How Eating A Plant-Based Diet Reduces Risk of Vein Disease

Your body needs a variety of nutrients to function in peak condition, and a plant-based diet can provide them. Eating your fruits and vegetables keeps your waistline in check, your mind clear, and can even reduce your risk of vein disease, diabetes, and amputation.

What Does a Plant-Based Diet Look Like?

A plant-based diet simply means that you are getting your nutrients from mostly plants as opposed to meat. More than just fruits and vegetables, a plant-based diet is made of a variety of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and water. Instead of getting protein from meat, a person eating a plant-based diet gets protein from lentils, tofu, tempeh, quinoa, nuts, or seeds.

This way of eating decreases your risk of health problems because you are giving your body the nutrients it needs and less of the things it doesn’t, like unhealthy fats, sodium, and highly-processed carbohydrates. This reduced risk of diabetes and vein disease also reduces your risk of problems in the extremities that could lead to amputation. Especially as we age, we need to keep our diet as nutritious as possible to avoid these problems.

Plant Based Diet Decreases Risk of Vascular Disease

You have control over your vascular health. The study that found a link between a healthy diet and reduced risk of arterial disease examined over 3.7 million patients, and concluded that those who ate at least three servings of vegetables or fruit per day had significantly fewer incidents of peripheral artery disease, or PAD.

While it may seem impossible to consume a plant-based diet, it’s more manageable when you start off slowly. Start by incorporating one additional whole fruit or vegetable in your diet, like eating an apple or sliced cucumber. There are also countless resources online for you to learn about how to swap out foods from animal to plant based.

You Can Still Prevent Vascular Disease

Avoiding vascular disease will improve your quality of life, but if you’ve already begun experiencing the effects of vascular disease, it’s not too late to incorporate healthy habits. Even small changes like we just described will reduce the effects of vein disease and help you feel better. A plant-based diet will increase the number of nutrients available to your body to function at its best.

Vascular Disease Prevention in Maryland and DC

You can take an active role in preventing vascular disease. The Center for Vascular Medicine of Maryland provides thorough screenings that can save lives. Contact the center near you or request an appointment online.