A Pandemic Beyond COVID-19 - Plant Based Eating is a Solution

It’s a fact… life as we knew it has changed forever. So much of what we took for granted is now a fading memory.

Simple things like a hug or handshake used to be encouraged. There are studies about the health benefits of hugs, now they are restricted throughout the world.

We’ve been given “life-saving” guidelines to live by. Guidelines intended to keep us as safe as possible. You would have to live under a rock to not have heard the guidelines.

It started with common sense strategies that many people were already doing while others need to remind themselves constantly to take these steps.

-Wash your hands throughout the day
-Wipe counter tops, doorknobs, handles, etc.
-Cover your mouth with the crook of your arm when coughing and/or sneezing

Then we were asked to…

-Social distance (aka physical distancing)
-Stop shaking hands
-Do no hugging

Then we were asked to

-Stay at home
-Don’t wear face masks….Oh wait… wear face masks
-Avoid all nonessential trips from home and/or shopping

Now we are asked to

-Wear masks while walking or running
-Immediately strip down and throw our clothes in the washing machine if we did go out in public
-Figure out how to pay bills regardless of the fact 16,000,000 unemployment claims have been filed

Grocery shopping

-The rules at the grocery store changed dramatically. At most stores, shoppers are required to wait until enough distance from other shoppers is evident before being let in the store.
-Arrows on the floor indicated which direction you can go in down an aisle.
-Wait behind a line before approaching the checkout.

Granted, these are the changes we are getting used to in order to minimize our risk of contracting the virus.

Even though those of us who are healthy are not exempt from getting the virus, we likely have less of a chance for complications should we contract it.

Why? Due to a healthy immune system. A healthy immune system doesn’t 100% guarantee we won’t get complications, but it does minimize the chances.

Food Does Matter

Risk of complications IS directly related to what we eat. It has been proven, with science, that eating a diet rich in whole foods that are plant based, void of all meats, dairy and processed foods do improve most people’s health.

Many people are failing to look at the truth of what they consume impacting their risk factors, even though it’s likely food is one of the most important parts of the mix.

I’m Calling You Out Dr. Fauci

I look forward to the day the CDC, Dr. Fauci, and other “powers that be” make healthy food consumption part of the guidelines. Yet, I doubt this will ever happen.

Our society is so engrained into eating meat and dairy, that if you think not having toilet paper upsets people, try taking their virus spreading meat away.

When you look at the people most impacted by complications from the virus, there is no doubt whatsoever their lifestyle choices play a big part in all of this.

As many as 70% of COVID-19 deaths are due to the underlying cause of obesity. It’s a fact, being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the common type of diabetes, type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease, respiratory problems and other conditions that are more deadly than ever due to COVID-19. http://plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/covid-19-eliminate-underlying-causes/

I CAN’T GIVE UP CHEESE

“God no! I can’t give up my cheese. I LOVE cheese!” is the battle cry of people near and far. Yet, it’s the very thing they love that seriously does not love their health.

“It’s so radical to expect people to give up their meat,” someone said to me in a recent conversation.

Really?!?! I would think all the things we are being conditioned to give up (or add) more every day is considerably more radical than making dietary changes that can give us a much better quality of life.

There are plenty of people who don’t want to hear this. They are not willing to give up unhealthy foods that are literally putting them at very high risk.

Real People, Real Turnarounds

There is plenty of evidence, beyond the science, that eating a whole-food, plant-based diet results in major changes for real people.

One person who reversed his health from one of disease, obesity and depression is my good buddy, Brian Rodgers.

Diabetes, constant fatigue, high blood pressure, multiple co-morbidity, hypertension, sleep apnea, emergency room visits, and severe high collateral were constant companions of Brian Rodgers before he discovered the healing power of a plant-based lifestyle. Read more of his story here…http://plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/plant-based-diet-105-pounds-to-better-marriage/

Another amazing turnaround was experienced by Kate McGoey-Smith. How does someone go from morbidly obese, diagnosed with Type II diabetes, severe heart failure, sleep apnea, idiopathic pulmonary hypertension and going blind, needing to carry an oxygen tank everywhere, to releasing 120 pounds, reversing many of her diseases, getting her sight back and now viewed as a leader in the plant-based community?

Kate did and freely shares her experience with anyone who wants to do the same.

