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- Hi, I'm Susan Taylor
with Scripps Health in San Diego, California.
Remember growing up when your mom said,
"Eat your vegetables, they're good for you."
Turns out, mom was right.
There is growing evidence about the health benefits
of a plant-based diet.
Here to talk about this is Dr. Jennifer Chronis.
She's a family medicine physician
with the Scripps Coastal Medical Center
in Oceanside, California.
Dr. Chronis, thanks so much for being with us.
- Yeah, thanks so much, Susan. Very glad to be here.
- So let's start with the basics,
what is a plant-based diet?
- Yeah, so a plant-based diet
is essentially what the name says,
a diet that is focused on getting the majority
of your nutrients from plant food sources.
- And there's different types of plant-based diets,
let's go through them.
For example, what is vegetarian?
- So all the plant-based diets have in common
where you're gonna get most of your nutrients
from plant sources, foods, vegetables, whole grains,
nuts and seeds,
where they differ is some of the diets,
particularly vegetarian,
can add in some animal sources of food,
such as eggs and dairy products.
- And what about vegan?
- So vegan is a little bit more strict
where it eliminates all sources of animal products.
So you're not eating dairy or eggs or meat.
- So how do you get creative with recipes,
because there's only so many salads that you can eat.
- Yeah, exactly.
Eating a plant-based type of diet,
you do have to be a little bit more creative,
'cause you're not eating as much of a variety,
particularly with the protein sources,
but using different resources
to help with grocery shopping lists
and cookbooks to give you different ideas
can be really helpful.
- So give us an example of what you would eat
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Yeah, so breakfast could be something like avocado toast
or overnight oats with some nut butter and chopped up fruit.
Lunch and dinner could be things like a three bean salad
with different vegetables chopped up,
a kale salad with tempeh and some sunflower seeds,
or something like sweet potato enchiladas.
- And what are the health benefits of a plant-based diet?
- Yeah, the health benefits
to a plant-based diet are numerous.
Metabolically speaking, it will lower your cholesterol,
decrease your blood sugar, and lower your risk of diabetes,
it can help you lose weight,
it can help with body composition,
and it can also have a lot of mood benefits as well.
- So you're basically using food as medicine.
- It's one of my number one things to discuss with patients
to help treat a number of chronic diseases,
as well as lower their risks
of certain diseases and even some types of cancers.
- How much weight can you expect to lose
on a plant-based diet?
- On average, I would say,
if you are following the diet pretty well,
you could potentially lose to about 5 to 10%
of your body weight,
over, I would say, a course of three to six months,
you can expect to start to see the weight come off.
- And meat, chicken, fish, all provide protein,
which we need, right?
So how do you get that protein on a plant-based diet?
- Yeah, so protein is definitely one of the things
you have to be a little more conscious of.
Some of the best plant-based sources of protein I recommend
are soy-based products like edamame and tofu.
Other protein sources can be things like nuts,
seeds, and legumes or beans.
- And are there any risks to plant-based diets?
- That's another thing that I love about this diet
is it's really low-risk and really effective
for a wide range of people.
Because it is a little bit more restrictive,
there are some deficiencies that we have to look out for,
mainly vitamin B12 and omega-3,
as well as iron.
So those are things that I will monitor
and we can always supplement, if need be.
- So who benefits from the plant-based diet?
- Like I said, I think anyone and pretty much everyone
can benefit in eating this way.
And I would say,
it's just important to work with your provider
to monitor for those deficiencies,
possible nutritional deficiencies,
but as long as you look out for that,
most people would benefit.
- Is there anyone who should not be on a plant-based diet?
- I really don't have a lot of restrictions for it.
The one thing that I would encourage patients to do
is to work with your provider,
particularly in cases of things like pregnancy
where we need to make sure you're getting
all the micronutrients that you need,
as well as with aging, protein does become very important,
so in the later decades,
following or paying attention to making sure
that you're getting enough protein is essential.
- And so what should you consider
before starting a plant-based diet?
- What I would say is consider the lifestyle
and sort of the changes you'll need to make
to be able to prepare food
that takes a little bit more planning
and more skills in the kitchen
to potentially put these meals together,
as well as kind of get a baseline assessment
with your healthcare provider
to make sure that we're going to be getting
all the micronutrients you need.
- So to sum it up, any final thoughts,
what's the bottom line?
- Yeah, so again, I would encourage most people
to consider a plant-based diet.
It can help lower your risk of heart disease, strokes,
colorectal cancer, diabetes,
can help you lose weight,
and I just really encourage you
to contact your healthcare provider
and get more information.
- Dr. Chronis, thanks so much for being with us.
We appreciate you taking the time.
- Of course, thanks so much for having me, Susan.
- If you want more information on the plant-based diet,
just click on the link or go to scripps.org/videos.
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At Scripps, we're here for good.
I'm Susan Taylor. Thanks for joining us.
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