Join the Not-So-Lunatic Fringe

So you’ve read the works of T. Colin Campbell, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and other experts on WFPB eating and you are convinced that transitioning to a WFPB diet will help you maintain or recapture your health.  Yet you can’t seem to bring yourself to take the full fledged WFPB plunge.   The thought of avoiding dairy, meat, fish, poultry, eggs and added oils seems crazy to you.  You are concerned that by eating this way, you will be labeled by family, friends and acquaintances as a loony tune. 

You can share with them the growing community of folks that follow WFPB diets thanks to films like Forks Over Knives and books like Rip Esselstyn’s “The Engine 2 Diet” and “My Beef With Meat”.   This may get them to be more accepting of your new eating habits.  Or they may conclude that you’ve joined a cult filled with loony tunes.

 Wouldn’t it be nice if conventional medical doctors were advocating WFPB diets to all of their patients?  Wouldn’t you find it easier to convince friends and family that you are not part of some hyper-healthy lunatic fringe?

 The day medical doctors routinely encourage WFPB diets to their patients may not be as far off as you think.

 Back in the spring of 2013, Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest managed care organization came out in support of plant-based diets. 

 In an article entitled “Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets”,  published in the Kaiser Permanente Journal in the Spring of 2013,  Philip J. Tuso MD and colleagues provide a convincing case for WFPB diets to Kaiser’s physicians. (1)

 Here is how the authors summarize the article’s purpose:

 “The purpose of this article is to help physicians understand the potential benefits of a plant-based diet, to the end of working together to create a societal shift toward plant-based nutrition. There is at least moderate-quality evidence from the literature that plant-based diets are associated with significant weight loss and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality compared with diets that are not plant based. These data suggest that plant-based diets may be a practical solution to prevent and treat chronic diseases.”

The authors end the article with this hopeful statement:

“The future of health care will involve an evolution toward a paradigm where the prevention and treatment of disease is centered, not on a pill or surgical procedure, but on another serving of fruits and vegetables.”

I believe that Kaiser’s decision to promote WFPB diets is a major step in pulling Plant Based Diets in from the fringes. 

The amount of evidence supporting the amazing health benefits of WFPB diets compelled Kaiser Permanente to encourage all of its physicians to become more knowledgeable about plant based nutrition.

So if your friends or family members are concerned that WFPB eating is not sufficiently supported by the medical establishment, this article may alleviate their concerns.  Heck, it may even get them to consider major dietary change.  How great would that be?

To access this landmark article, click here.

(1)Perm J 2013 Spring; 17(2):61-66