In 2019, my then-fiancée (now wife), Deb, and I moved to a rural area in Summerland, British Columbia, right next to a dairy farm. At that point, Deb had already been vegetarian for over a decade, as long as I’d known her. One day, the farmer next door separated the cows from their calves. The calves were moved just far enough away that they couldn’t see their mothers—but they could still hear them. For 48 hours, the grieving mothers and their babies cried out to each other nonstop, calling in vain to be reunited. Deb, a town girl, had never experienced anything like it. When I explained what was happening—that it was the mothers and babies calling to each other—she made the connection and went vegan on the spot. No more dairy; no more eggs.

The Moment Everything Changed

Since I did most of the cooking and grocery shopping, I suddenly had to figure out how to feed a vegan. At that point, I barely knew what veganism even meant. So I started watching health documentaries to educate myself. I began with Forks Over Knives, then moved on to What the Health, Eating You Alive, Cowspiracy, and Earthlings.

Eventually, I found my way to Dominion, an Australian documentary with hidden-camera footage from slaughterhouses.

Ironically, I was eating leftover chicken taquitos when I pressed play. Twenty minutes into the film, I was vegan—and sobbing. I was incredibly moved by what I saw: a side of animal agriculture I thought I understood but had never really confronted. I resolved to never eat animal products again.

At the time, I was obese (305 pounds), with prediabetes, high cholesterol, inflammation, frequent chest pain, gout, acid reflux, arthritis, erectile dysfunction, and constant headaches. I was headed straight toward heart disease, stroke, cancer, and dementia—basically, all the “old man” diseases.

The Pleasant Side Effects of Going Plant-Based

Within two years, I’d adopted a largely whole-food, plant-based diet, quit drinking alcohol, and lost 110 pounds.

I’ve since gained back about 20 pounds (I went a little underweight for a while), but I’ve kept off the bulk of the weight for over four years now. Today, in my mid-50s, I take zero medications. I hardly ever get sick. And you know those claims from The Game Changers about improved sexual performance on a vegan diet? Absolutely accurate—a very pleasant surprise for a middle-aged man.

One of the best parts of this transition has been doing it alongside my wife. Before, we had very different diets; the only overlap was eggs and cheese. Now, we cook together, and I’ve become a much better cook. Removing butter, cheese, and eggs opened up a world of flavor I never appreciated before. Our meals are now colorful, diverse, and delicious. It’s been eye-opening to learn how whole plant foods are high in nutrients and low in calories. Being a big guy with a big appetite, I love that I can pile my plate high without worrying about excess calories, fat, or cholesterol.

This shift didn’t just change my health—it changed our lives. What started as an effort to support my wife’s ethical choices ended up saving my life. The WFPB diet has also drastically reduced our food bill and cut our household waste by about fivefold. No eggs, cheese, or meat has been a boon for the pocketbook.

Today, we run a small vegan animal sanctuary, offering forever homes to goats, sheep, chickens, roosters, ducks, geriatric dogs, and even a python. We garden, steward our permaculture-inspired property, and have become more deeply connected to nature and wildlife than ever before.

All of this stemmed from one simple choice. I encourage anyone to give it a try. You can support your health, the environment, and the animals all by making a change with your very next meal.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post From Bacon-Lover to Vegan: My Unlikely Journey to Better Health appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

What drew you to the field of gastroenterology?

Shilpa Ravella, M.D.: At the core of practicing medicine is this idea that you’re helping people with their most valuable possession, their health. No matter how small a part we play in that, it was something that I felt compelled to do. … And as the years went on, everything I was interested in learning about nutrition and lifestyle and the gut microbiome was so directly relevant to gastroenterology. I just fell in love with the field.

How did you become interested in inflammation?

SR: As I went through my fellowship, I saw a lot of patients who struggled with inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders. They were coming into the clinic and asking, “Is there something I can do with my diet and lifestyle to decrease inflammation?” At that time, folks in Western medicine would think of [an anti-inflammatory diet] as a hoax. I had a lot of questions: Is there a true anti- inflammatory diet? Moreover, what is low-level inflammation, and can it be a root cause of disease? … During the early years of my fellowship, someone very close to me was diagnosed with a devastating autoimmune disorder, and that also compelled me to want to know more about this topic.

What are the top foods that you recommend cutting to reduce inflammation?

SR: Ultraprocessed foods are truly insidious. They’re made in laboratories by companies who want to make them addictive. So you don’t just eat one chip— you’re eating bag after bag after bag and bypassing your body’s regulatory systems. They’re mostly made of whole-food derivatives and additives that we are finding more and more problematic, including artificial sweeteners and some oils that are very inflammatory. So the first step is going back to real foods. Even if you can’t make the shift to a [completely] plant-based diet, make the shift to whole foods.

