More and more, researchers are showing that plant-based diets, along with changes in our lifestyles will mean longer, healthier lives and in yet another summation, a researcher shows this to be true.
Working with some of the finest writing in the field editor Gene Stone has drawn on the works of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who is an advocate of a major change to a plant-based, vegan lifestyle. His research has shown that many problems that traditional medicine had considered solvable with traditional means (drugs, pills, shots) can be treated with more activity – yes a change in lifestyle on the patient’s part – as well as a move to a plant-based, vegan lifestyle.
Stone has worked gone through Dr. Essential’s work, as well as that of Dr. Colin Campbell, whose studies of the primarily vegetable-based diets in China show they have fewer diseases such as cancer. That is the type of disease that skyrockets when patients begin eating huge amounts of red meat. (It is true that, among other things, paleontologists have shown that men tend to be meat-eaters, however, when you look at the history of man and meat, you begin to see a corollary between the cattle industry’s use of performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids to get their products to market faster and, in the meantime, the customer, faces and eats many useless drugs, for most people. There are some people who do need them, but they are a very rare minority and are monitored by physicians.)
Stone’s work touches on the work of the Drs. Neal Barnard and John McDougall, who also advocate a plant-based diet, as well as changes in a patient’s lifestyle (exercise is usually included) and more. The result is one of the best-researched lifestyle books on the market.
This couldn’t have come at a better time as more and more specialists believe that gluten-based food should also be placed on the “don’t go there list” when it comes time to put together your menu for dinner. Stone has gone through the work of these advocated of a vegan lifestyle and has come up with some very tasty dishes. His dishes range from blueberry oat breakfast muffins to sunny orange yam bisque. And, just to show there doesn’t have to be chicken sitting under garlic and rosemary, one of the recipes Stone has compiled is a garlic rosemary polenta.
Plans that cut out meat but still include fish are referred to as pescatarian diets. People who don’t eat meat or fish but still include dairy and eggs are referred to as vegetarian, while those who cut out any animal-derived products, including dairy, eggs, honey, and gelatin are referred to as vegan.
However, it is worth noting that ‘plant-based’ does not automatically mean ‘healthy’, particularly when it comes to processed and packaged foods. Technically, products such as refined sugar, white flour, and certain vegetable fats can all be labeled ‘plant-based’ as they are vegetarian, but this does not mean that they should make up the bulk of a healthy diet.
There are many types of plant-based diets, but they all emphasize certain foods associated with heart benefits, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and healthy oils like olive oil.
A plant-based diet can be good for your heart. If you’re eating mostly or only fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, whole grains, and meat substitutes like soy, you may cut your odds of getting heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure.
A plant-based diet is also more likely to result in weight loss than a vegan diet. That’s because vegan diets eliminate animal products but do not restrict calories, fats or sugars. Plant-based diets use little oil, include few added sugars, avoid processed ingredients and focus on whole foods.
As if that wasn’t tasty enough, it is, there’s a desert based on a crisp, but this one is a raspberry-pear crisp.
Stone’s work all boils down to a central point and it is the central point that researchers such as Drs. Esselstyn and Campbell have shown and that is simply that you can easily change your lifestyle from one meat-based protein to one that is plant-based and you should benefit from it.
