Two OUWB student organizations recently collaborated with nonprofit Chickpea and Bean to teach about the power of a plant-based diet — with some students almost immediately seeing positive results.

The “Plant Plunge” series aimed to show participants successful applications of the plant-based diet, 他们可以使用什么食谱, 他们如何更明智地购物以适应饮食, 以及植物性食物中有哪些重要的营养成分.

The organizations behind it were the Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group and 了解你的食物.

范妮黄, 总统, 了解你的食物(KYF), 副总裁, 生活方式医学兴趣小组(LMIG), 这句话特别针对"压力很大的医学院学生,” it can be difficult to have the time to think about their health.

“For me, cooking, cleaning, prepping — that takes three hours out of my day. During exam times, I don’t want to do that,黄说。. “We can reach for chips or ramen or instant foods like that. 但是我认为通过这次谈话, we don’t have to see instant foods as those pre-packaged processed foods…I think that can be an educational prospect as well.”

The Plant Plunge kicked off with an optional physical exam component on Feb. 其中包括检查胆固醇水平, 血糖水平, 血压, 和体重作为基准.

“这是一个快速的转变, but we can probably see changes in 血压 and blood glucose within those four weeks,黄说。.

Following the exam were four weekly one-hour Lunch-and-Learn sessions where participants were provided vegan meals and learned about how to live a plant-based lifestyle. 所有的食物都来自当地的餐馆.

在2月1日的第一次会议上. 6, 马克和金·拉米雷斯, 鹰嘴豆和豆子的联合创始人, 介绍他们的故事, 植物性生活方式如何帮助他们的健康, and the resources available to make the switch to plant-based eating easier.

Marc Ramirez said his family had a long history of diabetes and related complications. After a time, 他说, he found himself heading down the same path.

He was able to lower his blood sugar and cholesterol levels, 他说, 从去年12月开始改用植物性饮食. 2011. 这一转变在两个月内见效很快, 他能够摆脱所有的药物, 包括注射胰岛素.

他说，从那以后，他就再也没有回头.

“My energy levels (were) going up, and my blood glucose levels were plummeting,他说. “我想吃多少就吃多少. I’m not counting calories and not counting carbohydrates. Certainly not eating foods that are very problematic to the human machine.”

“以食为药”

马克·拉米雷斯，金·拉米雷斯和范妮·黄

Huang said that learning about plant-based diets and their effects on health can be important for future physicians.

“A lot of our (organizations’) members are really motivated by utilizing food as medicine because I think a lot of us are interested in primary care,黄说。. “我们认识到，像2型糖尿病这样的疾病, 肥胖, 高脂血症可以由食物引起.”

Kim Ramirez said that so long as the participants are coming away with the knowledge of the plant-based diet and can support their future patients who are interested in it, she will consider the Plant Plunge to be an “effective program.”

“I’m hoping that when the medical students walk away from this, 即使它们不以植物为基础, 他们会接受的,”她说。.

“如果有病人来找他们说, ‘嘿, I think I want to try eating plant-based to improve my health,’他们会说, ‘Oh, 我知道这些，因为我做过植物跳水.’”

马克·拉米雷斯(Marc Ramirez)也表达了类似的观点.

“It really will help people…medical students in particular, they will be (helping) thousands of people throughout their career,他说. “(We’d like) them to be open-minded about this idea that food is what is killing many people, 但它也可以拯救许多人.”

“不错的助推”

On March 3, participants took the follow-up health exam to see the difference in their numbers.

一位与会者, Josh Kuperus, M2, said that he went “all in” with the plant-based diet during the month.

“在这次会议之前，我已经听说了这项研究. 我确信，从道德的角度来看, 环境视角, and a health perspective that (going plant-based) is the right move to make,他说. “But just knowing about something and actually acting on that knowledge are two very separate things. This was a nice nudge to start taking the steps to try to become plant-based.”

Despite the lack of notable changes in his health screening, 他说 he came away with the sessions with the encouragement to continue on the diet.

“My family has a history of heart disease…so learning that plants don’t have cholesterol and you literally cannot spike your cholesterol by eating plants was interesting and thought-provoking,库伯罗斯说. “我将继续尝试吃天然食品.”

蒂娜Sukhon, M1, also went mostly plant-based for the month of February and noticed several improvements in her test results.

“My blood glucose, my cholesterol, and my HDLs all went down,” said Sukhon. “我觉得轻松多了. I feel like I could probably do this beyond the month that we had (these sessions) ...我感觉更健康了.”

Sukhon added that the approach the sessions took was particularly encouraging.

“I was very motivated to know that we were only doing it for a couple of weeks. 我们只是在尝试. I think coming to it from the perspective of telling people that this is not something I’m forcing you to do (is helpful) …it’s something that you should want for yourself and try for yourself,”她说。.

“这真的很有帮助. 你可以把它应用到你做的任何事情上.”

如需采访，请访问OUWB通讯 & 市场营销 网页.

本作品在a 知识共享署名-非商业性.0国际许可证.