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The Healing Power of Plants
The Vegan Diet
The vegan diet can be the most powerful, most healing and age-reversing diet you could eat. And yes, you can lose weight and keep it off forever with the plant-based diet.
On this page, you will learn about the health benefits of the plant-based diet and how to get started.
The vegan diet is becoming more and more popular as more of us become aware of the physical, environmental and ethical consequences of eating meat.
Some people become vegan primarily for ethical reasons, and that is awesome, but here we are going to focus on the health benefits o eating a diet based on plants instead of animals.
Technically, Oreo cookies are vegan, but we all know that Oreo cookies aren't healthy. So vegan doesn't necessarily equal healthy.
This is why I like to use the term "whole-foods, plant-based diet" to describe the lifestyle I recommend.
We are not talking about eating a lot of high-fat, high-sugar processed foods filled with chemicals.
We are talking about eating living foods full of vitamins and minerals.
Living foods fill your body with energy and vitality.
So if that sounds good to you, then let's get started!
What is a Plant-Based Vegan Diet?
The plant- based diet focuses on vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, grains, and seeds while eliminating dairy, meat, fish and eggs.
It sounds pretty simple, right.
But most of us were raised on meat, dairy, and eggs.
We were taught a food pyramid promising that drinking milk every day would make our bones strong.
And we have all been warned of the dangers of not getting enough protein.
In fact, we have been so indoctrinated that many people often say to me ... "You don't eat meat. You don't eat eggs? You don't eat dairy? Is there anything left to eat?"
And the answer is YES! There is so much delicious food out there just waiting for you to try it!
But let's all be honest ... switching to a plant-based vegan diet is a major lifestyle change. And lifestyle changes require a lot of effort and determination.
So you would need a really good reason to do it ... a big payoff that would make it worth it to give up bacon cheeseburgers. Right?
Fair enough! Here are 3 really good reasons to leave meat, eggs, and dairy behind:
That food is making you sick!
That food is making you fat!
Plant-based foods will help you look and feel great again!
But don't take my word for it. We are about to dig deep into some of the benefits of this diet. But no one tells the story better than Dr. Michael Gregor, a medical doctor who has devoted his career to sharing with us the science behind the diet. I highly recommend that you watch this video "Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death."
Health Benefits of a Plant-Based Vegan Diet
There is a larg body of scientific evidence showing that meat, dairy, and eggs have detrimental effects on the human body.
And there is also a large body of scientific evidence showing that plant foods can help the body heal, reverse disease, and prevent diseases.
A plant-based vegan diet has always been used in herbalism.
Why? Well, there are many reasons, and today science is catching on.
Heart disease is the reason that the western world finally discovered the plant-based vegan diet.
Heart disease is so prominent and so expensive to treat, science had to look for answers. And what they found will surprise most anyone who isn’t "in the know".
Medical doctor and researcher Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn found that not only could heart disease be prevented by eating an oil- free, nut free plant- based diet, but heart disease could also be arrested or reversed by the same diet.
I am about to share with you loads of scientific information showing you the health benefits of a plant-based diet.
You can look at the information I am about to share with you in two ways. You can think but I love meat, eggs, and dairy, I will never give them up no matter what even if they make me sick.
Or you can decide to go on a new journey of healing and experimentation on a plant- based diet.
Don’t worry about giving up delicious food, because you don’t have too! The plant- based diet has just as tasty if not tastier foods and recipes than the Standard American Diet (SAD diet).
You might go through a bit of withdrawal at first, as many unhealthy foods are highly addictive. But you can do it, and then you will feel amazing!
And the plant based diet actively protects you from disease, while the SAD diet leads to disease. If you ponder this, you will find that your answer is very clear.
Specific Health Benefits of the Vegan Diet
1. Better Bowel Movements with the Vegan Diet
Traditional naturopathy has always looked to the health of the colon first when it comes to healing the body of any disease. The body can not reach a good bill of health when it has to deal with the toxicity of a rotten, backed-up colon.
