“If we avoided animal protein and
instead increased consumption of fruits and veggies, we could substantially
prevent and treat most of the type 2 diabetes we encounter. This may be in part due to the high fiber in the
plants, but it is also due to the reduction in inflammation by avoiding animal
protein and fat.”
– Garth Davis, MD,
author of Proteinaholic (2015)
 |
| From the author's recent trip to the New Albany, Indiana Farmers Market |
Can you imagine taking 18 medications
every day for your diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol but not
having enough money for fruits and vegetables? One of the advisors to Growing
Healthy Kids asked if I could teach a friend of hers (the person described
above). I said yes and offered to start a conversation about food choices and eating foods full of dietary fiber that can put people on a different path.
It blows my mind how people accept more
and more pills from their doctor and never ask, “What else can I do besides
take more pills?” The fact is that most doctors only receive about an hour of
nutrition education in medical school.
Instead of being trained how to prevent diseases, they are trained in
depth on how to prescribe medications for diseases.
The number of Americans with diabetes (30.3 million or 9.4% of the population) and prediabetes (84 million or 33.9% of Americans age 18 and older) is staggering. What
Americans are spending on diabetes ($245 billion estimated for direct and indirect costs) is even more staggering. Medications for diabetes are 18% of the total cost. The cost ($245 billion in 2012) is 41% higher than for the previous 5 years ($170 billion in 2007). Pharmaceutical
companies are profiting so much from people who have diabetes; do you really
think they want people to know there is a way to reverse diabetes?
Thanks to doctors like Garth Davis, MD
(author of Proteinaholic), Neal Barnard, MD (founder of Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine), and Joel Fuhrman, MD (author of The End of
Diabetes), there is irrefutable evidence that when people eat primarily plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains), not
only do can they control diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol but they can often reverse these diseases and conditions
without the use of pills.
If this article resonates
with you and you are ready to take the first step towards better health, especially if you have diabetes or prediabetes, then start by reducing your
consumption of meat and animal products (cheese, yogurt, milk, ice-cream). All foods that come from animals contain
saturated fats. Saturated fat causes inflammation. Do not be afraid of not getting enough protein; most Americans consume too much protein. There is more than enough protein when you eat plants. What do you think cows eat? The question you should be asking yourself is, "Am I getting enough fiber?" instead of "Am I getting enough protein?"
Pills vs Food? Pharmacy vs Farmacy? The choice is clear to me. Hippocrates said it best: “Let
food be thy medicine.”
Please pass the butternut squash.
With love and gratitude,
Nancy L. Heinrich, MPH
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