What have you learned working with patients in Hilo, Hawaii?

SR: At the government-funded rural health clinic [in Hilo], we see a proportion of native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and this particular population experiences the highest rates of death from any type of cancer compared with other racial and ethnic groups of the same age, and the highest incidence of heart disease and stroke and diabetes. … We’re seeing a lot of cancer in young folks here. Part of the problem is that the “local” diet has taken over—a lot of fried foods, very meat-heavy. By contrast, the ancestral Hawaiian diet is largely plant-based. It involves a variety of vegetables, like ulu (breadfruit), which can be prepared in so many different ways, taro (a starchy vegetable), and seaweed. A return to this type of diet is what I push for my patient population. I try to put it in that cultural context: This is the diet that your forefathers followed, and this is a diet that can help you thrive.

Can anti-inflammatory foods cancel out the effects of processed foods?

SR: To an extent, you can indeed dull the inflammatory spikes you get from junk foods by pairing them with something healthy. For example, there are studies that show if you add berries or nuts to processed breads and cereals or some spices to your chicken dinner, you see less of an inflammatory spike as opposed to if you’ve eaten those foods on their own.

I think the biggest problem with that outlook is the opportunity cost, because the goal is not just to prevent inflammation but also to reverse it so that your body has greater potential to heal. Someone who is 90 years old and eating a highly plant-based diet, exercising regularly, breathing clean air, drinking clean water is going to have more potential to resolve the inflammation from, say, an infection, and a more robust immune response as well.

Stamping Out Myths About Inflammation

We asked Ravella to break down some of the most common myths she encounters about inflammation.

Myth #1: Plant foods promote inflammation.

“Certain plant foods or components of plant foods, like nightshade vegetables, gluten, or lectins, are often demonized for being inflammatory,” Ravella says. “However, evidence to date shows that these foods are actually anti-inflammatory and beneficial for human health.”

Myth #2: All inflammation is bad.

“We need some inflammation in our bodies to fight off infections and keep us healthy in other ways. And in fact, increased bodily inflammation is a natural part of aging. It’s when inflammation becomes excessive or deployed without reason that problems arise.”

Myth #3: Anti-inflammatory diets are expensive.

“A true, evidence-based anti-inflammatory diet does not rely on expensive foods or supplements,” Ravella says. “Anti-inflammatory, plant-forward diets—such as traditional Mediterranean, Okinawan, African, Latin American, Native American, Asian, and Hawaiian diets—are rooted in ancient traditions and arise from humble origins.”

The post What We’re Getting Wrong About Inflammation: Gastroenterologist Shilpa Ravella Explains appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Conducted by researchers at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health, the analysis looked at the self-reported diets of a nationally representative group of more than 34,000 American adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers scored each participant’s diet using the dietary inflammatory index (DII), a tool designed to assess inflammation in the diet. The index ranges from -9 to 8, with a score of 0 indicating a neutral diet, lower than 0 indicating an anti-inflammatory diet, and higher than 0 indicating a pro-inflammatory diet.

After completing their assessment, they found that 57% of participants had inflammatory diets. Thirty-four percent had anti-inflammatory diets, and the remaining 9% ate diets with a neutral impact on inflammation. The findings were published in the journal Public Health Nutrition on Sept. 27.

“The overall balance of diet is most important,” the study’s lead author, Rachel Meadows, said in a statement. “Even if you’re eating enough fruits or vegetables, if you’re having too much alcohol or red meat, then your overall diet can still be pro-inflammatory.”

Because factors such as financial adversity can limit access to fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods, Meadows’ team was also interested in identifying how socio-economic factors correlated with dietary inflammation. They found that Black Americans, men, younger adults, and people with lower education and income were more likely than average to have pro-inflammatory diets.

What Is the Dietary Inflammatory Index?

First developed a decade ago, the dietary inflammatory index (DII) is based on more than 50 years of scientific research around the ways foods and other dietary components, including alcohol, spices, and tea, influence inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein.

According to the DII, garlic, turmeric, ginger, and high-fiber foods (i.e., whole grains, fruits, beans, and vegetables) are highly anti-inflammatory. By contrast, the DII indicates that meat, vegetable oils, and refined carbohydrates are pro-inflammatory.

A 2021 umbrella review including data from more than 4 million participants found that the DII was a useful predictor of health outcomes, with pro-inflammatory diets leading to higher rates of chronic diseases.

“Moving toward a diet with less inflammation could have a positive impact on a number of chronic conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even depression and other mental health conditions,” Meadows said.