Even though most modern medical doctors don’t talk about colon health too often anymore, the doctors of old knew this simple fact.
Remember that no matter how far removed your disease seems to be from your colon, all healing begins with a healthy colon.
If your colon is working optimally then you will be having bowel movements 2 to 3 times per day.
So what does the plant based diet have to do with colon health? A plant-based diet is rich in fiber, antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals, all of which help your colon do its job.
It is now known that a meat- heavy diet is a risk factor for colon cancer. But a plant-based diet reduces your risk of colon cancer.
The abundance of fiber and nutrients help to protect your colon from disease. And the fiber ensures that your colon will work properly.
To learn more about home remedies for constipation, click here.
2. Weight Loss with the Vegan Diet
Weight loss is another benefit of the plant-based vegan diet. This is because the foods on a plant-based diet are nutrient rich but have less calories than animal foods.
The body is getting all the vitamins and minerals it needs while also enjoying a lower calorie diet. This is a very important concept, because if the body is lacking in certain nutrients, then it tends to hold on to excess weight.
Weight loss also helps promote healing from illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
3. Heart Disease Reversal with the Vegan Diet
The whole foods, oil-free plant based diet is the only diet that has been shown to prevent and reverse heart disease.
Yes, I am saying that individuals with clogged arteries were actually able to reverse the arterial plaque inside their arteries by eating this version of the plant based diet.
With heart disease being one of the top killers, don’t you think it is time for this way of eating to become mainstream??
Personally I think it should be mandatory for doctors to at least inform their patients with heart disease or who have already had a heart attack or stroke that this diet is an option. But it is not.
Many doctors aren't even aware of this information.
Some doctors who are aware don't take the time to tell their patients because they don't believe their patients will make the necessary lifestyle changes.
But I think that choice should be left up to the patient.
That's like saying its not worth telling your patient to quit smoking because quitting is hard to do and not everyone is going to do it.
Fortunately there are several medical doctors who are bringing this healing diet to the mainstream. We can thank Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Neal Barnard, and Dr. Michael Gregor for their brave and tireless work.
And of course my teachers Dr. Christopher and Dr. Schulze, both are herbalists, have been teaching this way of eating way before the renaissance that we are having now.
The first medical doctor to prove that the plant based diet can actually reverse heart disease was Dr. Dean Ornish. His diet is called the Spectrum Diet.
The Spectrum Diet differs from Dr Esselstyn’s diet, in that Ornish would let his patients have egg whites and fat free dairy, although in small amounts.
But science has now discovered that protein from any animal source injures the lining of the arteries called endothelium.
This is why Dr Esselstyn’s diet contains no animal foods at all, and no oil at all. Animal foods and processed oils both cause arterial damage, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.
The most impressive fact about Esselstyn’s diet is that it has an astounding record of preventing heart attacks and strokes in people following the diet. And this includes individuals who have already had a heart attack or stroke.
This is great news considering that if you have already had one heart attack, then your risk of having a second heart attack is higher. But this way of eating will significantly lower the risk for these individuals as well.
I encourage you to look into this further. There are a lot of great books written by these pioneers, seek them out.
4. Diabetes Reversal with the Vegan Diet
The plant-based vegan diet has shown great results for reversal of diabetes. One study compared the standard medical diabetes diet to a plant-based vegan diet for controlling blood sugar.
While the standard diabetes diet counts carbs and calories, the plant-based diet in this study did not. At the end of the study, the plant-based diet showed greater improvements in glycemic control and lipids compared to the standard diabetes diet.
The plant-based diet offers better protection against the complications of diabetes.
Complications such as heart attack, stroke, damage to arteries and eyes, are less likely for a diabetic following a plant-based diet.
Dr Joel Fuhrman has had great success with his diet for diabetic patients.
Many of his type-2 patients are able to control their blood sugar with his plant-based diet alone. That means no more meds. How great would that be?
His diet is a low-glycemic, plant-based diet. You can check out his book The End of Diabetes to get all the details.
