Slowly but surely, it seems breakthroughs are in the works in the whole area of health and nutrition and various options are emerging.
Talking to your doctor
Please keep in mind that medical school in most cases still does not include anything on nutrition, although that is changing fast, for the evidence supporting the plant-based diet is extensive. The point is this, it is up to you to educate your doctor and engage with him in your journey to help you adjust your medications appropriately, which sometimes can go very fast. In many cases, people can be free of medications in 3-6 months, and it is a proven fact that your intestinal flora totally adjusts within 3 days after you fully switch to plant-based nutrition.
If you are taking any medication, it is absolutely essential that you talk to your doctor and get them on board as certain medications may have to be adjusted pretty quickly, particularly with diabetics, but also cholesterol-lowering medications, or blood-pressure medications. So your doctor needs to know what you’re doing with your diet.
This month Forks over Knives is doing a webinar on how to talk to your doctor.
One of the best, easy to access, sources of plant-based information for you or your doctor, and to measure your progress is the 4 Leaf Program. Personally, in 2018, I took the certificate course at the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS), and there were a lot of doctors and nurses in my class.
In general, if your doctor is not receptive, you can always go to the website of the American College for Lifestyle Medicine, and search for a practitioner in your area who knows about Lifestyle Medicine and therefore by definition about the plant-based diet. Again, be understanding, we are in a system where your doctor in most cases gets paid only to prescribe drugs or procedures or do tests, they do not get paid to tell you to eat your broccoli.
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente has been a leader in this area and since it is only the country’s largest health plan, this is significant. Here are two PDF downloads from the Kaiser Permanente site:
The Plant-Based Diet – Kaiser Permanente Share
Simple Steps to Plant-Based Eating – Kaiser Permanente
Blue Shield of California and ACLM promote provider training
In yet another signifcant development, Blue Shield of California and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine are now collaborating to promote Lifestyle Medicine and offer provider training and certification for medical practitioners.
Switch Healthcare
Here is one company that is working on the frontier of engineering new, better health plans, based on plant-based nutrition. It is worth exploring the website.
Change is in the air. All of these initiatives demonstrate that the change is under way, and I would say it is unstoppable, for the results speak for themselves and cannot be ignored.