Inflammation is a necessary tool for healing the body from infection and injury, but excess inflammation can lead to serious health problems over time. Healthy lifestyle choices can prevent and mitigate this type of inflammation.

“There are a lot of factors that contribute to chronic inflammation, and they all interact—even sleep is a key component,” said Meadows. “Diet can be used as a tool to combat that.”

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

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Beyond crowding out inflammatory foods such as processed meats and refined grains, fiber-rich foods help curb chronic inflammation in a variety of ways. Here’s how fiber works its magic.

1. Fiber Feeds Healthy Gut Bacteria

As much as 80% of the immune system resides in the gut barrier lining your intestinal walls. Prebiotic fiber acts as food for the beneficial gut bacteria so they can multiply, increasing the healthy diversity of the microbiome and suppressing inflammatory microbes. “When you [feed] these [beneficial] microbes, they do a number of magical things,” Bulsiewicz says.

For example, when fiber reaches your intestines, the gut microbes produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have the capacity to heal your gut barrier in a cycle that renews every three to four days. A healthy gut barrier acts like a bouncer for your body, letting in nutrients and ushering pathogens, toxins, and other inflammation-causing undesirables straight to the exit.

2. Keeps Visceral Fat in Check

The SCFAs produced by fiber-fed microbes trigger the release of a gut hormone called GLP-1— the same hormone mimicked in Ozempic and other popular weight-loss drugs—that sends the message to your brain that you’re full. This may be why clinical studies have found that higher-fiber diets are linked to significantly lower body weight. High-fiber diets are also tied to lower levels of visceral fat, the deep fat that wraps around the inner abdominal organs and “churns out ‘hidden’ inflammation at all hours of the day,” says Shilpa Ravella, M.D., gastroenterologist and author of A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease. A study in the journal Gut found that faster gut transit time and a healthy microbiome, both byproducts of fiber, are associated with lower levels of visceral fat.

3. Promotes Healthy Blood Vessels

High cholesterol levels and hypertension injure the endothelial cells that line the blood vessels supplying blood to and from the heart. As the body attempts to heal these wounds, it triggers an inflammatory immune response. Studies have found that higher-fiber diets are linked to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, sparing the cardiovascular system this strain and inflammation. Soluble fiber, which is abundant in plant foods, especially beans, green peas, apples, and avocados, actually binds to cholesterol in the small intestine, sweeping it out of the body before it can get into your bloodstream.

A healthy gut barrier, courtesy of fiber, also limits the release of bacterial endotoxins, thus limiting vascular inflammation. “We need to be eating a wide variety of plants in order to optimize the gut microbiome and to be able to prevent or treat inflammation in the body,” Ravella says.

4. Regulates Blood Sugar

Spikes in blood sugar trigger an immune response, causing the body to produce more inflammatory molecules. Because of its physical structure, fiber slows blood sugar absorption and blunts glucose spikes. “This is why eating fruit is not the same thing as eating candy,” says Bulsiewicz. And by producing SCFAs, fiber stimulates receptors in the body that help increase sensitivity to insulin, the hormone released by your pancreas in response to sugar.

In a study published in the journal Nature in February 2024, researchers measured the metabolic responses in 1,000 people after eating a meal. The microbiome was one of the most meaningful predictors of insulin sensitivity, “more powerful than your body shape, more powerful than your age, more powerful than the meal you just ate, and way more important than your genetics and gender,” Bulsiewicz says.

Other Inflammation Fighters

Alongside a fiber-rich diet, keep these strategies in your inflammation-fighting toolbox.

Eat fermented foods

In a 2021 randomized controlled trial out of Stanford University, people who added fermented foods to their daily diet increased microbiota diversity and decreased inflammatory markers.

Exercise

Even when it doesn’t lead to weight loss, regular exercise increases the diversity of the microbiome, decreases inflammatory visceral fat, and reduces inflammatory cytokines.

Manage stress

Chronic stress leads to chronic low-level inflammation. Keep stress in check by getting enough sleep, nurturing social connections, and incorporating practices such as meditation and yoga.

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

The post 95% of Americans Are Missing a Key Nutrient for Curbing Chronic Inflammation appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

As an adult, I continued eating the same way. On top of being overweight, I started experiencing joint pain and gastrointestinal issues. In my 20s I was diagnosed with lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, osteoarthritis, acid reflux, and fibromyalgia. I struggled with constipation for weeks on end. I took medications, but nothing helped. At 25 years old, my health issues forced me to drop out of school and stop working.

In 2018, I had such intense joint pain that I had trouble lifting my newborn son, despite getting regular injections in my shoulders, knees, and ankles to manage the osteoarthritis. I also had anxiety and extremely high blood pressure.

