Taking Control of Your Health Through a Whole Food Plant Based Diet

By One Bite Vegan Health & Well-Being Editor, Jennifer Schmidt 

Working as a Registered Nurse, I see firsthand how food choices affect health.  The foods we eat on a daily basis, beginning in early childhood, play a major role in either the promotion or prevention of disease.  While there are growing numbers of health practitioners using food as medicine, many do not incorporate nutrition education as part of the treatment regimen.   

Six of the CDC’s 2017 top ten causes of death have a strong link to nutrition.  Six of these diseases that are claiming lives every day can be prevented or have their progression stopped and reversed when nutrition is utilized as medicine.

While these numbers are astounding, they don’t even account for the massive amount of people who are additionally living with the horrific consequences of these diseases. 

Lives are interrupted for hospitalizations, doctor appointments, and uncomfortable procedures.  In an effort to control their ailments, most people are prescribed a multitude of medications which introduce a host of other adverse effects. 

Nationwide, health expenditures are skyrocketing.  These are only a few examples of the burden placed on families living with chronic health conditions. 

The good news is that each one of us has the ability to take control of our health by educating ourselves on the incredible, transformative benefits of a whole food plant based diet. 

Consuming highly processed foods, oils, and animal based products such as meat, dairy, eggs, and seafood, can wreak havoc throughout the body. 

These foods promote the development of disease in various ways such as producing inflammation, raising blood cholesterol levels, providing an environment that encourages tumor growth, increasing risk for obesity, and offsetting the pH balance of the body.  Each one of these states are risk factors for the development and promotion of disease. 

In contrast, whole plant foods have extraordinary powers within the human body. 

These foods, which are naturally free of cholesterol, low in saturated fat, packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and more protein than we could ever need, actually have anti-inflammatory effects, fight tumor development and growth, and reduce weight to healthy levels.  These are just a few of the benefits of filling your plate with whole plant foods. 

Many of us are here because we have already decided to eliminate animal products from our diet or are beginning to make the transition.  However, for optimal health and well-being, it is crucial to eat as close as possible to a whole food plant based vegan diet. 

If you are struggling with weight loss, a chronic health condition, or simply want to nutritionally support your body in the best way possible, then you will benefit tremendously from taking control of your health through a whole food plant based diet. 

If you are currently on medication or under the care of a physician for a medical condition, it is important to work with your practitioner while you make this transition. 

A whole food plant based diet means eating a variety of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and legumes as close to their natural state as possible.  It is important to include plenty of starchy vegetables and grains to increase satiety. 

You can also choose to eat a small amount of whole food fats such as those found in nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, and coconut, however you are advised to do so in moderation especially if you are trying to lose weight and reverse certain medical conditions, like cardiovascular disease where these foods are best avoided all together. 

It’s as if our taste buds get clouded over by all of the high fat animal and processed foods we were eating for so long and are finally wiped clean by eliminating them from our diet.  We begin to experience foods in the way nature intended and there is nothing like it!   

One of the best ways to enhance your experience with food is to focus on fresh local produce when available.  Embrace all that the season has to offer by experimenting with the plant foods available to you at various times throughout the year. 

Foods grown locally, and organically when possible, offer up some of the most intense flavors and are packed with nutrients to fuel, protect, and heal your body.