Has a Plant-based Diet Improved Your Health or a Chronic Disease Condition?

Yes!!!! I have a chronic condition and it has been drastically improved by changing my diet. I highly recommend it!

Best wishes,

M

I'm sure you will get dozens of responses from this. I will tell you that I am not a dietician nor a nutritionist (there is a difference). But I am a registered nurse that has taken classes with some of the top names in the industry and studied the link between food and health. I do believe that any health condition can be improved through making healthful choices.

Now having said that, you still have to make healthful plant based choices. I think we would agree that potato chips are junk food, but technically plant based. I know, bad example, but you get what I'm trying to say. Research has shown that really 50% of our food choices should be fruits and vegetables.

I won't get into the pros and cons of being vegan versus vegetarian versus eating animal protein. I know everyone has their own thoughts and beliefs of why they feel one or the other is 'the' way to eat. I believe everyone has a different bio-chemical make up and there are those who do need a little bit of animal based protein. But the more produce the better!

My husband is from India, and by religious reasons he is vegetarian. He eats no meat, but some dairy. I was not and then meeting him I began what I call a Vegetarian want-to-be. I am Obese getting to morbid. I found that when i switched to a mainly plant based diet, I lost a lot of weight. I found a large energy increase, and I was borderline diabetic. That has all together disappeared as well, I do not have to take any medications and it was getting close to that. Though I have to be very choosy on what I eat along with the meal since they staple is Roti and Rice, which both have a ton of carbs. So if you have diabetes or anything close you have to watch your carb intake. If you have trouble finding really good vegetarian recipes I suggest looking up Indian food recipes, MOST are vegetarian. And the ones that are not a usually able to substitute some sort of bean for meat. As well as others are say Gluten free items are fairly easy to find as well. As fo the wanna be part, I occasionally break down and want meat here and there, but its so few and far between I like to pretend.
Also a tip, if you are bored of the same ole veggies at the grocery store and are into experimenting. Go to any Asian, Oriental, or Indian grocery. They have so MANY more choices and many are very delicious and nutritional.

Check out http://www.ornishspectrum.com/ and http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.ve... along with forksoverknives.com

Try it for a month and see how you feel. Best part about it is a plant based diet is really catching on so choices in both stores and restaurants are growing all the time which means that when you go out, you can either choose a vegan restaurant, one that has vegan selections or do some substituting.

Robin Robertson has some good cookbooks. I don't see how you could go wrong by eliminating saturated fat and foods that have cholesterol. Just make sure you eat a variety of foods, get some good cookbooks and I think you will see improvements. Maybe have your doctor check your levels too and see if things improve there too.

Whenever I go vegetarian (and I periodically do on accident, as well as purposefully) I end up with REALLY high cholesterol and start packing on a bunch of weight. Conversely, when I'm mostly eating seafood & red meat & dairy & veggies... my cholestrol drops like a rock, and I have to buy a LOT of belts. So when I think back and realize it's been several days without meat I make a point on loading up.

Most people look and feel better when they increase the vegetable, fruit and herb content of their diets, especially if those are replacing less-healthy foods.

But nearly 20 years ago, I discovered after nearly 2 years as a dedicated vegetarian that some of us need at least some animal protein. During my vegetarian period, I was perpetually cold, tired and weak, and in spite of eating lightly and exercising faithfully, I gained nearly 50 pounds, half of which I have never been able to lose. I also became pre-diabetic during that period.

My doctor, who had a great deal of training in nutrition, finally convinced me it was my diet. He argued me into eating a minimum of 4 oz. of eggs, fish, poultry and meat every day. Huge improvement, more energy, and I actually lost some weight without even trying. I have gone on to develop diabetes, but it's so far manageable without insulin, and took a long time to develop after I started eating more meat and less grains/other carbs.

So, plant-based is certainly good, as long as you are choosing fresh, healthy foods, and as long as you are willing to include other protein sources, should that become necessary. And if that doesn't end up giving you the results you hope for, I hope you will invest in some professional advice.

I don't know if I'm someone you want to have answer this because I'm not sure I fit the question criteria quite right:-) With this pregnancy, I was eating lots of protein (including animal protein). It was really hot this summer - around 110 degrees, and I think my body just kind of weirded out. I started swelling and felt like I'd been working out with really sore muscles all the time. I was getting really weak and it was really weird. i had no energy. It was pretty awful since I have four kids to chase after.