Ready for Change: Ditching Animal Products, Going WFPB

I felt that if I wanted to live much longer, I desperately needed to change. I knew that cutting out meat and junk food and switching to a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet would be good for me, so I started slowly moving in that direction, first cutting out pork and highly processed foods, then beef, then chicken and turkey. I started losing weight, and by the end of 2019, I was down about 80 pounds.

In summer 2023, I cut out salmon (the only animal product I was still eating) and oil and went fully WFPB, with support and inspiration from several plant-based groups I joined on Facebook. Seeing testimonials from other people who transformed their health on a WFPB diet gave me the motivation I needed.

More Energy Than Ever

Today I love eating leafy greens, sweet potatoes, fresh herbs, and all sorts of veggies, fruits, and whole grains, and I’ve lost about 10 more pounds. I feel more energized than ever, and I’m able to manage my chronic pain well enough that I can work out and do yoga. I still have osteoarthritis, but I bounce back from flare-ups more quickly, and I don’t need injections.

I no longer experience acid reflux or constipation. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels are all within the healthy range. I used to go to the doctor weekly; as of this writing, I’ve only been to the doctor one time in the past year, and that was just for my yearly checkup. Since adopting this lifestyle, I’m doing so much better mentally, physically, and spiritually.

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

The post I Said Goodbye to Animal Products—and Acid Reflux, High Blood Pressure, and Debilitating Arthritis Pain appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

A friend convinced me to wait a month, to see if we could manage my symptoms naturally. We went grocery shopping and bought a selection of whole plant foods—nothing prepared, ultraprocessed, or artificial in any way. For the next 30 days, I ate nothing but those foods.

I was supposed to see my doctor again at the end of the 30 days, but I had started noticing improvements in my symptoms, so I postponed the appointment. After another month of eating this way, I continued seeing improvements, so I postponed the appointment again, and so on. I gradually re-incorporated some animal products into my diet; if my symptoms flared up after reintroducing a food, I would cut it back out. A year later, all symptoms of RA had resolved.

The Accident That Changed Everything

Fast-forward to August 2017. I was in great health. I felt like I was living life to the fullest. I was leading a workshop for photography students, hiking through the Grayson Highlands in Virginia, photographing wild horses, and coming down one of the nation’s most beautiful mountain bike trails. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed. A bad accident on a mountain bike landed me in a wheelchair for several months, with a leg full of rods and screws and an injured shoulder.

I went from exercising every day to barely exercising at all, aside from physical therapy. I went from making healthy meals for myself to living on takeout.

With my limited mobility and lack of focus on my diet, I began gaining weight. And although I was learning to walk fairly well, my RA was flaring up. The arthritis pain took over my life and made a full recovery from the accident seem almost impossible.

Finding My Way Back: Embracing the WFPB Lifestyle

In 2023, I knew something had to change. I was in the absolute worst shape of my life. I had gained 60 pounds since the accident. My blood pressure was extremely high, topped only by my horrible cholesterol levels. After contracting COVID-19, I felt tired all the time. My doctors were prescribing all kinds of medications. I knew there had to be a better way to get back to where I’d been just six years earlier.

I started to eat less meat and grow more fruits and vegetables in my garden. Gradually, my aches and pains started to recede. Around this time, I found out about Forks Over Knives and started learning about the science behind a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet. I watched every documentary I could find. On Dec. 26, 2023, I woke up knowing that I’d found my answer. I will never forget that fateful day. My wife walked into the room, and I said, “Good morning. Today is a new day, and by the way, I’m a vegetarian now.” She looked at me, smiled, and said, “Well, I guess I am, too. You’re not doing this alone!”

We joined Forks Meal Planner and started planning out WFPB meals for ourselves. Over the weeks and months that followed, I began to feel better in my body and mind, much like it had happened 20 years earlier. After I cut out dairy, my RA symptoms fully receded.

Living Free of Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms

By April 2024, my blood pressure was in the normal range. I had lost some weight, and I was back to gardening and enjoying the outdoors with zero pain in my joints. My life had been restored.

As of this writing, my wife and I have been full-on WFPB for eight months. We’ve each lost around 25–30 pounds. We continue to use Forks Meal Planner for recipes and meal plans. Some of my go-to dishes are the garlicky mashed potatoes, oven-roasted veggies with garlic mustard sauce, and coconut curry stew. My most recent favorite is vegan elote; it gives me something nice to roast over the fire or on the grill. I also love to snack on air-fried cauliflower poppers and black pepper and vinegar spiced cauliflower bites. I didn’t even know I liked cauliflower until I started this lifestyle!

