Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [34]
control diabetes.
Cancer, heart disease, diabetes: If changing to a plant-based diet can halt or reverse the course of these “killer” diseases, imagine what it can do for you if you are not even ill. It can put you on a course that is life changing. I have heard it said that adopting a plant-based diet is “too extreme.” I like Dr. Ornish’s retort, which is something like this: So changing your diet is extreme, but triple bypass surgery and a lifetime on cholesterol-lowering drugs, that’s conservative? Amazingly, in the eyes of the mainstream medical community, the answer is yes.
You may be thinking that a vegan diet may be too challenging, and a more moderate diet change may seem more sensible. I always encourage people to “lean in” to a diet change so that the changes come comfortably and gradually. But when you have specific health concerns, a moderate change might not do the trick. If you are at serious risk it makes good sense to intervene in a major way. After all, if you were using medicines, you would not prescribe cold medicine for heart disease or cancer; you would prescribe the most effective medications in the best regimen possible. The same is true for diet. Someone who is killing himself with food needs a major change.
Interestingly enough, lots of research shows that the more changes people are asked to make, the more they make. Perhaps it’s more exciting to do a lifestyle overhaul rather than to just pick and choose a few small changes. It might not stick the first time you try, but just like quitting smoking or achieving any new skill, you may need more than one try.
I have devoted a section at the back of this book to “making the switch.” It’s full of ideas for what to buy, how to plan meals, and good snack foods. Do hang out in that section of the book for a while; I think you will find some interesting meal choices and tips. Most important of all, be gentle and kind with yourself. Try it, and try it, and try it until it sticks. Lean, and if you are so moved, leap!
PROMISE 3:
You Will Live longer—and Better
Did you know?
The current generation of children just might be the first to have shorter life expectancies than their parents, reversing the trend of ever-longer lives.
The poor circulation from clogged arteries that can cause heart disease and stroke can also cause impotence and dementia. For the same reason that a vegan diet can reverse heart disease, it can also improve brain and sexual health.
Whole plant-based foods have antiaging and anti-disease properties animal foods do not.
Vegetarians live ten years longer than the average meat eater.
Modern culture has a love affair with meat. It’s everywhere—in the vast majority of homes and in most menu items. You look at the commercials on TV and you are persuaded to believe it’s wholesome, natural, and good for you. It also looks fun and social to enjoy meaty, cheesy dishes with friends and family. To many, meat signifies prosperity—not too long ago, only those of generous means could afford to eat meat regularly. But it’s become obvious over the past few decades that this prosperity, and the constant availability of food that comes along with it, is actually harming our health. We’ve already looked at the effects of our expanding waist-lines on our health, but there’s an even more sinister aspect of our prosperity diets: the fact that they’re shortening our lives and dramatically diminishing our quality of life as we age. In fact, the current generation of children just might be the first to have shorter life expectancies than their parents, reversing the trend of ever-longer lives.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) lists the top three U.S. causes of death in 2006 as heart disease (631,636), cancer (559,888), and stroke (137,119). Just a couple of spots down on the list, diabetes killed 72,449.
We’ve already examined the fact that these causes of death can be inextricably linked to our diets—and that eating a more plant-based diet may