If you’re Concerned about how your diet impacts your health…
You might be wondering, Do Physicians Recommend a Plant-Based Diet?
According to Kaiser Permanente, a well-known company that publishes medical journals to physicians, has encouraged medical doctors over the past year to reconsider the types of diets they recommend to their patients. Specifically, this article discusses proper diet MD should recommend for diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. They say “Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meat, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods.” The article discusses the positive effects of eating a plant-based diet to reduce cholesterol, BMI, high blood pressure, and glycated haemoglobin (a protein with red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.) The vegan diets used in this study included nutrient dense plant-based foods, encouraging lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, lentils, peas, seeds, and soybeans, among other beans. It was amazing to read through the results found in a 16-week study, showing that plant-based diets improved ALL of these medical issues better than a combination of medication and exercise. So, do physicians recommend a plant-based diet or are they neglecting to stay up to date on current nutritional research? Turns out, there are quite a few MDs recommending a plant-based diet including the President of the American College of Cardiology! Here is a list of other plant-based doctors.
In this article by The Permanente Journal, I concur with their conclusion that those on a vegan diet need to focus on planning, reading labels, and discipline. As a Vegan Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach in Phoenix area, I am sometimes overwhelmed (in a good way) with the abundance of new vegan options at restaurants and health food stores. But then, I become stumped at the majority of restaurants and grocery chains who still offer 98% animal-based products. I just took my first trip to Winco Foods in Gilbert AZ today, hoping to find yummy vegan grub, but I left with none other than avocados, green tea, oil-free frozen hash browns, gluten-free cupcake mix for Halloween, and Gardein vegan chicken for my husband to try. I read every ingredient on the labels and leave behind anything containing animal products (this definitely takes discipline.) No worries though, we are fortunate to live in Chandler where there are loads of great vegan options at health food stores, and nearby vegan restaurants in Tempe & Phoenix. As always, we have the world wide web to find a plethora of homemade plant-based recipes to try.
Written by Kelly Gibson, October 12 2014
Considering a plant-based diet? Contact Me for More Info on my Plant-Based Nutrition programs:
Source: http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2013/spring/5117-nutrition.html, photo from www.natural-health-cafe.org
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