Annual Exam (Benefits of a Plant-Based Vegan Diet)

After flying back from Europe, one of the first things on the to-do list was to visit the doctor for an annual exam. Six months overdue, I started to wonder if our bodies were reaping the scientifically discussed benefits of a plant-based vegan diet.

A Plant-Based Vegan Diet

Whenever I’m asked how I eat, I tend to say that I eat as plant-based vegan as possible. This is because, most of the time, I shop for whole food that grows from plants:

  • veggies

  • greens

  • lentils

  • beans

  • grains

  • fruit

  • herbs

  • nuts

  • seeds

  • spices

  • etc.

Meaning, most of the time, the food I prepare does not include anything highly processed:

  • no processed beverages (juice, pop, energy drinks, sports drinks)

  • no added fats (oil, margarine)

  • no refined grains (quick oats, white flour, white rice)

  • no processed proteins (pea protein isolate, seitan, soy protein isolate)

  • no refined sugars (barley malt, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, cane juice crystals, cane sugar, confectioner's sugar, corn syrup, fructose, white sugar)

And, of course, I also avoid animal food to the best of my ability:

  • no dairy

  • no eggs

  • no meat

  • no animal by-products

Increases the Odds

My favorite professor and researcher, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, calls this a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet. When I was taking his course, he taught our class that “the benefits” of adopting this way of eating “can increase the odds” that one would:

  • have more energy

  • lose weight

  • lower risk of cancers (breast, prostate, and more)

  • prevent/treat diabetes

  • prevent/reverse heart disease

  • live longer

  • and more

These lessons came from Dr. Campbell’s lifetime of research—large-scale human studies (studies on hundreds of thousands of people) on how nutrition impacts long-term health, especially on the causes of cancer.

Dr. Campbell’s more than 70 grant years of public research funding (mostly from the U.S. National Cancer Institute of the NIH), authoring more than 350 mostly peer-reviewed research papers, had some pull.

Treats and Reverses

My favorite medical doctor, Dr. Michael Greger, explains what the latest science says about how diet can treat and reverse disease. And the results appear to consistently confirm the important lessons I’d learned from Dr. Campbell:

  • how careful one must be to verify research has not come from questionable sources, been manipulated or compromised by conflicts of interest (I appreciate that Dr. Greger does this work for the people, for free, plus posts all the research for us to read and verify ourselves)

  • the importance of looking at the whole picture—not cherry-picking what appears to be an isolated short-term benefit, but looking at how that nutrition choice impacts our entire body in the long-run

  • legitimate (US government-funded) research has repeatedly shown how food can help treat and reverse disease, yet the US government has a history of instead allowing the food industry to determine the US nutrition guidelines

  • US medical doctors have a history of receiving next to no formal nutrition education and are often taught to instead follow the US food industry nutrition guidelines, which have a history of not being based on the best and latest peer-reviewed research

  • US nurses and nutritionists also have a history of being taught the conflicting US food industry nutrition guidelines, which again, have a history of not being based on the best and latest peer-reviewed research

What if we Only Eat a Vegan Diet (Not a Plant-Based vegan diet)?

If I eat a vegan diet (not a plant-based vegan diet), the focus tends to only be on eliminating animal products:

  • no dairy

  • no eggs

  • no meat

  • no animal by-products

This means I could eat all the vegan junk food in the world (that doesn’t contain animal products) and qualify as eating vegan. Pop, chips, fries, sweets—but we know that wouldn’t be the healthiest diet.

For instance, when I order vegan takeout, I don’t know every ingredient in my takeout. I usually know the main ingredients, like what you see in the veggie burger and sweet potato fries above.

I do know restaurant food is typically higher in salt, fat, and highly processed ingredients than what I prepare myself. So when I eat restaurant food, I assume that’s what is in my food when I order.

I try to limit that food to once or twice a week.

However, right before my annual exam, I ate vegan takeout nearly every day for two weeks. I felt some guilt.

What Happens After Two Weeks on a Vegan Takeout Diet?

We returned from nearly a year and a half of travel, with three days of overseas transport, and seventeen hours on planes.

We headed to what was to be one month of lodging in a temporary apartment, yet soon had to move to a second apartment (while our first apartment was fixed).

Each day, we didn’t know when, for sure, we were to move back to the first apartment. Would the repairs take one day? Three days? Two weeks? Other lodgers needed to be juggled, too.