Going WFPB also provided me with the inspiration I needed to finish a novel I’d been working on for several years. I incorporated my personal health journey into the story. Since publishing the book a few months ago, I’ve received so many messages from people seeking to improve their health through nutrition, as well. It’s been mind-blowing.

I am humbled and honored to be on this path with so many other incredible people and cannot wait to see what comes next. It has been quite the incredible journey so far, and we have only just begun!

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

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Over the decades, I was diagnosed with a slew of other health issues: hormonal skin problems; multiple growths and tumors, including an ovarian cyst that almost resulted in the removal of my ovaries, a nodule on my thyroid gland, and a cyst in my breast; Hashimoto’s disease; a herniated disk in my spine; and more.

I was also plagued with persistent sinus infections, and a menu of antibiotics became a monthly routine. In 1997, I underwent my first of three sinus surgeries. Seeking a holistic approach to my health, I consulted a naturopath, but I ended up in the emergency room with heart palpitations due to low potassium.

Despite all these setbacks, I never gave up on pursuing optimal health. I learned the area where I grew up in California was once home to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a site used for federal studies involving radioactive and nuclear energy, and where toxic contaminants infiltrated the soil and water table. Tragically, many of my friends succumbed to various forms of cancer, prompting me to wonder if my own health challenges were related to my exposure there.

In 2010, I relocated to Arizona with my husband and children. Even in the dry desert climate, my allergies persisted. I sought help from a new otolaryngology surgeon, which led to my third sinus surgery. During my preoperative scans, a small growth was detected on my pituitary gland that would eventually require surgery.

Searching for Answers

I began scouring the internet, watching and reading everything I could find about the connection between food and health. I watched the Forks Over Knives documentary film, which opened my eyes to the world of whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) nutrition and propelled me to seek out the expertise of Caldwell J. Esselstyn Jr., M.D., and his family; Chef AJ; John A. McDougall, M.D.; and more. The more I looked, the more I found. I watched other documentaries, including Food, Inc.; What the Health; and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I read books such as The China Study and Whole by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and How Not to Die by Michael Greger, M.D. I became convinced that WFPB was the optimal diet for health, and I strived to follow this lifestyle.

However, I struggled to stick to this way of eating, particularly when dining with other people. I, myself, was still learning about food and health, and I didn’t know how to explain this “radical” idea of a diet focused on fresh fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains. I couldn’t stay on course.

Serious Setbacks Spur Lasting Change

My pituitary tumor surgery was a success, but it came with complications, including a spinal fluid leak. Then, in 2021, I developed sensory and neurological issues which left me virtually bedridden for 14 months. Dozens of doctors and specialists later, I was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy, which came with the bleak prognosis that it would worsen over time and require medication for the rest of my life.

After facing a period of deep despair, seeking guidance from more specialists and physicians, I decided to again try a WFPB lifestyle to take back some control of my health. My initial goal was just to improve my cholesterol, as my bloodwork had shown elevated total cholesterol (ranging from 230 to 235) and triglycerides (around 155). I had no idea what an impact going WFPB would have on my entire life.

Within a few weeks of going WFPB, my mobility began to return, and the uncomfortable neuropathy sensations gradually began to fade. With these first real signs of improvement, I embarked on a journey of healing, tapping into the support and knowledge of the WFPB community.

Hoping to give my body the space that it needed to heal, I traveled back to California and completed a 14-day water and juice fast at TrueNorth Health Center. This proved to be a life-changing experience, as it helped to accelerate my healing journey.

My WFPB Transformation

It’s been over a year, and my WFPB, gluten-free, SOFAS-free (no added sugar, oil, flour, alcohol, or salt) lifestyle has had profound impacts on my health. While my neuropathy is not completely healed, I’m now without any neuropathic sensations 99% of the time. I am cured of sinus issues. My cysts and growths have disappeared. Numbness in my toe has all but vanished. For the first time in more than 30 years, my hypothyroidism medication has been reduced. Per recent bloodwork, my total cholesterol is 170, and my triglycerides are 102—all within the healthy range. And while weight loss was never a goal, over the last year I’ve lost 37 pounds.

I am still working to reverse osteoporosis and resolve Hashimoto’s and hypothyroid autoimmune symptoms. I am convinced the answers to better health are found in the foods we eat. I’m very aware that, in order to keep inflammation away, I must always stay the course with my WFPB lifestyle.

