Nutrition
How can I best lose weight and keep it off?
Am I getting enough nutrients?
Health & Wellbeing
What is causing my stomach problems?
Should I be taking supplements? If so, which?
Medical Conditions
Am I going to get the same disease my parents or other family members have?
How can I reduce my chances of getting cancer, heart disease, dementia or other common diseases?
Why ‘Lifestyle’ Medicine?
Research shows up to 70% of modern diseases are caused by factors in our lifestyles – particularly nutrition, and also exercise, mental health, sleep and other factors in our environment.
At True South Medical I aim to address these factors in a holistic way to treat the causes rather than just the symptoms of disease, which is what modern medicine really only has time to do.
My work utilises the huge body of published quality scientific evidence, particularly regarding nutrition, to help prevent and treat our common Western diseases. Many can be reversed, put into remission, or improve symptoms in a great majority of cases, particularly the ‘metabolic’ conditions. They include, to a greater or lesser extent:
- Heart and stroke disease, and their risk factors – blood pressure and cholesterol/ blood fats; it is thought 80-90% of these diseases would be prevented on an optimal diet.
- Type 2 Diabetes – will achieve much better control through a reduction in insulin resistance and even remission in many cases, especially if more recent onset and less severe. This is a relatively new and now well accepted idea in the literature. See https://www.masteringdiabetes.org for more information
- Many types of dementia – Studies have shown lifestyle factors may account for up to 90% of dementias (there are several causes of this condition) and formal interventional studies are now showing promise in reversing early stage dementia, including Alzheimer’s and vascular, two of the main types. https://teamsherzai.com
- Some Autoimmune Diseases including (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and many others) respond well to this dietary pattern, including achieving remission in some people. There is an increasing body of scientific literature supporting this as an adjunct to conventional drug therapies. https://nutritionstudies.org/a-whole-food-plant-based-approach-to-autoimmune-diseases-in-4-steps/
- Some cancers such as colorectal, breast and prostate have been shown to be reduced in incidence (occurrence rates), as described within the World Health Organisation carcinogen classes including processed and red meats (colorectal), dairy intake (prostate cancer). Patients with some types of cancer have been shown to have improved outcomes, including remission and survival when following this dietary approach (see American Institute for Cancer Research AICR for more details). https://plantbasedhealthprofessionals.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/lowering-cancer-risk.pdf
Weight loss is something I can help with significantly along with improving your overall health, as it tends to go hand in hand with many of the above conditions. A person can achieve easy weight loss through a whole foods plant based diet, eating as much as you like as often as you like whilst not having to count calories, nutrients or restrict amounts of food eaten, due to the low calorie density of these foods, which is the key to weight loss. Willpower only gets a person so far with weight loss so making eating habits sustainable, enjoyable and satiating is key; eating the right foods for one’s long term health.
It is important to note I recommend diet and lifestyle changes in addition to, and not instead of, conventional medical interventions. Each individual has a different disease risk factor profile with contributions from genetic differences and other environmental exposure factors so the response from lifestyle changes may differ between people.
Other conditions which have been shown, in the peer reviewed scientific literature, to respond to a whole food plant based diet include:
- Weight Loss
- High Cholesterol
- High Blood Pressure
- Gut Health issues such as Irritable Bowel Disease
- Osteoarthritis
- Kidney disease
- Acne
- Menstrual disorders including menorrhagia (heavy periods) and endometriosis symptoms
- Migraine
Major factors which affect health include:
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Sleep
- Mental Stress
- Sleep
- Toxins – tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, environmental toxins e.g. pesticides, PCBs
- Social wellbeing, community and life purpose
- Sunlight
Reflections on changing one’s habits; the background story
6th / 7th April: Go Green Expo
Sunday 31st March 19: Plant-Based Nutrition for Performance – Auckland
1st & 2nd April 19: From Sick to Strong with GP Doctor Mark Craig
Dr Mark Craig: Vegan converts talk about the life-changing move to a plant based diet
Heart disease, stroke, mini-stroke, and other cardiovascular disease including peripheral vascular disease and even erectile dysfunction
These occur from the inflammation and ‘clogging up’ of our arteries, caused by a suboptimal diet, smoking, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Heart disease is still our most common cause of death and disability.
Improving one’s lifestyle and diet has been shown to slow, stop and in some cases reverse heart disease– this has been shown in several clinical studies and in clinical practice by many doctors around the world. The body tries to heal itself given the right food and environment to do so.
Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes
This hallmark of this insidious condition is raised sugar (glucose) in the blood stream, but is actually caused by an excess of overall calories be it from animal products, fats and processed foods including refined carbohydrates in the diet. This causes a build up of fat inside muscle and liver cells and the condition called insulin resistance, whereby increasing amounts of insulin from the pancreas gland are needed to keep blood glucose levels normal. By the time diabetes is diagnosed there has been a long period of insulin resistance building up to it.
Type 2 and prediabetes therefore respond extremely well to diet and lifestyle changes and control can be much better controlled and even achieve remission in some cases. We can discuss approaches for this.
Type 1 diabetes patients may be able to reduce insulin requirements significantly also, avoiding ‘double diabetes’ from insulin resistance from a suboptimal diet on top of the autoimmune Type 1 condition.
Dementias
Dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, Vascular dementia and Lewy Body Dementia have been shown to be up to 90% due to lifestyle behaviour factors, and can be amenable to improvement with positive changes. This is especially relevant to those with a family history of these conditions.
Autoimmune Diseases
These are an array of chronic conditions caused by the immune system being triggered by an interaction of genetic and environmental factors , with diet heavily implicated.
Rheumatoid Arthritis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Thyroid diseases and others can be significantly improved and even put into remission with diet and lifestyle changes in some people. The results can be life changing.
Cancers
Bowel, breast and prostate, lung, bladder, and melanoma are some of the most common. There is increasing evidence to show that diet and lifestyle changes can prevent some cancers, slow growth particularly at an early stage (prostate cancer), and improve outcomes in many of those with a cancer diagnosis.
Osteoarthritis
This is not just a wear and tear disease but involves inflammation in the joints. It has been shown to sometimes respond very well to a (low inflammatory) whole foods plant based diet. The weight loss (where appropriate) brought about by a WFPB diet can also significantly alleviate some lower limb arthritis symptoms.
Who would benefit from a consultation?
People tend to fall into 2 groups
- Those who have one or more of the conditions listed above, or any of those known to be related to lifestyle issues
- Those looking to optimise their wellbeing and looking for advice on nutrition or lifestyle habits., particularly with transitioning or optimising a healthy whole foods plant based diet.