With so much jet lag and readjustment, completely exhausted, we just hoped to sleep and eat until it was time to head to the doctor. It went like this:

  • wake

  • go back to sleep

  • wake

  • eat oatmeal

  • sleep

  • check the pandemic and election news

  • order lunch/dinner takeout

  • sleep

  • eat takeout

  • sleep

  • eat takeout

  • sleep

That’s what we did for two weeks—the two weeks immediately before our annual exams.

So I was not focused on eating plant-based vegan. Fresh greens and raw veggies were few and far between.

It literally never dawned on me that this vegan takeout frenzy (containing more salt, fat, and processed food than I normally eat) might reveal itself via my labs.

Cholesterol

Dr. Greger shares this about cholesterol and a plant-based vegan diet, which makes me want:

  • LDL under 70

  • total cholesterol under 150

He also delves into optimal LDL cholesterol levels, revealing some fascinating things one doesn’t normally think about:

  • cholesterol levels we have at birth

  • cholesterol levels primates have

  • cholesterol levels of populations free of heart disease

  • physiologically normal LDL levels

  • cholesterol levels that stop the progression of heart disease

  • cholesterol levels that reverse heart disease

  • cholesterol levels that prevent additional heart attacks

  • the reason the US government doesn’t suggest the US population strive for such optimal cholesterol levels

  • how those eating “plant-based diets may hit the optimal cholesterol target without even trying … just naturally nailing under 70”

Dr. Greger explains much more, which includes words from Dr. William Clifford Roberts, head of Baylor’s Cardiovascular Institute, editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology, and “probably the most renowned cardiovascular pathologist in the world:”

  • “if elevated cholesterol is not present, regardless of how high our blood pressure is, our blood sugars, no matter how obese, how inactive, or how many cigarettes we smoke … there simply isn’t enough substrate to form these plaques throughout our arteries to trigger strokes, heart attacks, kill us, make us impotent (though, not necessarily in that order)”

  • “there are only two ways … to get it down that low: put a hundred million people on a lifetime of high-dose statin drugs starting in one’s twenties, or … eating whole foods, plant-based diets”

  • “‘because humans get atherosclerosis, and atherosclerosis is a disease only of herbivores … humans also must be herbivores’”

  • “‘a [vegan] diet is the least expensive and safest means of achieving the plaque-preventing LDL goal, but few in the Western world are willing to live on the herbivore diet’”

  • “that means the cause of our #1 killer is: not eating vegan”

Triglycerides

Dr. Greger also teaches the basics about triglycerides, including some global stats, which made me take the following notes:

  • triglycerides are a fat

    • found in blood

    • created by the body after eating

    • to hold onto calories until needed

  • high triglycerides can be caused by…

    • high-fat food (like saturated fat; worsened if also eating food high in cholesterol)

    • processed sugar (especially liquids like juice, pop, etc.)—not whole fruits, “regardless of their sugar content”)

    • stress “may also lead to elevated triglycerides … believed to be mediated by an increase in the hormone cortisol during stress, which acts upon the liver to increase the production of triglycerides … consumption of animal products may also elevate cortisol levels after eating”

  • to lower triglycerides (in addition to avoiding the above), fiber (“all whole plant foods contain fiber”) may help, especially from…

    • beans

    • legumes

    • flax seeds

    • leafy greens

    • whole grains

    • quinoa (a “pseudo-grain”)

      • even though “its fiber content is relatively modest, compared to barley or rye…”

      • “showed drops in triglycerides and cholesterol”

      • “about a cup a day of cooked quinoa for 12 weeks led to a … drop in triglycerides … comparable to … drugs…”

      • “red and black quinoa appear equally antioxidant-rich … beating out … white”

      • funny note: we have had to stop eating things like quinoa and flax seeds about ten days before colonoscopy appointments because stopping them a few days before didn’t allow enough time for our bodies to process them out (even though our test results looked good, seeds and grains prevented a 100% clear view, so results were not as “guaranteed” as they would have otherwise been; totally worth pausing them sooner, so we don’t have to get a colonoscopy more frequently)

Blood Pressure

Dr. Greger shares ideal blood pressure and the impact of a plant-based diet, which made me take these notes:

  • people who live in rural Kenya, eating a traditional plant-based diet, had blood pressure that dropped as they aged

  • “research indicates the ideal blood pressure—blood pressure that wouldn’t benefit from being any lower—may actually be 110/70”

  • “it’s normal for those living healthy enough lives” to have blood pressure that low

  • “the American Heart Association has pointed out, the only people getting their blood pressures down that low were those eating strictly plant-based diets, coming in around 110/65 … with vegans having lower rates than lacto-ovo-vegetarians”

  • “we can wipe out most of our risk by eating a strictly plant-based diet, but it’s not all-or-nothing … any movement we can make along the spectrum towards healthier eating can accrue significant health benefits.”

