Becoming Vegetarian To Lose Weight

This was a photo of me before I became a vegetarian. It was taken in 1987. I had all kinds of health problems (pre-diabetic, acute anemia, scoliosis, headaches, acid reflux, vision loss, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.), before becoming a vegetarian to lose weight and try to get healthier.

Here I am today, after 30 years of eating vegetarian

and Raising Healthy Children that way.

I lost weight easily, without even trying.

I got healthy and I feel terrific!

I’m 63 years old now and I feel like I’m 30!

People say I look like I’m in my 40’s!

 

 

 

Why is becoming Vegetarian To Lose Weight a healthy way to live your life and have radiant health?

The vegetarian diet goes way back in time. It was recorded in the sixth century by the Greeks. Today, many people are becoming vegetarian to lose weight, health, environmental, or ethical reasons.

Vegetarianism and Health

Studies show that people on healthy vegetarian diets have lower risks of:

• Heart disease
• Colorectal, ovarian, and breast cancers
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)[1]

Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., former president of the medical staff at the Cleveland Clinic, writes that you can reverse heart disease with no drugs and only a plant-based diet. He bases this conclusion on the groundbreaking results of his 20-year nutritional study. Backed by solid scientific evidence, he argues that we can end the heart disease epidemic simply by changing what we eat. Dr. Esselstyn recommends a plant-based, oil-free diet that he says can prevent heart disease, stop its progress, and even reverse its effects.[2]

The late Walter Kempner, MD, founded the Rice Diet. He advocated a diet of rice, fruit, and vegetables on the basis that it has the power to do miraculous things for people and help them gain back their health. He treated hundreds of people at Duke University where he prescribed a diet of rice, vegetables, and fruit that reversed hypertension, diabetic eye changes, heart failure, kidney failure, and obesity.[3]

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD, professor emeritus at Cornell University and co-author of The China Study, the most comprehensive human nutrition study to date, advocates a plant-based diet for optimum health. I was fortunate to be part of Dr. Campbell’s class at Cornell University, where he told us:

Plant-based eating is a superior way of eating. Benefits of eating this way: Live longer, look and feel younger, have more energy, lose weight, lower blood cholesterol, prevent and even reverse heart disease, lower your risk of prostate, breast and other cancers, preserve your eyesight in your later years, prevent and treat diabetes, avoid surgery, vastly decrease need for pharmaceutical drugs, keep bones strong, avoid impotence, avoid stroke, prevent kidney stones, keep your baby from getting type 2 diabetes, alleviate constipation, lower your blood pressure, avoid Alzheimer’s, beat arthritis and more.

Dr. Campbell discussed studies he had done on the diseases that arise in populations when meat protein is introduced into the diet. He continued:

My early research gave me the understanding that animal protein, when tested experimentally, was substantially different from plant protein in its ability to promote tumor development. It turned out that animal protein had its effect by operating through a constellation of integrative mechanisms. The division between animal and plant foods was a signpost of a division of the kinds of foods having an effect on cancer.[4]

In Dr. Campbell’s class on plant-based nutrition, I learned of many studies that prove it is possible to be healthy or overcome illness on a plant-based diet. Recently, one study conducted by a team of American and Japanese researchers showed that people who have diabetes can vastly improve their health by eating an entirely plant-based diet.[5] More than 100 million people today have diabetes or pre-diabetes.

The study’s findings agree with my experience. Working with people who have diabetes, I have found they show remarkable improvement in their health and well-being from consuming a plant-based and almost completely raw food diet.

For that study, the researchers also undertook a new meta-analysis—which is considered the highest level of scientific evidence—in which they compared six significant prior research studies. The researchers found a plant-based diet significantly improved blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes, and specifically in a key indicator of blood sugar control called hemoglobin A1c. The participants’ results improved as much as 1.2 points, which was greater than the effect of typical oral diabetes medicines.

The study also combined the results of all of the available studies. It indicated the benefits of excluding dairy (including cheese), eggs, and meat from the diet was as much as 0.7 points in some studies, averaging 0.4 points overall. The participants in most of these studies were not required to reduce their calorie or carbohydrate consumption.

Then, even more compelling is a recent national (US) dietary survey  that was completed with over 6,000 people between the ages of 50 and 65 years old.  It was found that those who reported high protein  intake ( example: eggs, dairy, fowl, pork, cows, lamb, etc.), increased their risk of death by 75 percent.