Read more of her story here http://plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/plant-based-diet-kate-mcgoey-smith-...

Isn’t it time we got serious about what’s causing so much of the problem with COVID-19 complications? We can bury our head in the sand and pretend it’s not what we consume, but that level of ignorance is keeping people sick, living a life that is filled with disease, depression, complications and being at the mercy of a broken healthcare system.

A Broken System

We can tippy toe around the issue or we can make a much-needed change. The fact is our healthcare system was overburdened long before the current epidemic.

It was overburdened due to lifestyle choices that many people refuse to take responsibility for. The epidemic forced us to look at how broken it is.

Part of the broken system is not making healthy foods easily accessible in some areas. Areas that are actual food deserts.

If healthy foods are not available, it can be near impossible for people in these areas to eat healthy … even if they want to.

Sure, they may know what to do, but without the “how” available, they are subjected to a food supply system that is a huge part of the problem.

In some areas, even if people want to eat healthy, they may not be able to for one simple reason, the food is not available. These people live in what is referred to as a food desert.

A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis.

For some, it is nearly impossible to find stores that carry produce and healthy food choices.

School Snacks Suck

Another part of the problem are the foods children are fed at school. The lack of nutritious choices is horrendous. Feeding children lunches filled with chemicals, saturated fat, and minimal nutrients needs to stop…now!

Obesity in young people is increasing every day as are diseases that were once considered adult diseases like Type II Diabetes.

Let’s get serious about this. Children are at the mercy of a system that claims to care about their well-being, but in reality, doesn’t.

The reality is, children are being subjected to subsidized programs that keep unhealthy meat and dairy on their plates. The very meat and dairy that comes from factory farms. The very factory farms that are breeding grounds for diseases and viruses.

According to a post on FoodRevolution.org, “The United States Department of Agriculture purchases hundreds of millions of dollars worth of agricultural products and gives them to schools for free. (The government does this to stabilize food prices and to ensure demand for the country’s agricultural goods.)

“Free food may sound good, especially when funding is so limited. But in 2015, 64% of the program’s spending went to meat, dairy, and egg products. Virtually all these products came from factory farms.”

Use the Downtime Wisely

With schools currently shut down throughout the United States, this is a great time to evaluate how to improve the food choices that will be made available to our children once schools open up in the future.

Why in the world would vending machines filled with sodas, sugary drinks, potato chips, candy and other health compromising snacks be made available in elementary and high schools throughout the country? In a word, “Money!” In another word, “Greed.”

Some schools have banned sodas, but this has had little impact. According to an article in the New York Times, “State laws that ban soda in schools — but not other sweetened beverages — have virtually no impact on the amount of sugary drinks middle school students buy and consume at school, a new study shows.” https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/soda-bans-in-schools-have-limi...

A Different Kind Of Pandemic

The problem is not a little one. It’s huge. It’s beyond comprehension. It’s a pandemic in and of itself.

Like COVID-19, it requires a major overhaul. One that WILL inconvenience people. One that will require people make major changes to their behaviors. One that requires people be as committed to the changes as they are with washing their hands, physical distancing, wearing masks, staying at home and realizing these changes will not only minimize their risks of diseases we have come to see as “normal,” but will give them a quality of life they deserve.

Will it be easy? Absolutely not. It definitely will be very tough for people to make these changes.

Yet, what’s tougher, making changes to how and what we eat, or living a life of restrictions due to health conditions that could have been prevented.

Again, you can believe you are helpless and at the mercy of diseases and viruses like COVID-19, or you can decide right here, right now you are taking your life back.

The first step is educating yourself. There is plenty of information available via the Internet, blogs like this, podcast shows, books, videos and social media groups dedicated to raising awareness.

Don’t you deserve to live fully, be healthy and get the upper hand on disease and COVID-19?

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of downsides to COVID-19, but there are powerful upsides. One of the greatest upsides is knowing when the desire is there, change can be made fast.

If the entire world has changed their driving habits, social behaviors, hand washing and physical distancing literally overnight, we CAN change other behaviors.

First, we must make the decision. We must want the change in order to for the change to happen. We must look at the big picture.

Doing so just may give us a quality of life we have been wishing for, but until we change what we consume, will remain a wish.

Let’s turn the wish into reality.