And there are so many wonderful WFPB foods to choose from. I enjoy simple steamed broccoli, baked potatoes of all kinds, colorful rainbow salads topped with homemade dressing or a squeeze of lemon, veggie sushi with quinoa and tofu, and baked stuffed mushrooms with creamy spinach sauce. For a sweet fix, I love fresh papaya and berries, or nice cream made from frozen bananas topped with baked pears and cherries, dusted in cinnamon. My favorite snacks include apples and walnuts, sugar snap peas with homemade oil-free hummus, and fresh fruits.

I have started a YouTube channel and I’m currently becoming certified in plant-based nutrition coaching, as a way to share my knowledge with others, with the hope of helping people heal from conditions they suffer from and lead happier, healthier lives. 

My health journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the transformative power of food, and the remarkable impact of a supportive community. Life, to me, is no longer about mere survival but about healing, thriving, and savoring every precious moment.

To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer. For meal-planning support, check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

The post On a WFPB Diet, I’ve Overcome a Lifetime of Health Issues appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

In college, my interest in health grew, as I battled mild but persistent acne. One day I ventured into a New Age bookstore and thumbed through a book on healthy living to find the section on skincare. To my astonishment, the top recommendation to help reduce acne was to cut out dairy. I decided to try it and see what happened. Within a week, my skin started to clear up. Within a month, it looked better than it had in years. I resolved to make it my profession to help others achieve health through diet and lifestyle changes.

During my training as a naturopath in the late 1990s, I was taught that vegetarian diets were healthiest, but my skeptical nature had me thinking otherwise. So when I stumbled upon the concept of “Paleolithic nutrition”—which holds that humans are best suited to low-carb, high-fat diets—I was intrigued. I read the few books available on the subject at the time. The reasoning appealed to me, and I ended up spending the first 10 years or so of my practice following this approach and teaching it to my patients, with, at times, good results.

From Paleo to Plant-Based: The Experiment Begins

About 15 years ago, I made the decision to focus my practice on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. As a physician whose primary tool was lifestyle medicine, my efforts to better understand the causes and the best drug-free (or at least drug-limiting) treatment options brought me to the work of Caldwell Esselstyn, M.D. I learned how he was able to help patients dramatically improve their cardiovascular health using a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet. I was shocked: a high-carb, low-fat vegan diet?! I thought this was unhealthy, even deadly. But the more evidence I reviewed, the more I saw that Esselstyn was correct.

It was a challenging time. I’d really believed I was helping patients over the previous decade. Now I realized that by encouraging them to eat paleo, I may have harmed them in the long run. I accepted that I needed to learn more about the WFPB way of eating. It was time for a new experiment: I would go WFPB for six weeks, before deciding whether to recommend it to my patients. I’m an all-or-nothing type of person, so I took the plunge overnight.

Seeing the Evidence Firsthand

It took a few weeks for my intestines to adjust to the increase in dietary fiber, but after that, I started really feeling good. I noticed more of a lightness to my physical and mental state, more energy, and less stiffness upon waking.

There were other surprising benefits, too. I’ve been involved in different sports throughout my life and am still an avid basketball player. Prior to going WFPB, I was less and less able to recover from hard play in a timely fashion. After making the switch, I started recovering much more quickly.

I like to run bloodwork on myself every few months, and prior to going plant-based, I had a slightly higher C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) than I would have expected. Within a couple months of going WFPB, my CRP dropped to an undetectable level, and my cholesterol dropped to a range that would make any cardiologist think I was taking a statin. Seeing those numbers convinced me to commit to this 180-degree turn in my personal life and medical practice: I was all in on WFPB.

The Right Choice

It has been 13 years since then, and I can say without a doubt it was the right choice. I’ve continued to enjoy intense workouts, quick recovery times, and low inflammation and low cholesterol—as well as delicious plant-based meals. Some of my favorites lately include black bean tacos, lentil soup, and tofu scrambles with potatoes and veggies.

I am so grateful to have discovered the benefits of WFPB eating. My patients and I are much better off for it.

Beyond Diet: 4 Pillars of Heart Health

A healthy plant-based diet is the most powerful tool in my arsenal for helping patients optimize their heart health in the long term. Many other aspects of our lives and habits can have an impact. These are four areas outside the realm of eating that I focus on with clients in my naturopathic medicine practice.

1. Don’t skip the dentist.

Unhealthy teeth and gums can become a reservoir of harmful bacteria that can leach into your bloodstream and injure blood vessels, making them more vulnerable to plaque formation. Regular dental checkups and cleanings can go a long way toward maintaining heart health!

2. Prioritize sleep.

Poor sleep in general has a negative impact on many aspects of health and resiliency, and sleep apnea is an especially potent contributor to poor cardiovascular health. If you snore, wake often during the night, and/or don’t feel well rested in the morning, talk to your doctor about having your sleep evaluated.