But why does the plant based diet work to control diabetes better than the standard diabetes diet? The standard diabetes diet does not exclude meat and eggs. But meat and eggs have been shown in many studies to increase your risk for diabetes.
The saturated fat in meat has been shown to decrease your insulin sensitivity. The fat actually clogs your muscle cells so that insulin can’t move the sugar from the bloodstream into the cells where it can be used for fuel. (These fats are called intramyocellular lipids.)
But when you switch to a low fat plant based diet, you give your body an oil change and dissolve the fats clogging your muscle cells. Then guess what happens? That's right ... when you get that fat out of your blood your insulin sensitivity will greatly improve.
On top of all of this, saturated fat is actually toxic to the cells of our bodies, including the beta cells in the pancreas. There are a few saturated fats out there in the plant-based vegan world too. These fats are coconut milk and oil, as well as palm oil. So if you are suffering from diabetes or heart disease, you should avoid these fats as well.
It is best to limit your fat intake from any source, not just saturated fat. You don’t need a lot of fat in your diet. Too much fat of any kind can drive disease processes.
If you have diabetes or a family history of diabetes, the food you eat makes all the difference in your health. So don't delay. Give this diet a try for 30 days and see what happens to your waist line and your blood sugar numbers.
Click here to visit our page dedicated to diabetes and learn more about home remedies for diabetes.
5. Arthritis Improvements with the Vegan Diet
The plant-based vegan diet is a anti-inflammatory diet. Arthritis, whether it be osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, is driven in large part by inflammation in the body and joints.
Studies have shown that the body's immune system creates immune complexes that attack animal proteins when we eat them. Animal foods also cause low-grade systemic chronic inflammation and oxidative tissue stress.
A study using fasting and vegan diet compared to an omnivore diet for rheumatoid arthritis found that the plant-based group improved significantly more than the omnivore group.
Another study took 27 patients for a 4-week stay at a health farm. Here the patients underwent a 7- 10 day fast followed by a individually-adjusted gluten free, vegan diet for 3.5 months.
The food was gradually changed to a lacto-vegetarian diet for the remainder of the study. After 4 weeks, the patients showed improvement in the following measures:
number of tender joints
Ritchie's articular index
number of swollen joints
pain score
duration of morning stiffness
grip strength
erythrocyte sedimentation rate
C-reactive protein
white blood cell
health assessment questionnaire score.
Those results are impressive, but they would have probably been even better if dairy products had not been introduced.
Another study using a low-fat, vegan diet for patients with RA showed similar results.
A third study using the whole-foods, plant-based diet for osteoarthritis also produced good results for the patients. The study took patients aged 19 to 70 with osteoarthritis and randomized each patient into a plant-based diet or a control group (where patient's continued their current diet).
At the end of 6 weeks, the patients in the plant-based group had an improvement in pain and functional status compared to the control group.
So as you can see, the plant based diet can help with arthritis too. What else can this diet help with? Lets find out!
6. Alzheimer’s Disease Improvements and Prevention with the Vegan Diet
Chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, toxicity, and malnutrition are the drivers of most of our common diseases ... that is a common theme in natural healing.
Now science is discovering that these factors also contribute to the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease. There does appear to be a genetic component to Alzheimer's disease, but the way you eat and the lifestyle you live can turn certain genes on and off.
So what can you do to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer’s? Well, first you can commit to a whole-foods, plant-based vegan diet. (Detoxification and herbal support are also extremely important).
The beauty of the plant-based vegan diet is that it starts to take care of nutritional deficiencies, toxicity, inflammation, and oxidative stress.
But there is also another cause of Alzheimer's disease and dementia that the plant-based diet impacts ... high cholesterol which leads to arterial plague.
Yes, the arterial plague that clogs the arteries in your heart can also clog the arteries that feed your brain the blood that it needs. Blood vessels in the brain can become clogged, and this is another reason the plant-based vegan diet prevents and reverses brain disease.
