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Balaji Sneha

Composition 2

7 May 2022

Mary Hedengren

My Research Paper

What was the last thing you had to eat? Was it a cereal bar or a smoothie or a sandwich, or

nothing at all? I know this question may be underwhelming in a world where we have things to do and

lives to live but that’s why today I am going to be reminding everyone why food is important. Not only

does it fuel our body on the day to day by giving us energy it also what the body relies on to function .

Its s really a cycle of give and take. So, if you managed to get a toast and scrambled egg or a smoothie

on the way out of the house, The chances are that you will be and feel much better than if you were to

grab a packet of cheezit’s out of a vending machine on your way to school/work. But what would you

say if you knew that that same food that you ate was most likely coated with chemicals such as msg s

high fructose corn syrup and other artificial ingredients that can make you ill? In this essay I would like

to express my thoughts that a plant-based diet is not only better than a diet filled with prosected food

but that it can also cure many chronic diseases.

At first when researching this topic, I wasn’t sure where to start researching it. However, through my

research have noticed a common topic and theme in many of the research materials that I was looking

at and through that I decided to focus my aspect of research on this one question. Is a plant-based diet

a good alternate diet that is viable to peruse? and Are the effects of a plant-based diet better than one

involving meat diary and processed foods.

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The Plant Based Diet

Athletes And Professionals on a Plant Based Diet

The first thing that I looked up in regard to a plant-based diet was its sustainability. Now personally as a

vegetarian my whole life, I have experienced a mostly plant-based diet my entire life. Of course, I did not

limit my consumption of milk cheese eggs and other such animals’ products just meat. This culture

instilled in me made me curious to find out about those who weren’t like me and have been eating

meat their whole life but then switched to plant based diet and how it affected them. One of the first

studies I came across was of athletes . The study published in the journal of education talked about how

to gauge difference in athletic performance. They looked at various athletes such as bodybuilders and

competitive athletes such as professional runners and bikers and found that in most cases their

performance improved when switching from an all meat to a vegetarian/vegan diet. In addition, I have

watched several documentaries on the benefits of a plant-based diet including the game changers. A

documentary talking about the fact that while there is a major stereotype towards eating meat to be

strong and getting protein this documentary touches on the facts that everything starts from nature and

that protein in in itself is more than enough to sustain us. In addition, the documentary found that meat

eaters were actually getting less protein than the athletes with a plant-based diet.

The health Effects Of going Vegetarian

The next study that I did research on was a weight loss study where 5 groups of different dietary

restrictions ( vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, semi vegetarian(no red meat) and omnivores) some being

obese and interested in losing weight, found that a more plant based diet not only has more chance of

reducing weight loss and keeping it off, but that it also can help prevent chronic diseases which is

something I will talk more in detail about in a little bit. From these studies I have concluded that a vegan

or vegetarian diet is healthier than a nonveg meal not because it lacks in protein but because it is rich
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in antioxidants that can nourish your body. Take me for example. I frequently have to take vitamin d

due to the lack of exposure that I have to the sun. A steak might seem to be helpful in giving me more

protein but its just giving me all the things that I don’t want.

Why It Matters

The Big Juice Cleanse

I would like to talk more in depth about a plant-based diet effects on health . In 2013 a major

experiment was done by Jason vale who took 8 people from around the world with a variety of

illnesses, From being morbidly obese to having sleep apnea or asthma to be on juice for 4 weeks. He

believed in the theory that cells can heal themselves of everything with the right nutrition and that

fruits and veggies which are natures produce are superfoods that can give you back your energy and

even cure chronic illness. The 4-week study showed massive results in all 8 participants with several

losing weight and gradually stopping their medication. One participant in particular went from 52

medications to only 2. This documentary was a breakthrough in discovering how a plant-based diet can

rectify terminal diseases and save lives. The aftermath of the study showed the results of how eating a

plant-based diet can cure terminal diseases such as chromes’ disease asthma cancer and lung disease as

well as remain healthy over a long stretch period of time. This series of sources continued to point

towards using a plant-based solution first before using traditional medicine.