I Reversed My Diabetes in 5 Months on a Plant-Based Diet

In just five months, David Rivest reversed a disease that millions spend decades just trying to manage.

At 73, I Went Plant-Based and Said Goodbye to Obesity, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease, and Arthritis

A heart attack in his mid-60s impressed upon Rick McKeon the importance of changing his lifestyle. But he didn’t find the right formula until age 73, when he set some simple guidelines for himself and finally made healthy eating habits stick.

What Giving Up Meat, Dairy, and Processed Foods Did for My BMI, Blood Pressure, and Cholesterol

Brittany Jaroudi was only 25 years old when high cholesterol, obesity, and other health issues motivated her to change her diet and dramatically change her life.

I Conquered My Diabetes and Lost Over 150 Pounds By Going Plant-Based

Diabetes rates have reached record highs in recent years, impacting hundreds of millions of people worldwide and more than 30 million people in the U.S. alone. James William Booth shares how he reversed the disease and lost 150 pounds.

Why I Quit the Keto Diet

Exercise physiologist Drew Harrisberg details his reasons for quitting the keto diet and going plant-based instead.

How Going Plant-Based Helped Me Overcome Depression

At 27 years old, Dominique Linden was suffering from severe depression and obesity and related health problems. 

How I’m Beating Kidney Disease on a Plant-Based Diet

Kelly Lawrence suffered from gradually worsening kidney disease for more than 20 years, but she didn’t want to begin dialysis. Fortunately, after adopting a plant-based diet, she didn’t need to.

Eczema, Arthritis, Asthma, Migraines—All Gone After Going Plant-Based

A plant-based diet isn’t just helpful for overcoming obesity: It can lead to health transformations that are less obvious from the outside but nonetheless life-changing on the inside, such as in the case of Jennifer Sinyerd.

I Reversed Cirrhosis in 1 Year on a Plant-Based Diet

Otis’s doctor told him that his liver was too damaged to regenerate itself. Otis proved otherwise.

From Stage 3 Kidney Disease to Healthy Kidneys in 2 Months on a Plant-Based Diet

It really is possible to radically transform your health in very little time just by changing your diet, as this inspiring story from Sandra VanderMey demonstrates. 

Ready to get started? Check out our Plant-Based Primer to learn more about adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet.

The post Our Most-Shared Success Stories of 2019 appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

Past that, the areas of disagreement center on the amount (and sourcing) of animal products, if any, that have a place in a healthy diet. One area of contention has been dairy, particularly butter, hailed a few years ago on the cover of Time magazine as back in favor as a health food. What has the scientific literature in 2017 revealed about the health impacts of butter and other dairy products? Here is a bulletpoint list:

Dairy Is Associated with Increased All-Cause Mortality
In a meta-analysis of 27 prospective nutrition studies, researchers found a non-linear increase in all-cause mortality with greater dairy consumption and a reduced risk with consumption of whole grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and fish. This topic remains open to further research as another analysis this year showed that fermented dairy products like cheese—as opposed to non-fermented dairy—may decrease heart-related mortality risk. Notably, this second study was funded by a grant from the dairy industry.

Substituting Margarine for Butter Reduced Heart Risk
In a prospective study of more than 74,000 women, the question of replacing butter with margarine was analyzed. Compared to butter, tub margarine was associated with a lower risk of heart attack. The same trends existed for stroke and total heart disease events.

Dietary Patterns That Include Butter Raise Heart Risk
In a prospective study in Wales of 1,838 men, a dietary pattern that included butter was associated with increased heart disease risk while a pattern that included whole grain cereals, dairy, pudding, and biscuits without cheese or butter was associated with a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Those are some powerful whole grains!

Cheese and Butter Linked to Type 2 Diabetes
A group of 3,349 subjects in the PREDIMED study who were free of diabetes at baseline were tracked for more than four years. Those with the highest intakes of saturated fat and animal fat had the greatest risk for developing diabetes in follow-up. Consuming just one daily serving of butter and cheese was associated with a higher risk of diabetes. The diabetes link is still under study as another analysis this year reached the opposite conclusion.

Low-Fat Dairy Favored Over High-Fat Dairy
In a group of over 42,000 men and women in Iran studied for 11 years, consumption of low-fat dairy, especially low-fat yogurt and cheese, was associated with reduced mortality and heart disease risk, while greater intake of high-fat dairy and milk was not associated with these benefits.

