Life is about choices, including the type of diet we eat. As a doctor, I believe the foods we eat have a huge impact on our health. I often recommend a plant-based diet to my patients. Below are the reasons I promote this diet. I hope you will find the information helpful.
There are SO many benefits to eating a plant-based diet, but the two main ones are:
High saturated or trans fats increase the level of LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) and fatty acids (unhealthy fat molecules) in our bodies, which leads to chronic inflammation. While short-term inflammation works to protect and heal the body, chronic inflammation (inflammation that persists for a long time) can cause or worsen many diseases.
When inflammation sets in the walls of your arteries and fat builds up from the excess "bad fats," plaque (which is a fatty deposit) forms in your artery walls. This plaque then makes it harder for blood to pass through and provide oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. This can lead to chronic diseases such as:
Insulin resistance can also set in due to chronic inflammation in certain types of cells, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Believe it or not, there is protein, and more than adequate amounts of it, in the plant kingdom. All the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals you need can be found in the plant kingdom — with one exception.
This exception is vitamin B12, but there are easy solutions! You can choose nondairy milk, soy products and breakfast cereals that are fortified with vitamin B12. Nutritional yeast is also a good source of B12, and it can be used in so many ways!
If you are considering making this transition, be sure to talk to your doctor for guidance, especially if you are taking medication for a chronic lifestyle disease such as diabetes or hypertension. In this case, it will be super important to closely monitor your blood sugar levels and your blood pressure, which will naturally go down as you adopt a fully plant-based diet. This in combination with your medication may put you at risk for dropping your blood sugars or blood pressure to dangerously low levels.
If you notice your blood sugars going consistently lower than 80, you will need to back off on your medications. If your blood pressure consistently goes below 90/70, you will also need to back off on your blood pressure medicine.
As your virtual primary care doctor, I can help you transition to eating plant-based and adjust your medications as needed. Just schedule a visit to get started!
In my coming articles, I will share ways to make the transition to plant-based eating. And no, you don't have to do it all at once! This can be a gradual change.
To start, you can begin thinking of ways to include more whole foods into your diet such as eating whole grains like brown rice instead of white rice, or eating more fresh vegetables in salads. I also like to recommend investing in a plant-based cookbook and checking out online resources:
If you have any questions, please jot them down and make sure to ask them at our next visit. (You can schedule a visit HERE.)
I hope this information was helpful!
Yours truly,
Dr. Sally Sartin
Schedule a First Stop Health Virtual Primary Care visit to talk to a compassionate doctor who can help you reach your health goals.