Vitamin B12

Because B12 is often mentioned as an essential component of a plant-based vegan diet, Dr. Greger also lays out the vitamin B12 science for those who eat plant-based vegan. So I took more notes:

  • the serious health issues that arise from not having enough B12

  • how artery-damaging homocysteine can become elevated, negating healthy habits, if B12 is low

  • why it’s critical we fortify with B12 or take B12 supplements (especially those who eat plant-based/vegan)

  • how if B12 levels are not adequate, arteries can thicken even more than those eating animal food

  • how B12 levels are known to be the cause of such problems (as people became healthier after taking B12)

  • vitamin B12 instructions can vary based on age, medical conditions, and more

Annual Exam Lab Results

So, here we are, at the moment of reckoning. The numbers below reflect any benefits reaped from eating a plant-based vegan diet most of the time (for years, imperfectly, which is why I say “most of the time”), along with any negative impact from eating vegan takeout for two solid weeks, right before these labs were taken:

 

One of us had these lab results:

  • Cholesterol (striving for <150) | 140

  • LDL (striving for <70) | 67

  • Triglycerides | 48

  • BP (striving for 110/70) | 118/70

  • Weight | lost 1 pound

The other had these lab results:

  • Cholesterol (striving for <150) | 147

  • LDL (striving for <70) | 76

  • Triglycerides | 68

  • BP (striving for 110/70) | 110/70

  • Weight | lost 1 pound

 

Compared to when we were eating a standard American diet, these most recent numbers look amazing. Especially since my cholesterol once hovered over 200 as a thin person.

Even though we ate take-out for two straight weeks right before these labs were taken, I think our test results likely turned out this well because…

  • we ate vegan takeout (not animal takeout)

  • we were still eating oatmeal every morning

  • we had a long history of eating mostly plant-based vegan

  • we’d only been eating takeout (solid) for two weeks

And seeing these results made me want to do a bit more to help myself. So how do I do this?

Improving Health on a Plant-Based Vegan Diet

After reading through the research linked above, and after perusing Dr. Greger’s free Nutrition Facts site a bit more, I see many choices I can make to help improve my health just by eating a cleaner plant-based vegan diet. So, in addition to the healthy plant-based vegan food I normally already eat, here’s what else I’m trying to remember…

When Eating Vegan Takeout

I’m no longer eating takeout every single day (thank goodness). I’m back to eating out just a couple of times a week, and I’m more mindful, trying harder to do the following when choosing vegan takeout:

If I do order something less than ideal, I’m also trying harder to…

When Preparing plant-based vegan Food

When preparing plant-based vegan food, I sometimes forget to consume food in its ideal quantities (or forget to consume certain food entirely, even when it’s sprouting before my eyes). So, in addition to the healthy food I already consume, I want to be more dedicated about consistently including the plant-based vegan food below:

  • sprouts (throughout the day)

    • breakfast

    • lunch

    • dinner

  • quinoa (to improve cholesterol + triglycerides)

    • 1 cup/day with oatmeal, lunch, or dinner

  • dates (to improve triglycerides and antioxidant stress; to avoid processed sugar)

    • each time I want to enjoy a sweet treat

  • brazil nuts (to improve LDL cholesterol)

    • 4 nuts, once a month

  • eating earlier (to improve LDL cholesterol)

    • 9 am

    • 1 pm

    • 5 pm (so I stop eating by 6 pm)

But What Does a Plant-Based Vegan Diet Ultimately Gift?

If it were not for solid science and experts like Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Michael Greger, I wouldn’t know what truly heals my body in the long run or what harms my body in the long run.

For instance, every single day, more than 150 million individual lives are killed in the USA. That’s about half the population of the United States, killed every day in the United States.

When I ate those individuals, their dead bodies were harming my living body.

Now I know none of that was necessary. Knowing that is the gift. The gift is life.

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