have tipped the scales in your favor and are no longer on the opposite side of the vegan spectrum, in the meatatarian category. You have changed your life, one meal at a time. That is an action step I can wrap my mind around.
Small steps create great change, not only for your own health, but for the health of the environment. That really matters for all of us.
Have a delicious day.
Vegetarian Journal Scientific Update By: Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, FADA
Tags: compassionate eating, dairy free, going veg, health benefits of vegan, health benefits of vegetarianism, trying vegan, trying vegetarian, Type 2 diabetes, vegan, vegan and diabetes, vegan challenge, vegan experience, vegan for health, vegan wannabe, vegetarian and diabetes