The study showed a quadruple increase of cancer death during the following 18 years, and a quintuple increase of death from diabetes. The participants with  a moderate intake of protein had  a triple increase in their risk of death due to cancer, when compared with the low protein intake group.

According to Mladen Golubic, MD, PhD, with the Cleveland Clinic, “It is important to note that these associations of death by disease were completely eradicated if the ingested proteins were “plant-derived”.  The composition of complex amino acids, (which are the building blocks of protein), that is derived from animals, acts very differently than the amino acids from plant protein. What we need are amino acids, not the proteins themselves.” (6)

I’ve learned everyone needs to find the diet that works best for them, and find balance in their life. I also know that the quality of the food we eat is vital. From my studies, I believe an organic, plant-based diet can benefit your health, and even heal your body.

If you would like to try a plant-based diet, you may like my book: How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian – Second Edition

It is a best-seller and it just won

Best Diet And Nutrition Book by the Beverly Hills Book Awards, 2017-2018

and

Best Specialty Book of the Year by the Book Excellence Awards, 2017-2018.

Buy it today and find out what it’s like to have radiant health!

Half the book is about nutrition and health the other half is recipes and resources.

Click here to view my 6 award-winning books on my Amazon Author page.

What People are saying about my book:

Best Health and Nutrition Book of this Century

By Dr. Gary Massad

“How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian” 2nd edition, is an excellent book. Having had the opportunity to assist and promote health and nutrition with world-class athletes over the last 25 years; it is my opinion that Nancy Addison’s book is a formula for high-level performance in our daily lives. I can’t imagine a more informative book for the person looking to improve their health. The chapter about sugar is the most complete information available. Nancy is an expert in Nutrition. What you put on the end of your fork is more powerful medicine than anything you will find at the bottom of a pill bottle.”
Gary L. Massad M.D.
-First National Corporate Medical Director and founder of Occupational Health Centers in America. Attending physician to the Iron Man Hawaii; Attending Physician, United States Triathlon Association; Attending Physician United States Tae Kwon Do Association, Attending Physician United States Cycling Federation.

 

How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian

By Michael Hall, DC

“How To Be A Healthy Vegetarian, 2nd edition, is a wonderful book!!
Finally, a book that I can recommend to my patients without reservation. It is concise, well-written, and easy to follow.
Patients and consumers alike are inundated with the number of books, articles, and marketing that surround our eating habits.
This book easily puts the fundamental concepts into one place that anyone can understand and utilize. The recipes are tasty and can be made with relative ease.
For anyone wanting to make a positive and healthy change in their eating habits and their health this is the book for you!”

“I have just finished reading Nancy Addison’s book “How To Become A Healthy Vegetarian.” It is well written, compelling and informative. The health benefits are indisputable. Nancy, being a gourmet chef as well as nutritionist provides some recipes that clearly explain why Nancy’s dinner guests are pleasantly surprised to indulge in a meatless meal. I found Nancy’s book interesting, well researched as well as a fun read that might be very helpful to anyone who would like to be a healthy vegetarian!”

-Louis P. Brady M.D.

 Resources:

[1] Brown University. “Being a Vegetarian: What are the Health Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet?” Retrieved from  http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/nutrition_&_eating_concerns/being_a_vegetarian.php#4

[2] Esselstyn, Caldwell B., Jr. (2008). Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure. Avery Trade.

[3] McDougall, John. “Nutrition in the Medical Clinic Part III” lecture. Plant-Based Nutrition. eCornell University.

[4] Campbell, T. Colin. (2010). “Principles of Nutritional Health. Plant-Based Nutrition.” eCornell University and the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.

[5] Yokoyama, Y., Barnard, N.D., Levin, S.M., & Watanabe, M. (2014, October). “Vegetarian Diets and Glycemic Control in Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” Cardiovascular Diagnosis & Therapy, 4(5), 373–382.

6, Cleveland Clinic, Benefits of Plant Based Diets,  “Online Health Chat with Mladen Golubic, MD, Ph, Friday, April 4, 2014 https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/transcripts/1602_benefits-of-plant-based-diets

 Order: How To Become A Healthy Vegetarian, 2nd edition, and learn Nancy’s simple strategies for living a more radiant, healthy life.

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