Anyway, I looked into the acidic/alkaline diet thing, and thought maybe I was too acidic. I totally changed my diet around. I ate lots of fruits and veggies through out the day. For lunch I ate some animal protein (like a sandwhich), and for dinner, same thing. But otherwise, anytime I was hungry, I ate a fruit or vegetable - fresh. I didn't eat other types of carbs, other than 100% wheat bread with my sandwich for lunch, and I would also eat a little side of rice with dinner and chips with my avocado dip that I would make each night. But that was all the non-fruit/veggie carb I ate. (I'm still eating like this)

Within three days, I was feeling so much better. My energy level was amazing and my swelling went almost all the way away and the aches/weakness disappeared.

I used to try to go vegan back in the day. And after about 9 years of hardly ever eating beef (mostly ate chicken or turkey...and was trying to slowly wean off that), I ended up upping my beef intake with my last pregnancy (not this one) when I had a condition that put me at risk of hemorrhaging. So, I was doing what I could to increase my iron level. I also ate veggies that were high in iron. I was shocked at the energy level, and became a believer in the need for meat, included beef (organic) because it has some sort of strength in it that I needed.

So, I will never go vegetarian. But I don't believe in eating a ton of meat. And, I have seen a HUGE change in my health from eating a lot of fruits and veggies. You don't need coffee if you have fruits!

If you are sick, I definitely think going more fruit/veggie diet would benefit you greatly. I personally wouldn't toss all meat out because I think it's needed sparingly, but that's just my personal opinion/experience.

Hope you are able to feel better!

That's a tough question to answer because you never know how much your illness may have progressed had you stuck to your old diet. My FIL has progressive MS, and he and my MIL became vegans about 5-7 years ago. His illness did not improve, but he has the type that slowly progresses, hence the name "progressive" MS. His doctors seem to think he is doing well. He still walks on his own with a cane, and he was diagnosed 10 years ago. I think the doctors are impressed with that and his age (71). Like I said, we can't tell if he would have been the same, better, or worse had he not changed his diet. I hope that helps you a little bit while you weigh the pros and cons.

I was going to say have you tried gluten/grain free..........I notice a big difference when I follow that

I have several different things.

Celiac....anorexia(recovering).....I am allergic to any type of Soy and white sugar.

A plant based Gluten free diet changed my life.

And if I want to feel GOOD and normal...I have to stick to it pretty strongly...Or I pay later in the bathroom.

Hi Lady---Along with the resources that have been suggested so far, please read The China Study by T Colin Campbell and check out the website www.wellnessforum.com. Another great resource using a plant based diet to heal heart disease is Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic. Lastly, another great website is www.pcrm.org. Dr. Neal Barnard does research on reversing diabetes with a vegan diet. There are a number of great resources there.

Dr. Pam, at the Wellness Forum, who is a Naturopath and has her PhD in Nutrition, advocates 90% of calories from plants and 10% from animal protein as an optimal diet. But, she also shares, based on long-term research, that if a person is suffering from a degenerative disease, that ALL plants is best.

From what I've learned from 8 years of studying and working in wellness education, you have nothing to lose by trying a plant based diet. If you would like a great resource for plant based recipes, get an issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. Wonderful. You can also get recipes online. I love seeing the food so I have a subscription. But, when I have an ingredient and am not sure what to make, I go to the website and do a search there, www.vegetariantimes.com. Good luck. Let us know how you do. D.

The author of Crazy Sexy Diet, Kris Carr, was just featured in NY Times. She is all about a plant based diet and she has an amazing story to tell. Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/kris-carr-craz...
She is coming to Detroit to speak at the Royal Park in Rochester on October 1st where she will speak and also do a book signing. I highly recommend it. You can buy tickets at: www.thepinkfund.org
She is all about wellness and prevention and will totally get you fired up and inspired! Hope to see you there.

Well i quit eating meat when i was 12 and i didnt really have any conditions. But im very healthy, motivated and energetic and so are my kids...:0)

My friend recently quit eating meat and said her I.B.S symptoms have completely disappeared.My husband will eat a vegetarian diet 90% of the time and will be the first to tell you of its advantages.

Even if you still eat some meat a diet that that is 99% vegetarian would benefit you greatly, there's nothing better for you and more nutritionally complete than a fruits and veggies and whole grains. You cant go wrong. At the very least you will feel better if not dissolve your symptoms. It certainly wouldn't hurt

I hit the wrong button.

Having a healhy diet is always part of the formula to improved health and chronic disease. Make sure you include protein, which is crucial to healthy cells.

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Respond to this post and we can exchange telephone numbers, if this is something you would like to do.