By: Aakriti Gupta
If you have been toying with the idea to adopt a vegan lifestyle after watching the Netflix documentary ‘Gamechangers’, you are not the only one. This vegan-friendly documentary clearly exemplifies that you don’t build muscle by consuming muscle (meat) but by prioritising plants on your plates that will help you lead a healthy life. Read more in our article ‘Turn vegan for a healthy life’.
The controversial documentary film ‘Gamechangers’, produced by (legends who require no introduction) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, and James Cameron, features former UFC fighter James Wilks travelling the world and interviewing a vast array of elite athletes, professors, and scientists who are impressed by the power of a plant-based diet.
A plant-based diet is a social shorthand term used for the vegan diet which is high in fruits and vegetables packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fibre, and low in saturated fats and cholesterol. No dietician will ever recommend you to loom over those hot barbequed meat rather than the leafy vegetables.
*According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dieticians vegans have fewer chances to develop heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension than meat-eaters are. So, if your fridge looks like an abattoir more than a garden and you survive mostly on meat, you need to contemplate again!
Not only that, Hollywood celebrities (our favourite Handsome-hunks) like Zac Efron, Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton, Liam Hemsworth, and Jaoquin Phoenix have shown us all how swapping turkey with tofu can be so compelling and appealing, by going all vegan!
Here are some diseases that are likely to occur in men which will influence you to turn vegan as earliest as possible.
Heart Disease
Heart Disease is one of the notable causes of the death of the male population as *one in every four males in the U.S. is diagnosed with it. The disease is caused by narrowed arteries that supply the heart with blood due to the consumption of meat and dairy products.
There is high content of saturated fat in red meat and sodium (salt) in processed meat, a high intake of the former snowballs the level of harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol that damages your heart, and a high intake of salt raises blood pressure.
Eating beef, pork or lamb might cause heart strokes or other heart-related diseases as they boost up the cholesterol in your body. Adopting a vegan diet can help you slim down, and reduces the risk of high blood pressure and heart diseases.
Prostate Cancer
*It is found that more than one million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, out of which 300,000 die due to the disease. Moreover, one in six men in the U.S. has the chance to be diagnosed with such a disease. The cause behind this is excessive consumption of red meat and dairy products. Men who are meat-eaters have a higher chance of being diagnosed with the disease than vegans.
A rich fruit and vegetable diet with the addition of physical exercise can help in the prevention of the disease or can slow down its progress in your body if you already have the disease.
Impotency
Red meat amps up your sex life is a busted myth. Medical evidence indicates that meat-eating does cause impotence in men as meat clogs up the arteries going to all organs that block the blood flow.
Eating a meat-laden diet greatly increases the number of synthetic hormones in your body that contributes to a lower sperm count and increases the risk of testicular tumours as well.
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds protects your body against blocked arteries and lets the blood flow easily which dwindles the risk of impotence.
Fertility problems
Yes, bacon and meatloaf can be your comfort food, but it is found that *30% of the general male population have been diagnosed with fertility problems across the globe and human semen quality is declining worldwide due to uncurbed meat consumption.
Men who consume unbridled meat and full-fat dairy products have fewer and lower sperm counts and altered sperm motility as compared to vegans who have good quality sperm that swims faster during sexual intercourse.
Obesity
The US has become the ‘fattest country’ in the world, thanks to its soaring morbid obese population day by day. Not only that, if we dig up bigger facts, *The World Health Organization in 2016 found that 11% of the male adult population is obese and suffering from many heart diseases.
Obesity is the major cause of Type 2 Diabetes that directly leads to the chances of getting strokes and heart attacks in men. Meats are high in fats and cholesterol content which makes meat-eaters heavier than vegans. Being vegan for healthy life also make sure that you are fit.
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is most common in women but occurs in men also. Male breast cancer is a rare cancer that forms in the breast tissue of men. The cause behind this can be obesity as it is associated with higher oestrogen levels in the body leading to this disease.
Numerous sources have revealed that dairy and meat consumption, along with high cholesterol food items leads to male breast cancer. *According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), consuming non-starchy vegetables like carrots, yams, spinach, and oranges can reduce the risk.
Conclusion
Meat has always been portrayed culturally as a symbol of dominance and virility but as per the vast array of medical and scientific research, it is one of the prime reasons for deadly diseases occurring in men across the globe.
Meat, poultry, and dairy products are rich in fats, cholesterol, and salts that harm your physical, mental, and sexual health to the maximum possible even if it’s your heartiest appetite. It’s high time to scratch off those meat products in your grocery shopping list and add some green veggies, nuts, and fruits to it. Being a vegan for Healthy life is the way to go.
Keynotes
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dieticians https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27886704/
It is found that more: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4324338/#:~:text=Worldwide%2C%20more%20than%201%20million,prostate%20cancer%20during%20the
30% of the general male: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/andr.12452
The World Health Organisation https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight#:~:text=In%202016%2C%20more%20than%201.9%20billion%20adults%20aged%2018%20years,women)%20were%20obese%20in%202016
one in every four males https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/men.htm#:~:text=disease%20affect%20men%3F-,Heart%20disease%20is%20the%20leading%20cause%20of%20death%20for%20men,in%20every%204%20male%20deaths.
According to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF): https://www.wcrf.org/diet-activity-and-cancer/cancer-types/breast-cancer/