Lately it seems like we have a plethora of epidemics in our country. There’s been recent focus on the obesity & diabetic epidemics in the news so I decided to do some reading on the matter. My researching lead me to a Dr. Joel Fuhrman who is a Medical Doctor on the East Coast specializing in plant-based nutrition therapy. Most Doctors these days have very little (if any) nutritional training & subsequently don’t have much input other than (“eat healthy”) with regard to how diet & lifestyle choices affect those with health challenges or the millions of people facing an “epidemic” such as diabetes or obesity.
What’s more noteworthy of Dr. Joel Fuhrman is he’s recently written a book called “How to Disease Proof your Child” which highlights the fact that the majority of lifehood disease & health challenges are brought on because of poor nutrition in the early formative, first 10 years of life. That’s right, we can all live a healthy life & more importantly help our children to be disease free in their future by sticking to our guns & teaching them the basics of nutrition & leading by example. Sounds great right? Well yes & no. This could be a great opportunity to really teach our kids how to eat right & have good lifestyle habits like regular cardio & weight bearing exercise, however unless we are modeling this behavior & know a little about nutrition this might seem a little daunting.
When I first got started in the lifestyle things were not super easy. I didn’t know a lot of the scientific reasons behind why I ate the way that I did (when I was unknowingly following a Standard American Diet S.A.D). Even when I stuck my flag in the sand & decided to really make the most out of my dietary choices & give up meat & dairy I still found the act of changing my habits a challenge. There would be some days I made great food decisions & others not so much. I believe that these changes for me were difficult at the time because what I didn’t know was in fact hurting me & I didn’t have enough facts to really stand firm. That’s what I like best about Dr. Fuhrman. He makes this shift of mindset from obligation to investment an absolute no brainer. Because he’s a Doctor & researcher at heart his book is loaded with tons of information on how to prevent disease by feeding our children the right things. He also is a father of four so he definitely can relate to what kids like or don’t. He even shares how his teenage daughter (even though she doesn’t prefer to eat plant-based all the time) will be sure to have her green veggies, whatever variety they may be before she goes out because she understands the importance of eating to live & not living to eat. This is definitely the mindset I’d like my children to have when they are older.
While Doctor Fuhrman has a few books, and a thriving practice he’s one of the few plant-based nutritionally educated physicians in the United States at present & no doubt he’s paving the way for the next generation to come. He’s even recently appeared on the Dr. Oz program promoting his books & the benefits of abstaining from meat & dairy products in direct relationship with disease prevention, & weight loss.
If there’s one thing we’re all open to when facing an epidemic it’s change. When the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change then we will. It’s that simple. And Dr. Fuhrman’s book & work are fantastic fighters against the epidemics we face today.
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