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What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You And How A Vegan Diet Can Save Your Life

By on June 29, 2014
Doctors Don't Know Vegan

Your physician may be a degree’d medical doctor, but that doesn’t mean they know anything about good nutrition. Doctors are trained to treat ailments with drugs, not diet, and this can lead to some specific omissions in your treatment plan. Even if they are aware of studies put out by the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society that show ways to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer with diet, they won’t believe that’s part of their job to steer you in that direction. Their job is to treat the symptoms, not the cause, of the disease and make you more comfortable. So, when you ask if getting rid of meat in your diet will help you to achieve a particular health goal, they may not be qualified to answer that question truthfully. In fact, they may think they are doing you a favor by suggesting that vegetarians can’t get the full nutrition out of their diets because meat is a necessary protein. They may not know how to get the same protein from a plant-based diet. It’s always better to seek nutrition and diet advice from people who focus on this aspect of lifestyle more than medical doctors.

What Diet and Health Experts Can Tell You That Your Doctor Can’t or Won’t

Many diseases start off as chronic conditions that is uncomfortable, but not life threatening. If you go to the doctor for acid reflux, for instance, they might prescribe medication to reduce the symptoms, but never tell you that this condition has been linked to esophageal cancer later. They also might not know that diet experts might prescribe probiotic foods to help your digestion, without resorting to artificial medicines. Similarly, plant-based diets can reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels, before they get out of hand, but your doctor won’t care. Instead, he or she will fill out a prescription, rip it off their pad, hand it to you, and you will never know any better. It’s not their fault, they’re just not trained to do otherwise.

Do Your Research and Seek Out Diet and Health Experts Early

Changing a diet is not as easy as taking a pill. That’s why doctors take the easy way out, even if it doesn’t treat the root cause of a disease. When you research and seek out dietary advice, like for a plant-based, diet, you will find a wealth of information to help you that you won’t get from your physician:

Custom Diet Plans – If you have diabetes, for instance, they will let you know what foods are best to avoid or how to substitute and make better food choices for your condition. If you want to reduce cholesterol, improve digestion, eliminate sugars – whatever your specific need – there is a food plan out there for you. They won’t shy away from offering up a plant-based food program, if it appeals to you, and it will help you gain optimum health.

Nutritional Advice – Plant-based diets require specific attention to nutrition, specifically protein formation. Your health advisor will show you how to combine foods like legumes with rice to make a complete protein that will substitute beautifully for meat. They will also clue you into “superfoods” that can do really amp up the nutritional quotient of needed vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

Recipes and Meal Plans – Once you know how you want to change your diet, what foods to include or exclude, then you will need to have some help in creating tasty recipes and meal plans. They might advise you to include proteins like soy or tempeh in your recipes. Some vegetarians may decide that they are lactose-intolerant and eliminate milk and cheeses, making substitution important in recipes like cheese enchiladas or even a ham and cheese sandwich. They will want help in figuring out how to make these dishes without real cheese.

You certainly can’t expect a regular doctor to get down to this level of detail when giving you medical advice! So, if you want to go vegetarian, seek out experts who can give you the best support possible in your lifestyle choices.

What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You And How A Vegan Diet Can Save Your Life

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About Dean Iodice