A Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) Diet Can Help Make Your Golden Years Golden

For many years, my reaction to news about someone in their eighties and older being diagnosed with a chronic disease was to conclude that he/she would not be interested in making clinically significant dietary changes. After all, the life expectancy for American women is 81 and for American men it is 76   So I figured the typical octogenarian thinks: “my diet and lifestyle habits have gotten me this far; I don’t see the point in restricting any of the foods I love”. It seems the older Americans get, the more resigned they are to living a life filled with medications and procedures.

But some information on Dr. John McDougall’s web site has forced me to reconsider my thoughts on this matter. The information that made the most impact on me was:

1. An article he wrote on how much a WFPB diet helped improve the life quality of his mother in-law and father in-law in their later years.
2. A video of an interview with cardiologist Baxter Montgomery where he shares amazing success stories of an 82 year old woman and 89 year old woman.

When Dr. Montgomery promotes a WFPB diet as a treatment for his elderly patients, they often state their age followed with the question: “Can’t I just keep eating my bad food and die?” Dr. Montgomery reminds them that eating a bad diet may not kill them right away, but it almost assuredly would make them sicker and sicker until the end of their days. He focuses on the impact a WFPB diet can have on the quality of their remaining days. This approach has been a winning one for Dr. Montgomery and his patients.

Maybe someday, all cardiologists will have this approach