Doing a “fast” from oil may seem extreme, however, the shift in our lifestyles (increased sedentary behaviors, processed food stuff with man-made chemicals, etc.) has caused a radical change in overall health. To “undo” what has been done to our bodies takes what may be seen as “extreme measures”. We need to swing the pendulum to achieve a sense of balance.

During the year in which we worked at UPMC in Central PA during COVID, we were fortunate to work with Michael Parkinson and his team of colleagues who put out this fantastic White Paper on Lifestyle Medicine.

Vodovotz, et. al. Prioritized Research for the Prevention, Treatment, and Reversal of Chronic Disease: Recommendations From the Lifestyle Medicine Research Summit *Frontiers in Medicine*. VOL. 7, 2020. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.585744

Key takeaways from the article are numerous, and nicely depicted in the summary image. Here is the standout related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) to promote what we are doing, verbatim from the article, along with the citations:

“There is emerging evidence to support the benefits of plant-based dietary patterns in primary prevention of CVD. Long-term epidemiologic studies have found that a healthful plant-based diet (that does not necessarily exclude all animal products) was associated with a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes and CVD (42). Small intervention studies have shown that a shift from a typical western diet to a vegan diet substantially lowered a atherogenic gut flora metabolite called trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) which is induced by higher consumption of animal products especially red meat (43). Similarly, circulating lipoprotein (a) (Lp(a)), an established CVD risk factor that was previously thought to be genetically determined, has been shown to improve with plant-based diets (44).”

Citations -

42. Hemler EC, Hu FB. Plant-based diets for personal, population, and planetary health. Adv Nutr. (2019) 10:S275–s283. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmy117

43. Smits LP, Kootte RS, Levin E, Prodan A, Fuentes S, Zoetendal EG, et al. Effect of vegan fecal microbiota transplantation on carnitine- and choline-derived trimethylamine-N-oxide production and vascular inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome. J Am Heart Assoc. (2018) 7:e008342. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.117.008342

44. Garcia-Rios A, Leon-Acuna A, Lopez-Miranda J, Perez-Martinez P. Lipoprotein (a) management: lifestyle and hormones. Curr Med Chem. (2017) 24:979–88. doi: 10.2174/0929867324666170124144427

All the evidence is becoming overwhelming that Lifestyle Medicine is critical for the future well-being of us, our patients, and their families. We have to re-learn that which generations before us knew about health. It is time to return to the “Whole Foods Plant-Based” form of eating habits that will prevent and reverse diseases which are caused by a diet which damage our bodies and our minds.