EATING FOR LIFE Whole Food, Plant-Based Lifestyle

What if chronic disease could be halted, or even reversed? What if inflammation could be eliminated, resulting in less joint pain, less brain fog, better sleep and renewed energy? Without a new drug? Without an exotic treatment or travel to a novel therapy? What if a dramatic improvement in one’s health were possible in their own home? And the only expense was to change what food is bought at the store and brought to the end of people’s forks? This is the whole food, plant-based lifestyle. The whole food, plant-based lifestyle is the elimination of processed foods and reliance on foods that generally don’t have labels or shiny packaging. It relies on vegetables, legumes, beans, grains, seeds, nuts and fruits. It means shopping the outside aisles of the store, starting with produce, then the bulk section for whole grain flours, rice, beans, nuts, dried fruits and spices, and ending in frozen for produce with labels that list only one thing—the produce. This way of eating eliminates all of the hidden “bliss point” ingredients added by Big Food to make food addicting: salt, fat and sugar. The meals are loaded with the nutrients that come with “eating the rainbow” and devoid of all the SAD (Standard American Diet) ingredients that are increasingly making us obese, tired, sore and sick. We avoid all products that have parents, a face or that poops. Pretty simple to remember. The science behind this way of eating isn’t new. Dr. Colin T. Campbell’s research helped his important book The China Study become a best-seller in 2006. Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., has saved lives since 2007 with his clinical work and book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. These two giants in nutritional science put their work together in the foundational film Forks Over Knives in 2011. As plant-based nutrition builds in understanding and popularity, the science proves that a lifestyle that centers on plants for nutrition is the healthiest path to aging well and avoiding chronic disease. The question of “but where do you get your protein?” has been addressed in the recent film The Game Changers. Protein is from plants, the very things animals get their protein from, as whole food plant-based just cuts out the middleman. An athlete in this film answers the question, “How are you strong as an ox, without eating meat?” Athlete’s answer, “Have you ever seen an ox eat meat?” Eat plant based.