Plant-based Vs. Animal-based

I. Intro: Plant-based foods vs. animal-based foods
a. Hook: “The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBDS), the largest study of risk factors for disease in history, concluded that the number one cause of premature death in the United States, and the number-one cause of disability, is the standard American diet.” https://gamechangersmovie.com/benefits/optimizing-health/
b. Thesis: While critics believe we need meat and animal-based foods to meet our essential nutrient needs, following a plant-based diet is the best solution to living a healthy lifestyle with its ability to increase blood flow, its ability to reduce inflammation and its high amount of complex carbohydrates to boost energy levels, as well as preventing cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
c. Significance: Once people realized the impact of plant-based foods on our overall health and bodies compared to animal-based foods, they started to become knowledgeable on how the right foods to eat to feel better and perform better in any aspect of their lives.
II. Background:
a. Topic 1: Cancer
b. Evidence:
1. “Findings from the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer in human history revealed that eating just one-quarter of a chicken breast per day increases the risk of some of the fastest growing cancers, like lymphomas and leukemias, by up to 280%. 22”
2. “And a 2011 Harvard study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that men consuming as few as 2.5 eggs per week, compared with those who consumed less than half an egg per week, increased their risk for a lethal form of prostate cancer by 81 percent (23).”
3. “All told, research has shown that people who eat a diet high in animal protein (including red meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs) have more than a 400% increased risk of dying from cancer (24).”
4. “Making matters worse, animal foods are incredibly low in anti-inflammatory constituents, including the powerful antioxidants that help protect us from oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. On average, animal foods contain less than 2% of the antioxidant content of plants (29).”
c. Topic 2: Cardiovascular disease
d. Evidence:
1. “A 2016 cohort study led by Harvard involving 131,342 participants found that every 10% increase in calories from animal protein led to a corresponding 8% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, and concluded that “high animal protein intake was positively associated with cardiovascular mortality and high plant protein intake was inversely associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (31).”
2. “Another major cohort study involving more than 81,000 participants, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found that those eating the most protein from meat versus those eating the least had a 61% increased risk of cardiovascular death, while those eating the most protein from nuts and seeds experienced a 40% reduction in risk (32).”
3. “All told, simply avoiding animal products can reduce the risk for coronary heart disease by 55% (25).”/

III. Body 1
a. Topic: Optimal fuel/energy
b. Evidence: “Carbohydrates, which come almost exclusively from plants, also provide our brain with its primary and preferred fuel — glucose — which helps us stay sharp and focused during intense training sessions and competitions (1).”
c. “Performance-based diets built around meat and other animal products often provide dietary fat at the expense of carbohydrates (2-5).”
d. “Unlike carbohydrates, fat can’t produce energy fast enough to meet the demands of intense exercise, so diets that sacrifice carbohydrates typically impair high-intensity performance (1).”
e. “Low-carbohydrate diets, including the ketogenic (keto) diet, have been shown to cause so much fatigue that they even affect our motivation to begin a training session, let alone finish it (6-8).”
IV. Body 2
a. Topic:

Intro: “As demonstrated by the athletes and research featured in The Game Changers, switching to a diet centered around plants can yield significant performance advantages, providing optimal fuel, increasing blood flow, making muscles more efficient, and speeding recovery by lowering inflammation. These benefits can not only be experienced by athletes, but by anyone who wants to feel and perform better in any aspect of their lives.” https://gamechangersmovie.com/benefits/maximizing-performance/the-plant-based-advantage/

Getting and Staying Lean