Benefits of a Whole Food Plant-Based Lifestyle

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For your health

A low fat, whole foods plant-based lifestyle is the number one way to improve your chances at avoiding cancer risks, as long as you’re also avoiding smoking and alcohol. Animal foods have been linked to cancer, especially colon and breast cancer.
The number one way to fight high blood sugar is to eat more fiber. It slows down absorption of sugars in the blood stream and as a result can help improve how hungry you are all day long, not to mention balance your cortisol levels that cause stress. Animal foods have been found to raise blood sugar.
Plant foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds can lower rates of cholesterol and heart disease.
Getting Started on a Plant-Based Lifestyle
Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes by Michael Greger M.D. FACLM – A plant-based diet beat out the conventional American Diabetes Association diet in a head-to-head, randomized, controlled clinical trial, without restricting portions and without calorie- or carb-counting.

The 15 leading causes of death that claim the lives of 1.6 million Americans annually, can be prevented.
7 of 10 U.S. deaths are a result of chronic diseased. -Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Nearly 1,600 people in the U.S. die from cancer every day. -American Cancer Society
Each year approximately 30.4 million deaths worldwide are the result of chronic disease. -American Institute for Cancer Research.
Every 34 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack.
Meat and dairy-rich diets may quadruple cancer death risk by Caroline Scott-Thomas
Getting Started on a Plant-Based Lifestyle

A person who follows a whole foods plant-based lifestyle produces the equivalent of 50% less carbon dioxide, uses 1/11th oil, 1/13th water, and 1/18th land compared to a meat-lover for their food.
Each day, a person who follows a whole foods plant-based lifestyle saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 lbs CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life.
Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation.
Livestock and their byproducts account for at least 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, or 51% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
A farm with 2,500 dairy cows produces the same amount of waste as a city of 411,000 people.
Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon rain forest destruction.
Getting Started on a Plant-Based Lifestyle

From poisoning and injuring marine life to disrupting human hormones, from littering our beaches and landscapes to clogging our waste streams and landfills, the growth of plastics is threatening the survival of our planet.
What can you do to decrease your environmental footprint?
- Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Remove
The big opportunity for us is to reduce waste by refusing or reducing single use items and replacing them with healthier and reusable alternatives.
You can make a difference! Please take the time to reflect on your impact on our environment, so that we may all work on changing our environmental habits and footprint for the better.

For every 1 pound of fish caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as bycatch.
Scientists estimate as many as 650,000 whales, dolphins and seals are killed every year by fishing vessels.
70 billion farmed animals are reared annually worldwide.
More than 6 million animals are killed for food every hour.
Getting Started on a Plant-Based Lifestyle