3. Move frequently.

Sitting for too long is harmful, even if you get in a daily workout at some point during the day. To all my patients, I recommend making a point of frequently getting up and moving around briefly throughout a day when they’d otherwise be sitting.

4. Extend your exhale.

Take about 5 minutes twice a day to focus on slow breathing, where each exhale is about twice as long as the inhale. This reduces sympathetic nerve activity and can help alleviate stress and lower blood pressure.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path. To learn more about a whole-food, plant-based diet, visit our Plant-Based Primer.

The post From Skeptic to Believer: Why I Ditched Paleo for a Plant-Based Diet appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

What prompted you to go whole-food, plant-based?

Linda Tyler: I became a vegetarian in college and then a vegan years after that. Both these choices were for animal welfare reasons, which is what resonated with me the most during that time. Then in 2015 I went to the Vegetarian Summer Fest in Pennsylvania, where there were a number of speakers, including Dr. T. Colin Campbell, talking about using a healthy plant-based diet for chronic disease prevention. I was amazed that a vegan diet could be so good for my health as well as good for animals and the planet. After that I started figuring out how to eat more whole foods, less oil, less sugar, less white flour, and it just evolved from there. It’s now been nine years since I started following a Forks Over Knives–style diet. 

What inspired you to write an anti-inflammatory cookbook? 

LT: I worked in nonprofits for nearly 30 years, and then I overlapped those last few years with creating whole-food, plant-based recipes and hosting cooking demos. Cooking has been a second career for me, but it’s really my true passion. I’m a researcher by nature, so when I first started hearing about inflammation and diet, I wanted to know what it was all about. There’s a history of osteoarthritis in my family, and as I’ve eaten more and more anti-inflammatory foods over the last few years, I’ve noticed a knuckle in my thumb that was developing an issue has since calmed down. I’ve noticed my skin is better, I have more energy, and my menopause symptoms have receded ever since I started eating anti-inflammatory foods. I became fascinated, and wanted to share everything I learned with other people in this new book. 

Everyone wants to know: What exactly is inflammation?

LT: Inflammation is the result of your immune system reacting to irregularities in the body. So in that regard, it’s a completely natural process. The immune system reacts to bacteria or viruses or toxins that get into our system, [leading to] swelling, redness, and pain as the immune cells do their work to fend off invaders. That saves our lives. But the immune system also reacts to irregularities caused by our modern lifestyle. Immune cells can attack cholesterol that’s accumulated on our arteries, which leads to an increased chance of strokes or heart attacks. They can also react to excess fat cells in our bodies and lead to hormonal disruptions. They can respond to oxidative stress in the body caused by sugar spikes in the blood, which makes things difficult for people who have Type 2 diabetes. And finally, immune cells can react to compounds in certain types of foods, such as saturated fat.

How does diet play a role in inflammation? 

LT: Our diet can play a pretty significant role in dialing up or dialing down inflammation. Saturated fat encourages immune cell reactions and promotes leaky gut, which then lets other toxins into the bloodstream. High sugar spikes from processed foods are a big problem, and animal products can have bacteria called endotoxins that are also very pro-inflammatory. Avoiding foods that contain lots of oil, sugar, and white flour is one way to start taming inflammation. On the positive side, antioxidants found in plant foods really help to decrease the oxidative stress in the body, which helps prevent the immune system from overreacting. Berries, dark red or purple fruits, cruciferous vegetables, whole grains, beans, ginger, and turmeric are all particularly anti-inflammatory. I have a whole list of anti-inflammatory superstars in one of my introductory chapters, but in general, a whole-food, plant-based diet is much better than a standard American diet in terms of calming inflammation.

Tell us more about what people can find in your new anti-inflammatory cookbook.

LT: It starts with an in-depth but approachable look at what inflammation is on a biological level. I know whole-food, plant-based cooking can be intimidating, so I’ve included sections where I talk about cooking techniques like water-sautéing and batch cooking to help people navigate this style of cooking with more ease. And after that, I worked hard to create the best recipes I possibly could using the anti-inflammatory superstars.

You have a unique approach to formatting your recipes. Can you explain how they’re structured?

LT: The recipe instructions are formatted using the “action method,” which means the ingredients are grouped within the instructions and appear as they’re needed. I like this approach because it makes it easy to prep parts of the recipe before you make the whole thing. I would often do a little bit of meal prep before I left for work, and this style lets you see at a glance which ingredients could be prepped and stored together versus having to wade through the instructions to find out how and when they’re needed.

What do you hope readers gain from the book?

