The Power of Whole Plant-Based Foods

After 50 years of mounting evidence, medical consensus is growing around the recognition that whole plant-based foods may offer the optimal diet to prevent, reverse, and survive our most dreaded chronic degenerative diseases, like heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's Disease, diabetes, obesity, and many autoimmune conditions. 
 
Why does it work?
 
Vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes are high in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants, low in fat and without cholesterol.  They quell systemic inflammation and oxidative stress in the body which are largely caused by the standard American fare -- high in fat and cholesterol, salt and refined sugars, very low in fiber and nutrient-poor -- like poultry, fish, meat, dairy, all cooking oils, and most processed snack and prepared foods.
 
The body seeks homeostasis, balance, and under the right conditions is fully able to cure the damage to its tissues.  A diet strong in plants enables the body to repair the endothelial lining of its arteries, to turn cancer genes off and immune cells on, to restore insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar and A1C levels, and to heal a leaky gut.
 
We merely have to get out of its way, that is, to stop impeding its healthy functioning with foods that provoke inflammation and free-radical damage on the cellular level, and instead provide an ample and diverse array of health-promoting foods for it to draw on.  Indeed, nutrition may be the most powerful medicine we have for treating the underlying causes, not just the symptoms, of chronic diseases, and all without negative side effects.  
 
After adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet, many conditions improve so significantly that individuals can reduce the number of meds they're on, reduce dosages, and even come off medications -- under their doctor's surveillance of course.  Without restricting calories, they gradually achieve their optimal weight without dieting or deprivation - a delightful side effect! People literally alter their health trajectory very forcefully in the right direction.  
 
Even if one doesn't transition 100% to a plant-based diet initially, the more one can displace damaging foods with whole plants, the more one will benefit.
 
For an introduction to the impact of whole plants foods on cardiovascular disease, let's start with this 2012 interview with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., Director of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute's Cardiovascular Prevention and Reversal Program, whose own work with severely ill cardiac patients has been groundbreaking: 
 
Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. "Treating the Cause to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" 
 
Over the coming months, I'll share with you additional research, articles, and interviews in the emerging arena of plant-based nutrition -- some very recent and exciting.  Stay tuned!
 
Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Certification in Plant-Based Nutrition, T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies
Professional Plant-Based Certification, Rouxbe Cooking School
Certified Instructor, Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine Food For Life Program

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Dr. Thomas V. Cigno