It is clear that a Whole Foods Plant-Based (WFPB) diet is healthy. Moreover, it is far healthier than an omnivore diet. Comparative studies of WFPB societies around the world argue for this conclusion. Also, it has been shown through double-blind placebo-controlled studies that a WFPB diet can halt and actually reverse many of the major diseases that plague Americans and the world. Many of our major diseases such as CVD (Cardiovascular Disease) may not be due to our DNA as conventional thinking would have it, but a matter of choice in what we eat. Therefore, it would seem few people need to die of heart disease. This is a rather strong statement given that heart disease is our major killer.

In addition to being healthy, a WFPB lifestyle is economical. Foods like rice, grains, beans, and vegetables are significantly less expensive than meat. It stands to reason that plant food that is eaten directly is more economical than feeding it to livestock and then eating the livestock. In addition to “cutting out the middleman” high additional externality costs such as animal sewage are avoided. Such externalities have high costs that must be borne by society and the world as a whole.

The health of individuals and society as a whole is not primarily a matter of money but a matter of education and convincing people of the validity of WFPB lifestyle. This is no small task as people inherit not only their DNA from their families but their eating lifeways. If your parents often served meat, dairy and eggs you are likely to consume the same. What we eat becomes a way of life that is hard to change. Many people feel deprived if meat is not served. Even certain foods such as refined sugar, salt, and fats can be physically and psychologically addictive.

However, it is encouraging that throughout history the human species has proven itself very capable of adapting to adversity. First there was the fear of running out of whale oil for lamps, which was solved by drilling for oil. Then the problem of an overwhelming amount of feces from horse-drawn vehicles threatened major cities, which was solved with the invention of the automobile. Recently U.S. dependence on foreign oil is being solved as the innovation in fracking, and horizontal drilling is making the U.S. energy independent.

There is no long term limit to human ingenuity, and I would like to conclude that health issues like heart disease may be solved through a Whole Food Plant-Based lifestyle no matter how resistant people may be to change. In the face of growing health issues such as heart disease and the increasing amount of research and growing spread of information on the benefits of a WFPB lifestyle, it would seem humans are beginning to increasingly adopt this lifestyle as they have solved other problems in the past. What is needed is for the information based on research that supports the efficacy of a Whole Food Plant-Based diet be made readily available to the public. Free web sites such as John McDougall’s drmcdougall.com and Michael Greger’s nutritionfacts.org go a long way to bring this about.