LT: I want them to have not just a better understanding of inflammation, but also the knowledge that  anti-inflammatory ingredients are as close by as their local grocery store. None of these are expensive supplements or things you have to go to a health food store to get. And I also want people to see how many delicious ways there are to incorporate whole plant foods on their plate. 

What would you tell a younger version of yourself now that you’ve acquired such expertise on anti-inflammatory diets?

LT: I certainly wish I’d known about plant-based eating when I was younger. In my teens and twenties I focused mostly on my weight and my running stamina as the only indicators of health, because that’s all I knew about. Now I understand much more how diet is related to our risk of chronic disease and the possibility of living with vitality as we age. When I was a kid I just ate what my parents put in front of me. It would be so much nicer if kids could grow up with a holistic view of what health really means so they can make choices about what to eat. My goal has always been to be a strong person inside and out, and I think healthy plant-based eating is integral to that goal. 

Want to give anti-inflammatory eating a try? Check out Tyler’s Vegetable Tikka Masala recipe from The Plant-Based Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook to get a taste of how delicious and easy it can be!

The post Linda Tyler’s New Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook Showcases the Power of Healing Foods appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Inflammation is a protective response of the body to clear infections, repair tissues, and heal itself after injury. But when inflammation sticks around too long and becomes chronic, it can negatively impact your health. Read on for more information about inflammation and how dietary changes can help.

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is a protective response of the body to clear infections, repair tissues, and heal itself after injury. Signs of inflammation include redness and warmth from increased blood flow; swelling from increased blood vessel permeability; pain; and loss of function. A common example of inflammation occurs after spraining an ankle. When injured, the ankle may swell up and become red, warm, and painful. The inflammatory process is necessary for efficient healing and restoration of function.

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Types of Inflammation

Inflammation can be divided into two broad categories: acute and chronic. Acute inflammation is characterized by rapid onset and resolution, such as a sprained ankle or strep throat. For example, when you get strep throat, one of the first responses of the body is acute inflammation. Inflammatory mediators in the body promote increased blood flow and vessel permeability, which helps get specialized immune cells to the infection site. As the body clears the infection, the inflammation subsides.

Chronic inflammation is more persistent, lasting several weeks, months, or even years. Chronic inflammation can follow acute inflammation, such as when infections are difficult to clear, or it can develop slowly over time. This smoldering inflammatory process is what we see in many chronic diseases, such as atherosclerosis or some autoimmune conditions. If inflammation sticks around for too long, it can cause damage to the body, scarring of tissues, chronic pain, and overall dysfunction.

The Causes of Inflammation

Inflammation has a number of causes: infectious agents, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites; tissue injury and damage; disease processes, such as autoimmune conditions; and toxins and pollutants, such as alcohol, tobacco products, medications, and air pollution.

What Does Inflammation Have to Do with Diet?

Inflammation is at the root of many chronic diseases, and diet plays an important role in this process. In a 2013 systematic review of 46 individual studies, German researchers looked at blood levels of an inflammation marker called C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is often used by doctors to get a sense of inflammation levels in the body and to help determine the risk of cardiovascular problems, such as a heart attack. The researchers found that CRP was consistently elevated in meat-based “Western” patterns of eating and decreased in diets rich in fruits and vegetables. In a 2015 interventional study published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine, researchers put over 600 people on a whole-food, plant-based diet and saw CRP levels plummet, along with total cholesterol, blood pressure, and BMI.

Taken together, the studies suggest eating a healthy diet can reduce inflammation in the body. But the question remains: Does a plant-based diet directly reduce inflammation, or does eating plants just not inflame the body in the first place? The answer might be both. Whole plant foods are loaded with phytonutrients, many of which have anti-inflammatory properties and may help the body to heal more quickly and put the brakes on inflammation. However, plant-based diets also lack or are low in many inflammatory triggers. Animal products contain high amounts of fat, a likely cause of inflammation. However, plant foods are low in fat, so eating these foods doesn’t cause a huge inflammatory response. Plant-based diets are also lower in toxins such as industrial pollutants, which would otherwise cause damage to tissues in the body and trigger inflammation. Lastly, plant-based diets have a low bacterial load. Many bacteria produce toxins called lipopolysaccharides that get released when the bacterium dies. Animal products are a breeding ground for bacteria and their pro-inflammatory bacterial toxins. By choosing plants, we reduce the amount of bacteria, pollutants, and other pro-inflammatory components in our diet, and can, therefore, avoid the reactive inflammatory response that is so characteristic of animal-based foods.

Ready to get started? Check out Forks Meal Planner, FOK’s easy weekly meal-planning tool to keep you on a healthy plant-based path.

This article was originally published on Nov. 27, 2018, and has been updated.

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