Dr. Michael Greger Answers the Question, Why Plants and Not Meds?

In this interview with Dr. Michael Greger, he answers the question, Why Plants and Not Meds? Dr. Greger, is a physician, founder of NutritionFacts.org, New York Times bestselling author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. Both his latest books, How Not to Die and the How Not to Die Cookbook, became instant New York Times Best Sellers.

1. According to the CDC, American doctors prescribed 2.8 billion drugs in 2013, representing analgesics, anti-hyperlipidemic agents and antidepressants.  How does a whole foods plant based diet decrease the need for these type of prescriptions?

It’s shocking, isn’t it? And there are 2 other classes of meds at the top of this list as well—for diabetes and high blood pressure. Interestingly, the majority of meds we prescribe in the US are for chronic lifestyle diseases (like obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes), even though the best available evidence says that these kinds of diseases are most effectively treated by address the root cause with lifestyle modification rather than pills and procedures. About 80% of chronic diseases may be prevented, reversed, and treated with lifestyle (including eating a whole food plant-based diet, exercising, and smoking cessation).

2. In How Not to Die you discuss how our number one killer in America, heart disease is a food borne illness, how does a whole foods plant based diet reduce the risk of heart disease and reverse it?

Well to understand heart disease, we need to understand the function of our arteries. Our arteries are not just rigid pipes, they are living breathing organs that actively dilate or constrict.   Depending on what’s needed, they thin or thicken the blood, release hormones, and it’s all controlled by the single inner layer, the endothelium, making it the body’s largest endocrine organ, the largest hormone-secreting organ, weighing a total of three pounds all gathered up, with a combined surface area of 700 square yards (more than a basketball court!)

We used to think the endothelium was just an inert layer lining our vascular tree, but now we know better. The endothelium is directly involved in peripheral vascular disease, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, insulin resistance, chronic kidney failure, tumor growth, metastases, venous thrombosis (blood clots), and severe viral infectious disease. Dysfunction of the vascular endothelium is thus a hallmark of human disease. What causes the endothelium to cripple? Saturated fat (found predominantly in animal-based foods like meat, dairy, and eggs). What does the science show is the healthiest food for our endothelium? Food rich in fiber (such as whole plant foods).

3. For many people is seems counter intuitive to treat and reverse type 2 diabetes with a whole foods plant based diet, how does it work? Do plants work better than pills for type 2 diabetes?

Indeed! Most diabetics who take pills or insulin never get off these meds, and despite this treatment, they will still die, on average, 10 years earlier than their non-diabetic peers. In contrast, a whole food plant-based diet treats the cause of the problem, rather than putting a bandaid on it. Once a person shifts to a plant-based diet, the blood sugar may correct so quickly that it’s critical for people on blood sugar or blood pressure lowering medications make healthy changes to their diet under physician supervision so they can be weaned off the drugs appropriately. Plant-based diets are also one of the only effective treatments for the painful nerve condition (diabetic neuropathy) that plagues diabetics as well as diabetic retinopathy (vision loss).

4. What is the most important message you want everyone to understand about a whole foods plant based diet?

There is only one diet that’s ever been proven to reverse heart disease in the majority of patients, a plant-based diet. If that’s all a plant-based diet could do—reverse our #1 killer of men and women, then shouldn’t that be the default diet until proven otherwise? And the fact that it can also be effective in treating, arresting, and reversing other leading killers like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, would seem to make the case for plant-based eating simply overwhelming.

5. Do you have advice for people who want to transition to a whole foods plant based diet but their doctor is not supportive and thinks they should remain on pills?

I always encourage people to work with their healthcare providers. In most circumstances, you’d probably want to remain on your meds WHILE you make lifestyle changes. Then, once you’ve lost the weight, got your cholesterol and blood pressure down, reversed your diabetes, etc., your doc will want you to taper off your meds, and you can navigate the best way to do that together. Since lifestyle can be more powerful than pills, it’s always important to let your healthcare provider know that you’re making lifestyle changes, and let them monitor you so that you don’t get dizzy, get low blood pressure, or low blood sugar from having too much medication on board. And if they’re not willing to work with you, you need a new physician!

6. The scientific evidence supporting a whole foods plant based diet has been around for decades, why do doctors not prescribe this first before pills?

Doctors have a severe nutrition deficiency–in education. Most doctors are just never taught the impact healthy nutrition can have on the course of illness and so they graduate without this powerful tool in their medical toolbox. There are also institutional barriers, such as time constraints and lack of reimbursement. In general, doctors simply aren’t paid for counseling people on how to take care of themselves. Of course the drug companies also play a role in influencing medical education and practice. Ask your doctor when’s the last time they were taken out to dinner by Big Broccoli!

7. Many people think drugs, surgery or calorie restrictive diets are necessary for weight loss so how can someone eat a whole foods plant based diet, not count calories and lose weight?

Well, according to the research, plant-eaters may burn more calories in their sleep! Those eating more plant-based diets appear to have an 11% higher resting metabolic rate. Plant-eaters just naturally seemed to have a revved-up metabolism, compared to those eating a Standard American Diet (SAD). You get such a mountain of nutrition for so few calories, we can eat as much as we want and weight naturally normalizes.

8. What is the one objection, myth or excuse about the whole foods plant based diet that you would like to put to rest?

Hmmm, how about clearing up the confusion about beans! They’ve been in the tabloids lately, but not because the science has changed. The science has always said we should all eat more beans! Studies looked at groups of long-lived people. Whether it was the Japanese eating their soy, the Swedes eating their brown beans and peas, or those in the Mediterranean eating lentils, chickpeas, and white beans, only for legume intake was the result plausible, consistent, and statistically significant from the data across all the populations combined. We’re talking an 8% reduction in risk of death for every 20 gram increase in daily legume intake. That’s just like two tablespoons worth! So if a can of beans is 250 grams and you get 8% lower mortality for every 20 grams, maybe if you eat a can a day you’ll live forever? Let’s find out!