We learned above in the heart disease segment that this diet can clean plague out of the arteries and restore blood flow to the brain.
Alzheimer’s is linked with higher intake of saturated fat and cholesterol found in meat, dairy, and eggs. There is plenty of science backing this up.
A recent study with 27,860 men and women set out to determine the relationship between dietary habits and risk of cognitive decline. Guess what this study found?
Individuals eating more fruits and vegetables and whole grains and less meat, dairy, and eggs, had a 24 % lower risk of developing dementia.
And the longer you eat a plant based diet, the more your chances of not developing Alzheimer’s increases.
And don’t forget about your juicer! If your goal is to prevent or reverse dementia, you need to be drinking freshly-made fruit and vegetable juices at least 3 times a week for even more brain protection.
This is exciting news for all of us!! Especially if you have believed that these brain diseases just happen out of bad luck and there is nothing that you can do about it.
Well it isn’t true. Disease isn't a result of bad luck. It is earned through years of poor eating and lifestyle habits. That means it can be reversed by changing your ways. This puts the power back into your hands.
Keep your mind strong and your belly full of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, beans and legumes, and all of the wonderful herbs that you have at your disposal.
7. Cancer Prevention and Reversal
Wait a minute, Dan the Natural Man....are you saying that diet can prevent and help treat cancer too? Of course it does ... remember you are what you eat!
The plant-based diet protects you from cancer in a number of different ways.
First it eliminates foods that have been linked to cancer, like processed meats and red meat. (Did you know that processed meats that include nitrates, such as hot dogs and sandwich meats, are considered by the US government to be as carcinogenic as cigarettes?)
Also, the plant-based diet includes cancer-fighting foods like broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables. And let's not forget the cancer fighting prevention of apples.
Eating a diet high in a variety of fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains can help prevent cancer from ever taking hold of your body.
The plant-based diet has an abundance of fiber, phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.
This builds your body to such a high degree of health that you will be far less likely to come down with a fatal disease, including cancer.
And if you did, you would have a greater chance of beating the disease.
If you are battling cancer, then you should also avoid all processed sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
It is well known that cancer cells feed on processed sugar. So don't give them any of it to eat. (But that doesn't include fruit...eat all the fruit you want).
Now lets look at a few scientific studies on specific cancers.
Breast cancer is a horrible disease that effects far too many women these days. But one study found that the plant-based vegan diet can reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 23%, and all cause mortality of breast cancer by 17%.
And while that may not seem significant, any reduction in recurring breast cancer is a win. If you have never had breast cancer, eating a plant-based diet will put the odds in your favor of never developing it.
Oh and putting scientific studies aside, some of the best naturopaths and herbalists have helped many people cure cancer with well-thought out health protocols that include a plant-based vegan diet and detoxification.
There is always hope, even for disease that the mainstream has deemed incurable. Check out Dr. Schutze's Incurables Program and learn how he has reversed "incurable diseases" in tens of thousands of cases. (www.herbdoc.com)
Colon cancer is another horrible form of cancer, but the plant based diet is very protective against colon cancer, and meat is a definite cause of colon cancer.
Of course the SAD diet increases the risk of colon cancer. After all, the meat sits in your intestines for a while because it is hard to digest. This creates toxins in your guts that can lead to cancer.
Eating a plant-based diet can cut your risk of developing colon cancer. Some studies have shown that for every 10 grams of fiber that you eat, your risk of colon cancer decreases by 10%!
The rural Africans eat a diet that is predominantly plant based diet, and they are 50 times less likely to develop colon cancer than an American on the western diet
What more do we need to understand about colon cancer and diet? The answer is clear.
But what about prostate cancer? A low fat plant based diet prevents and reduces recurrence of prostate cancer.
Dr Dean Ornish ran a study on men with prostate cancer. The purpose was to determine the effect of the plant-based diet on cancer progression. The study found that stress reduction combined with a low-fat plant based diet reduces the risk of recurrence of prostate cancer in men.
