Diet & Disease
Getting started? Changing towards a plant-based diet is easier than you think. Once you start to see positive changes, the results are self-reinforcing.
Why try a plant-based diet?
Often when we talk about “diet”, the conversation is about weight loss. And if weight loss is your only goal, there are a lot of diets out there that can help you to achieve this.
The American College of Lifestyle Medicine recommends a plant-based diet as the best approach for preventing, treating, and even reversing our most common chronic disease. While those who adopt a whole foods plant-based diet tend to experience weight loss as a welcome side effect, what really sets this eating style apart from the rest of the diets out there is its effectiveness for overall health and longevity.
Depending on your diagnoses and health goals, consider beginning with some of the resources below.
And of course, please consult your physician for regular monitoring if you plan to make a major lifestyle change.
Diabetes
Dr. Motley’s favorite diagnosis!
Why? In 90 days (the typical time between a1c diabetes tests) we can see a massive improvement.
This video explains the overall approach to treating diabetes with a plant-based diet and why this approach is optimal if reversal is the goal.
Suffering from carb-o-phobia? Keep Dr. Motley’s carbohydrate handout on hand.
Enjoy reading? Get your feet wet with Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes book, or if you’re already on the road, dig deeper into the details with the Mastering Diabetes book or online program.
All of these are Motley approved!
Heart Disease
As Caldwell Esselstyn MD puts it, “heart disease is a foodborne illness”. Yes we pass down genes, but we also pass down recipes. Diet is absolutely the #1 contributor to coronary artery disease in our country. Hence, it is also our most powerful tool to reverse it.
Begin with this video to get oriented with the big picture.
Next, plot your cholesterol numbers to see where you are. A glance at this teaching aid will help you to realize that cholesterol is only found in animal-based foods. These foods are also our main source of saturated fat, which turns into cholesterol in our bodies. Fiber helps to escort cholesterol out of the body and is only found in plants!
Start with Caldwell Esselsytn MD’s Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease book alongside the Forks over Knives documentary.
Cancer
This category encompasses a wide variety of diagnoses. While the breadth is large, the vast majority are rooted in lifestyle and environmental exposures, with genetics planing a much smaller role.
While it is intuitive that eating junk food leads to weight gain, the relationship between food choices and cancer risk is not so obvious. To put it simply, an anti-inflammatory eating style is the best thing we can do a stack the cards on our favor.
As Joel Fuhrman MD shows us, plant-based foods are the most nutrient-dense (think: anti-inflammatory) foods out there. Animal-based foods and highly refined foods such as sugars and oils are low on nutrient density and so will not be protective against the vast majority of cancers.
Start with Michael Greger MD’s book How Not to Die (… in getting the Amazon link I see that I’ve actually purchased this 23 times… it’s an informative book!) or jump right in with his free app that goes along with this.
* Page in Progress *
Lots of topics to cover here but these are top three!