Getting Our Doctors Onboard

I remember when my doctor first put me on a statin drug to lower my cholesterol. He made the statement that there was an alternative but we both knew I wasn't going to do it. So, he didn't go on to suggest that I change my diet and exercise more. Instead, he went directly to prescribing the statin drug.

And that's typical of what I hear from medical professionals today. Many of them know that a plant-based diet is what's really needed to prevent heart disease. But they don't mention it because they don't believe their patients will follow that regimen.

This needs to change though. It needs to change because too many people use it as an excuse that their doctor is not telling them to eat this way. In fact, doctors can be rather nonchalant about it. One local doctor told a patient not to be concerned about getting a heart stent because that's just a natural part of aging. Well, I'm here to say that it's not a natural part of aging. I'm in my seventieth year now, and I don't see a heart stent anywhere in my future. And there hasn't been one in my past either.

I think doctors need to see that people will and do follow the whole foods, plant-based way of eating willingly when faced with the facts. We can start by making sure our doctors know what we are doing. Nothing speaks louder than our doctors seeing remarkable results and then hearing how those results were accomplished. A doctor may not be convinced by one patient, but if a doctor sees several patients coming in and having the same results while talking about being plant-based, then there may be opportunity for the doctor to come around.

So, I think the more public we become, the more doctors will start to realize that people will do this way of eating.

Of course, one reason doctors believe what they do is because they themselves don't eat WFPB and probably don't believe they can either. So, helping your doctor or any friends you have as doctors could also help in bringing the doctor around. Once the doctor becomes a plant-based eater then there really is a strong advocate for teaching the doctor's patients to eat this way.

So, wherever we get the chance, we should promote the whole foods, plant-based way of eating to the medical community. They are the ones that have a lot of credibility with the general public and can influence others to changing their dietary habits. And that's a very worthwhile goal.