Adding flaxseeds to your low-fat, plant-based vegan diet can produce even more protection from prostate cancer. The lignans found in flax can help slow the growth of prostate cancer. Flaxseeds will also lower your PSA.
But you have to eat flax seeds in their ground form. We cannot digest whole flaxseeds. Buy your flaxseeds whole and fresh, preferably organic. Keep them in the freezer. Grind them right before using them in a coffee grinder or nutribullet, or add them to a smoothie.
The skin cancer melanoma is yet another cancer that dietary habits can influence. one study found that fruit intake lowered the chance of melanoma recurrence, while meat intake increased the chance of melanoma recurrence.
So what can we take away from all of this? It tells me that no matter what health challenge that you are dealing with, a whole-foods plant-based diet can stack the odds more in your favor. And who doesn’t want a better chance?
8. High Blood Pressure Reversal with the Vegan Diet
Unfortunately high blood pressure is very common. Of course, what is considered high blood pressure these days is questionable.
Not everyone can or should have a BP of 110/60. But the drug companies would love for us to think so, because that means more people on blood pressure drugs.
And anti-hypertensive drugs come with some serious side effects.
So what should you do if you want a healthy heart and a healthy blood pressure?
Eat a plant-based diet of course.
Have you heard of the study where coach-potato vegans had lower blood pressure than runners who were running 48 miles per week? That study says it all.
Now you know I am not suggesting that its ok to be a couch potato. Exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
But the plant-based vegan diet has such a profound healing effect on our cardiovascular systems that it should be the default diet for anyone who wants the best chance of being the healthiest version of themselves.
The plant-based diet lowers cholesterol, thins the blood, opens the bowels, gives our body an abundance of potassium, magnesium, and calcium [the heart minerals].
This helps you lose weight, and helps you feel so much better physically and mentally. You will wonder why you haven’t been eating this way your whole life.
And if you believe that high blood pressure is inevitable as you get older, or that it is caused by genetics and can't be avoided, both are a fallacy.
Don't buy into these myths. Blood pressure doesn’t rise with age in populations where the traditional diet is plant-based.
There is a mountain of evidence out there on the healing power of the plant-based diet on the cardiovascular system.
So if you currently have a higher blood pressure, or you are taking drugs for your blood pressure and you want a better way to control your pressure, go plant-based and be sure to stay hydrated.
If you are on anti-hypertensive drugs and you decide to go on a plant-based diet, your blood pressure will probably start to come down very fast, so you will need to work with your doctor to adjust your medication.
Last but not least, if you have a blood pressure that is very stubborn to respond, you might want to consider a supervised water fast to bring it down. But you will have to find a practitioner who offers that service. (Dr Joel Fuhrman is a doctor who offers supervised water fasts.)
But for most of you, a low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt, plant-based diet will be all that you need to put you on the road to healing. Add 16oz of fresh organic celery juice first thing every morning for even better results.
9. Multiple Sclerosis Improvement with the Vegan Diet
Multiple sclerosis is considered an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system. It usually gets progressively worse overtime.
So is there anything that you can do about it? Or should you just throw in the towel?
Of course you can do something about it. You can empower your body to heal itself under any conditions. Development of MS has been directly linked to the consumption of saturated fat. Other factors include dietary oils and animal foods like meat, eggs, and butter.
Ok, but what if you decide to switch to a plant based diet ... will you get any protection? Yes you will. Vegetable protein sources, beans and lentils, fiber, cereal fiber, vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, and potassium all have a protective effect against MS.
Dr. Roy Swank devised a diet for MS that nothing has been able to touch since for MS. 95% of his patients with early stage MS who followed the diet were without progression 34 years after they adopted the diet. Even his patients with significant MS had profound benefits from the diet.
What was his diet like? For starters, is was low-fat, low-meat, and low-dairy. This diet was an early version of a plant-based diet, where you get most of your calories from whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Fish could be consumed in very small portions and red meat was not allowed for the first year on the diet. After the first year his patients could have 3 ounces of red meat per week. 2 servings of low fat dairy were allowed per day.
