What Do I Mean by Plant-Based Diet? A Plant-Based Diet I am promoting the use of a plant-based diet in the treatment of many of the diseases I see in my practice. Is a plant-based vegetarian diet the only way to go? No! But it's the diet that I know the best. Doctors are often criticized for suggesting that their patients go on a diet but never giving support or direction. Well, I believe strongly in giving sufficient resources to make my suggestions worthwhile. Otherwise, why bring it up in the first place? Also, I don't think it's possible to be an expert in everything. So I have picked a whole-food plant-based diet as my approach. Other physicians and dietitians may have different suggestions. I'm more than happy to make a referral to the dietitian in our department. She can educate you on a wide variety of diets. You have lots of choices. If you're interested in my approach, I can help you understand, plan, and stick with your new diet. I intend to stand behind my pledge to help you achieve maximal health. Some of the authors whose materials I suggest may have opinions that are not shared fully by many physicians. This does not make their ideas immediately wrong or suspect. I am enthusiastic, but realistic about this type of diet. If there are statements that bother you or that you think are incorrect, bring it up with me. I can help clarify the issue and point out both sides of the controversy. I will not claim that you can cure everything with diet. Though I do believe that if what you're currently doing isn't working, then changing your diet to this healthy way of eating cannot hurt. Plant-Based Means Minimally Processed Whenever I discuss plant-based diets, I am not talking about highly refined plant products: extracted oils from olives, corn or peanuts; highly refined flours with all the fiber and nutrients removed; or highly processed fruits products like high fructose corn syrup or apple juice. A soy hot-dog is not necessarily healthy either; its another highly processed plant food. These are not health foods. Here are some examples of Unrefined Plant Foods These are non-starchy vegetables These potatoes are examples of starchy vegetables When I use the terms Plant-Based Diet, Vegetarian, and Vegan, I mean the same thing. A diet based on mostly unrefined plant foods. Foods that look like they came from the forest or the field. Oats look somewhat like the original grain; you could recognize the oat growing in the field as what you had for breakfast. White flour does not look like wheat. It looks more like concrete which also comes as a powder. Olive oil does not grow on bushes -- olives do. Apple trees don't produce bottles of apple juice; they make apples. If I gave you a bagel and then asked you to wander around various grain fields and tell me which grain looks the most like a bagel, you couldn't do it. But if I gave you a sweet potato, you could certainly recognize it in a field of potatoes. A wheat stalk, wheat grains and white flour. The white flour is highly processed. The wheat grains in the middle are minimally processed. I'm talking about returning to a diet based primarily on more natural foods: Foods processed in your kitchen, not foods processed in factories. Factory processing tends to remove healthy fiber, concentrate calories, and add other unsavory additives like food colorings and chemical flavorings. Return to Moving Toward a Plant-Based Diet or Continue with the Next Topic

What Do I Mean by Plant-Based Diet?

A Plant-Based Diet

I am promoting the use of a plant-based diet in the treatment of many of the diseases I see in my practice. Is a plant-based vegetarian diet the only way to go? No! But it's the diet that I know the best. Doctors are often criticized for suggesting that their patients go on a diet but never giving support or direction. Well, I believe strongly in giving sufficient resources to make my suggestions worthwhile. Otherwise, why bring it up in the first place? Also, I don't think it's possible to be an expert in everything. So I have picked a whole-food plant-based diet as my approach. Other physicians and dietitians may have different suggestions. I'm more than happy to make a referral to the dietitian in our department. She can educate you on a wide variety of diets. You have lots of choices. If you're interested in my approach, I can help you understand, plan, and stick with your new diet. I intend to stand behind my pledge to help you achieve maximal health.

Some of the authors whose materials I suggest may have opinions that are not shared fully by many physicians. This does not make their ideas immediately wrong or suspect. I am enthusiastic, but realistic about this type of diet. If there are statements that bother you or that you think are incorrect, bring it up with me. I can help clarify the issue and point out both sides of the controversy. I will not claim that you can cure everything with diet. Though I do believe that if what you're currently doing isn't working, then changing your diet to this healthy way of eating cannot hurt.

Plant-Based Means Minimally Processed

Whenever I discuss plant-based diets, I am not talking about highly refined plant products: extracted oils from olives, corn or peanuts; highly refined flours with all the fiber and nutrients removed; or highly processed fruits products like high fructose corn syrup or apple juice. A soy hot-dog is not necessarily healthy either; its another highly processed plant food. These are not health foods.

Here are some examples of Unrefined Plant Foods

These are non-starchy vegetables

These potatoes are examples of starchy vegetables

When I use the terms Plant-Based Diet, Vegetarian, and Vegan, I mean the same thing. A diet based on mostly unrefined plant foods. Foods that look like they came from the forest or the field. Oats look somewhat like the original grain; you could recognize the oat growing in the field as what you had for breakfast. White flour does not look like wheat. It looks more like concrete which also comes as a powder. Olive oil does not grow on bushes -- olives do. Apple trees don't produce bottles of apple juice; they make apples. If I gave you a bagel and then asked you to wander around various grain fields and tell me which grain looks the most like a bagel, you couldn't do it. But if I gave you a sweet potato, you could certainly recognize it in a field of potatoes.

A wheat stalk, wheat grains and white flour. The white flour is highly processed. The wheat grains in the middle are minimally processed.

I'm talking about returning to a diet based primarily on more natural foods: Foods processed in your kitchen, not foods processed in factories. Factory processing tends to remove healthy fiber, concentrate calories, and add other unsavory additives like food colorings and chemical flavorings.

Return to Moving Toward a Plant-Based Diet

or Continue with the Next Topic - Why Low Sodium?