The Impact of Butter on Heart Disease Risk
In a randomized, controlled study of 92 people with abdominal obesity and low HDL (good) cholesterol levels, five different dietary patterns (butter-rich; cheese-rich; polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich; monounsaturated fatty acid-rich; and low-fat, high-carbohydrate) were tested for four weeks each. Increases in HDL (good) cholesterol concentrations were similar during the butter- and cheese-rich phases, but LDL (bad) cholesterol concentrations increased significantly on a diet rich in butter.

Milk and Butter Intake Associated with Higher Mortality in Sweden
The dairy foods intake of more than 100,000 healthy adults in Sweden was followed for 14 years after obtaining dietary histories. High consumers of non-fermented dairy and butter experienced increased measures of all-cause mortality. High consumers of fermented dairy products had better outcomes.

High-Fat, High-Sugar Diets Linked to More Depression
Almost 5,000 adults in a Dutch research study were assessed for dietary patterns and depressive symptoms. A combined high-saturated-fat and high-sugar dietary pattern including butter and high-fat dairy products was associated with more depressive symptoms.

As is often the case, studies shed light on optimal nutrition but may still leave unresolved questions and issues. Furthermore, funding of studies by industry, as is often the case when dairy consumption and health outcomes are reported, may raise a concern over biases. Overall, the bulk of the data in 2017 favors the conclusion that butter and dairy are best avoided for optimal health. This is consistent with statements this year by members of both the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

The post Are Butter and Dairy Back in 2017? A Look at the Latest Research appeared first on Forks Over Knives.

In 2005, I was 34 years old, over 320 pounds, had ridiculously high blood pressure, high cholesterol, prediabetes, and two herniated discs in my spine. I was eating fast food three or four times a day, popping pain pills (Vicodin, Percocet, codeine) like Tic-Tacs, and washing it all down with a bottle of whiskey each day in a futile attempt to escape reality.

Despite my efforts to hide it from others, the reality was I was on the fast track to an early death. The saddest part was that I was actually hoping to die. Despite abusing my body for more than a decade, I was somehow surviving—just barely, but alive nonetheless. I was still breathing despite all my medical problems, depression, and hopeless chemical and food addictions.

One morning in 2005, I woke up. I woke up physically from passing out drunk and sleeping for 12 hours, but I also woke up in a much more profound and meaningful way. Until that day, I was a zombie walking through life. But on this morning, as my physical body rose from the bed, a tiny flame woke up inside me—my desire to live and start being a good father to my kids. I slowly and steadily went about the task of putting my broken life and broken body back together.

I dumped the booze down the drain, discontinued my midnight trips to McDonald’s, and started going to the gym. For a couple years, I learned to jog and fumbled my way through dieting. I ate a mostly vegetarian diet with lean meats and some cheese and run-walked my way to a slow marathon finish. I had lost a great deal of weight, but still felt afraid that if I stopped running, stopped dieting, or let my guard down for a second, I would gain it all back. Everything changed at the two-year mark, when I became curious about a vegan diet through some friends. On a whim, I started a 30-day vegan challenge. About two days into the challenge, I watched Forks Over Knives. I haven’t been the same since.

After switching to an entirely plant-based diet, I lost the additional weight I couldn’t seem to get rid of before. I eventually stabilized at 160lbs—half of my former weight! Along with my weight problems, my high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart problems went away for good. Even more spectacular was how I felt—lighter, stronger, faster, and able to run and train harder than I ever had in my life. I was recovering so fast from my hard workouts that my running friends were shaking their heads in disbelief. The year that I made the plant-based switch, I ran a 100 mile ultra-marathon, placed in the top 10 at two other ultra marathons, and went on to set an American record.

Since then, I have competed in some of the toughest and most extreme ultra-marathons in the world, including Badwater, a 135-mile race in Death Valley in 130-degree heat. I am now in the best shape of my life at 45 years old.

I’ve just passed my six year anniversary of being vegan. What started as a health and fitness-based journey has evolved into a peaceful way of life. I find comfort in knowing that nothing must die for me to thrive. Letting go of my old habits and beliefs surrounding food and nutrition was not just an act of taking things out of my life and away from my dinner table. Eating and living this way has added depth to my life and helped me to achieve what I previously would have scoffed at or written off as impossible.

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