9 Common Conditions You Can Treat with a Plant-Based Diet

You don’t have to go vegan to enjoy the amazing benefits of a plant-based diet. Simply increasing your intake of fruits, veggies, and legumes can improve your health.

What we eat is powerful, and switching to a plant-based diet can improve or even treat several common health conditions. Below are some of the conditions you can treat with a plant-based diet.

1. HEADACHES

Do you suffer excruciating headaches regularly? Increasing your intake of plant-based foods can help fix this problem.

Some plant-based foods contain nutrients that relieve headaches. For instance, cherries contain nitric oxide, which expands blood vessels, and as a result, eases the pain. Other foods like cucumbers will keep you hydrated. As you may know, dehydration triggers headaches.

There is even evidence that a plant-based diet can prevent migraines.

Eat headache-relieving foods such as kale, peppermint, celery, ginger, apple, hot peppers, and pumpkin. 

2. TYPE 2 DIABETES

According to a study from Finland, replacing one percent of your animal protein calories with plant-based calories can lower your risk of diabetes by 18 percent.

Plant-based foods help regulate blood sugar levels, which makes it easier to manage diabetes.

3. CANCER

Obviously, a plant-based diet isn’t a cure for cancer, but it offers many cancer-preventing benefits. Plant-based foods contain antioxidants that strengthen your immune system and prevent cancer.

The American Cancer Society says that a plant-based diet can help treat and prevent some types of cancer.

4. LIVER DISEASE

People with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease can benefit from substituting vegetables for meat, according to this report. Researchers found that replacing a serving of soy with a serving of meat or fish increased the risk of fatty liver by 3-12 percent.

5. COMMON COLD

Plant-based foods offer plenty of vitamins and minerals that can protect your body from the common cold.

You can treat and prevent colds and flu by eating goji berries, cabbage, carrots, broccoli sprouts, ginger, pineapple, garlic, mushroom, and nutritional yeast.

6. ASTHMA

Asthma sufferers can see great improvements by switching to a plant-based diet. Plant-based foods have been shown to reduce the severity and frequency of asthma attacks.

Additionally, a study on red meat and asthma found that eating red meat four times a week worsened asthma by 76 percent.

7. ULCERS

In the early stages, ulcers patients experience devastating symptoms, such as burning stomach pain, belching, nausea and heartburn. Without proper treatment, the symptoms worsen to trouble breathing, vomiting and blood in the stool.

It turns out switching to a plant-based diet can reduce the severity of these symptoms. People with ulcers should eat red grapes, kimchi, miso, kale, legumes, broccoli, cabbage, celery, garlic, and carrots.

8. DEPRESSION

Depression can be crippling. Reports show it’s the leading cause of disability among American adults between the ages of 15 and 45.

Luckily, you don’t have to make major changes in your life to fight depression. According to research, a plant-rich, anti-inflammatory diet can prevent depression.

9. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

High blood pressure can wreak havoc on your body. It can lead to a heart attack, erectile dysfunction, kidney disease, and vision loss. You can avoid these dangerous effects by switching to a plant-based diet. Plant-based foods offer fiber, nitric oxide and flavonoids, all of which lower blood pressure, according to research.