Christmas approaches, a time of love, a time of merry making and excitement. Except sadly, for many of us this year, the COVID pandemic will interfere. Around the world, families may remain separated at a time when they would normally come together.
Well, there is some good news amongst all the doom and gloom.
Studies published this year suggest that simply by altering our diets and eating whole plant foods we can significantly improve our health and reduce our risk of contracting serious COVID infection. Isn’t that just great! Not only do you get to eat wonderful, tasty food , but you get to reduce your risk of COVID as well!
If you haven’t already made the switch to Whole Food Plant Based nutrition, then it’s not too late. Plenty of studies have shown that our bodies experience positive change within days.
This year researchers in the US studied a small group of hospital workers in a crossover trial. These people ate their usual diet for 12 weeks then switched to a plant-based diet for a similar period. They experienced weight loss and improvements in cholesterol and blood sugar with lowering of blood pressure. All these factors contribute to our risk of serious COVID infection.
So, it won’t be any surprise to you to learn that researchers in Europe who looked at a group of around 2800 healthcare workers across France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and USA found that those eating plant-based diets did better. All these health workers were exposed to significant COVID risk in their work environment. Those who reported eating a plant based or pescatarian diet were at reduced risk of moderate or severe COVID. For the plant-based eaters the risk was reduced by 73% and for pescatarians the risk reduced by 59%. Those who reported eating low carb high protein diets had a nearly 4 times risk of moderate to severe COVID versus the plant eaters. Important to know if you’ve been swept up in the low carb craze.
These results aren’t conclusive proof, but they are strongly suggestive. A study by Harvard researchers looking at 590,000 people provides more evidence. This was a prospective study with cohorts determined pre COVID looking at the healthy plant-based diet index score, which measures the amount of healthy plant foods in the diet. This study showed a reduced likelihood of even acquiring COVID by about 10% for those eating healthier whole plant foods. This risk reduction wasn’t found in the earlier study. The Harvard study also showed an approximately 40% reduction in severe COVID in the same group!
Now these people wont all have been completely WFPB. Just imagine what will happen to your risk level if you are completely WFPB!! It’s going to be as low as you can possibly make it, especially if you are vaccinated and you’ve added in some regular exercise and mindfulness practice. None of this should be a surprise to us but it’s nice to have some studies confirming the benefits.
So, we wish you and your loved ones a happy and enjoyable plant-based Christmas. There’s no better present and no better time to start.
Much love and Merry Christmas
from
Life Strong Health,