Shrink your waistline and your wallet by going vegan.
Switching to a vegetarian diet can improve your health, not to mention your savings, A new study published in JAMA Network Open found.
Researchers at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine randomized participants to a diet with no calorie limits for 16 weeks and a four-week “washout” period in between to determine differences between the typical American diet, Mediterranean and vegan. Appointed to provide food. Diet.
They found that compared to the standard American diet, which is typically filled with meat, dairy and other animal products, a low-fat vegetarian diet reduced people’s food spending by 19%, or $1.80 per day.
The diet regime – which bans animal products and instead focuses on fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes – is also cheaper than other healthy diets.
A Mediterranean diet — plates filled with vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, nuts and seeds — costs 60 cents more per day than the average American diet.
So people with healthy diets who switch to vegetarianism can cut food costs by 25% or $2.40 per day.
That’s about $900 saved per year on grocery bills.
The difference comes mainly from cutting out meat, dairy and excess fat. The money saved by not buying these products outweighs the increased spending of 50 cents per day on vegetables, 30 cents per day on grains, and 50 cents per day on meat alternatives on a vegetarian diet.
However, switching from the standard American diet to the Mediterranean diet did not make a significant difference in costs.
“As the price of groceries remains consistently high, consumers should replace meat and dairy products for a low-fat vegetarian diet based on fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes to potentially save $650 on their grocery bills. , compared with a standard American diet, and more than $870 compared with a Mediterranean diet,” lead of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine writer and director Dr. Hana Kahleova said in a statement.
But eating a vegetarian diet didn’t just benefit people’s pockets.
Giving up animal products had better results on weight, body composition, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels compared to the Mediterranean diet.
“A vegetarian diet will not only save money; It could save lives by helping avoid or improve conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, Kahleova said.
Sticking to a vegetarian diet even for just two months has also been found According to new research, your biological age will reduce significantly.
Scientists found that eating only a vegetarian diet for eight weeks reduced biological age estimates.
The US team conducted a trial involving 21 pairs of identical adult twins.
Their findings, published in the journal BMC Medicine, were based on levels of DNA methylation – a type of chemical modification of DNA that changes gene expression but not the DNA itself.
Professor Christopher Gardner, of Stanford University, California, said: “We also saw reductions in the heart, hormones, liver and inflammation and metabolic system aging in participants who ate a vegetarian diet for eight weeks, but not an omnivorous diet.”