Of course with what we now know, the dairy should be thrown out too. This diet is used as an example of what cutting out animal fats can do for your health.
Now I don’t want any confusion, so let's be clear. The whole-foods plant-based diet that does not contain any animal food will be the most healing diet for MS and any other disease. All animal foods cause inflammation, toxicity, altered gut bacteria, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and the list goes on.
Remember if you are trying to heal then your best bet is to go completely plant based.
If you are struggling with MS, you might also want to check out Anthony William's book The Medical Medium. He has had great success with reversing MS.
10. COPD Prevention and Reversal with the Vegan Diet
COPD is a horrible disease that normally gets progressively worse until you need to carry around an oxygen tank just to be able to survive.
It isn’t too hard to imagine what pain and suffering people who have this disease must go through.
Can you imagine never feeling like you can take a deep enough breath to feel like you have enough oxygen in your lungs, always feeling short of breath?
One of the primary risk factors of COPD is smoking ... not a shock there.
But did you know that processed meats such as bacon, bologna, salami, ham, hot dogs, and sausage have been implicated in increasing the risk of developing COPD?
The good news is plant based foods like fruit, soy, tea, and vegetables can help protect us from ever developing COPD.
Studies have shown that every extra piece of fruit that you eat per day protects you from developing COPD, and that fiber from a plant-based diet protects you as well.
But what if you already have COPD? Is it too late to do something about it? I mean, it is supposed to be progressive and incurable, right?
First, never let that thought about any disease poison your mind. Any illness can be reversed ... it is possible.
A study with patients that already had COPD who were fed a few extra pieces of fruit per day found what?
The COPD patients eating the extra fruit did not see their disease worsen. As a matter of fact, their lung function improved some over the 3 years that the study was conducted. Yet more proof that you truly are what you eat.
11. Diabetic Neuropathy Improvement and the Vegan Diet
Diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage that is caused by diabetes. Nerves can be damaged throughout the body, but the nerves in the legs and feet are the ones most commonly damaged in diabetics.
So what can you do if you already have damage? Of course, common sense will tell you to do everything in your power to prevent the damage in the first place. But if you are already damaged, the plant-based diet can help.
Studies have shown that converting to a plant-based diet improves the pain caused by neuropathy.
A 20-week study with two groups of diabetics suffering from neuropathy found that the plant-based group experienced less pain from their neuropathy compared to the control group.
And the intervention group lost an average of 14 pounds compared to control group.
Another study used 21 patients with neuropathy. Their average age was 64. The participants were put on a low fat vegan diet [10–15 % of daily calories from fat] combined with conditioning exercise for 25 days.
Complete relief from pain was experienced by 17 of the 21 participants in 4-16 days. The participants all experienced weight loss, improved blood sugar control, and less insulin needs.
Follow up with the 17 participants at 1-4 years, found that 71% had remained on the diet and exercise program. In all but one of the participants, the pain relief had stayed the same or there was even more improvement!
How is that for hope? Great! You see no matter how hopeless your condition may seem, there is always hope to turn it around if you believe it and take action.
12. Lupus and the Vegan Diet
Lupus is a mystery illness that is considered an autoimmune disease by traditional medicine. Not everyone in the healthcare field agrees with this however. According to Anthony Williams, author of Medical Medium, what we consider autoimmune diseases are actually active long-term infections of Epsteinn Barr.
Considering how many people he has helped heal, I believe that he is on to something. He recommends the plant-based diet while avoiding certain foods and oils to heal.
So this leads us to lupus, a disease that typically worsens overtime until the patient finally succumbs to it. Medical doctors typically try to control the symptoms with steroids and immune suppressant drugs, but the side effects of these drugs can be severe.
So what could you do if you had a lupus diagnosis? The plant-based diet is a great start!. There are also herbs that come into play, but we are talking about the diet here.
How is this for a lupus healing story with a plant-based diet? Brooke Goldner MD battled lupus for years with many brutal treatments including two years of chemotherapy.
