The vegan or vegetarian lifestyle may not be for you, but adding just 1 or 2 vegan or vegetarian days in to your diet per week can have a tremendous impact on your health!

I recently posted a blog with an update on how I’ve changed my diet this past year, and how I am feeling eating mostly vegan. Check it out HERE

Here are 6 ways adding vegan or vegetarian days into your diet can boost your health:

Better digestion! Animal protein is really tough for our bodies to digestion, breakdown, assimilate and eliminate; so when we take it out of the equation we often experience better and easier digestion.

More energy! Like I mentioned above animal protein is really tough for our bodies to breakdown, it takes a lot of our energy away from our personality, our work, our endurance to breakdown and digest meat; so when we take it out of the equation even for a day or two, we experience more energy and vitality.

More nutrients. Vegan and vegetarian diets are typically much more nutrient dense, and tend to be higher in fiber, potassium, magnesium, folate and Vitamin A, C, E, and K.

Find a healthy weight. A diet free from animal protein and animal fat can lead to weight loss, and will allow your body to naturally find it’s perfect weight. Much of this has to do with the three previous points: better digestion, more energy, and more nutrients.

Lower blood sugar levels. A vegan and vegetarian diet tends to promote lower glucose levels, better A1C numbers, and lowers ones risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Heart health and lower cholesterol. It is well documented that a vegan and vegetarian diet can help to lower cholesterol levels. After all cholesterol comes from animal products so when we eliminate or limit these our cholesterol levels naturally drop. Decreasing the amount of animal protein and animal fat will also benefit our heart, and prevent or help with clogged arteries and decreased heart function due to poor dietary choices.

I believe that some people do require more animal protein than others; but I also believe that we do not need nearly as much as many assume we do. I am here to educate you and provide you with science based facts. There are several reasons to add vegan days into your diet, and your health is just one.

Would love to know if you have any questions on adding in vegan days or if you’ve already incorporated them into your weekly routine! Comment below and let me know! xx

I have made some major changes to my diet this year, and thought it was time to let you in on what I’ve been doing!

To start I just want to say that aside from food allergies I really dislike food labels. I’m not a fan of all the trendy diets and my education shows that many will lead to organ issues down the road. {terrible!}

Instead I prefer to eat mindfully and intuitively. If you’ve been reading my blog for some time you know that I avoid gluten, dairy and eggs due to food allergies; other than that I listen to my body and eat according to what it needs. I do not deprive and I do not restrict.

Let me just add that I am at a point in my life and through lots of nutrition school, (college, graduate and post graduate work in nutrition) so when I say I do not deprive and I do not restrict - it does not mean that I sit home eating a box of cookies and a bag of chips. No way! It has taken me a long time but I have a really healthy relationship with food, and I understand how certain foods make me feel. I am at the point now where I would rather feel amazing and vibrant all the time, so I avoid foods that will take away my energy and my vibrancy. My energy is too precious to be wasted.

That being said I have never been a big fan of animal protein. In the past six months I’ve intuitively been making conscious changes and listening to my body and I have pulled away from meat even more; not for diet reasons I simply just do not have a taste for it right now. This may change one day, and I am open to that as well. I eat animal protein (wild caught, wild raised, organic) when I desire it; right now that is about 0-2 times per week. This may seem unattainable or unrealistic to some, but it wasn’t a conscious change. I didn’t wake up one day and say I think I’m going to stop eating meat, no lol. Instead I intuitively listened to what my body was asking for…

….and I have to say I have never felt better.

So although I do not attach myself to the vegetarian or vegan label (because I will eat meat if I desire it, plus I drink bone broth, use collagen, and bee pollen) I do find that adding vegan or vegetarian days into your diet can do wonders for you body.

I would love to know what diet changes you have made lately, or are trying to make?