This poor soul went through a lot of pain and suffering until one day her husband, a personal trainer, designed a healthy plant-based diet for her that ultimately healed her body of lupus. Her overall health also improved, even her genetic high cholesterol.
Remember genetics don’t have to be your fate. This is not an isolated case, you can beat any disease, even lupus with the right diet and mind set.
13. Cataracts and the Vegan Diet
With cataract surgery being one of the most commonly performed surgeries today, is there any way that you could reduce your risk? You bet!
An interesting study sheds light on how diet can reduce the risk of developing cataracts as you age. The study included four groups: meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians that ate eggs and dairy, and vegans.
Over all, compared to the meat-eaters, the fish only group had a 20% reduced risk of developing cataracts, the vegetarians had a 30% reduction, and the vegans had a 40% reduced risk of developing cataracts over their lifetime.
That is a significant risk reduction!
Imagine never having to worry about cataracts when you get older. Eat a plant based diet and you may never have too.
14. Macular Degeneration and the Vegan Diet
One risk factor for developing macular degeneration is eating a diet low in leafy greens, orange and yellow vegetables, and fruits.
Other risk factors include eating red meat, smoking, aspirin intake, excessive expsoure to blue light screens (such as smart phones and computers), family history and cataract surgery.
So by using this as a guide, you could easily come up with a program to prevent macular degenearation.
This is what it would look like:
Eat a diet rich in kale, collards, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, sweet potato, yellow and orange bell peppers, butter nut squash, berries and fruit.
Reduce or eliminate red meat consumption.
Avoid smoking and exposure to second hand smoke.
Minimize exposure to blue light from smart phones, TV screens and computer screens (amber glasses and amber screen covers can help).
15. Erectile Dysfunction and the Vegan Diet
This subject may get the attention of the men in the audience. Did you know that your penis is a barometer of how healthy your cardiovascular system is?
Why? Because if you are having trouble achieving and maintaining an erection, the arteries going to your penis may be clogged and damaged.
Simply put ... your penis may not be getting enough blood flow.
But don’t fret ... If you start eating the foods that will heal your cardiovascular system [fruits and vegetables] ...
and stop eating the foods that destroy your cardiovascular system, [meat, eggs, and dairy] ...
then soon your flag will fly in all its glory and prominence again!
Increased fruit intake, especially citrus fruit, is great for you penis, so eat up!
Closing thoughts on the Benefits of the Vegan Diet
None of us can afford to ignore the healing power of a plant-based vegan diet.
If you want to live to see a ripe and healthy old age, the plant-based vegan diet can play a huge role in that goal.
Taking care of yourself is one of the most unselfish things that you can do. It will ensure that you will a long, healthy life and that you are around for your family and friends for a long time to come.
There are many guides to get you started out there, and more are coming everyday. Today decide to give yourself and your family the most precious gift of all ... your health.
Sources and Scientific Study Links
Want to delve deeper into this subject? Here is a list of all of the sources we used in this article.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27000627
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24606431
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29017525
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11979439
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17699009
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4698595/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22074852
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10235221
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25533015
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16880425
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16094059
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15134976
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19064574
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25194935
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466938/
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/573287
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3638477
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9839742
https://nutritionfacts.org/2013/05/21/plant-based-diets-for-multiple-sclerosis/
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jan/ms.htm
https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/rccm.200607-969OC
https://www.nature.com/articles/1601370.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16782241
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20150206
Plant based diet and diabetic neuropathy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4450462/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/13590849409003592
https://nutritionstudies.org/from-suffering-with-lupus-to-food-promoting-doctor/
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/preventing-cataracts-with-diet/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21430115
https://www.drfuhrman.com/library/health-concerns/68/macular-degeneration
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2014/413150/
https://nutritionstudies.org/preventing-and-treating-erectile-dysfunction-e-d/
https://www.pcrm.org/news/blog/diet-away-erectile-dysfunction
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