There is a wealth of scientific literature about the power of unhealthy food to cause disease and of healthy food to prevent, treat, and reverse disease. Unfortunately, doctors aren’t given this information in medical school, in postgraduate training, or in typical medical conferences (the majority of which are sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry).

A few years ago, I met a bright young urologist at Valley View Hospital, Aashish Kabra, M.D., who was raised in a vegetarian household but who became totally plant-based a few years before I met him after becoming aware of the aforementioned literature. Dr. Kabra told me he works plant-based nutrition into the conversations he has with most patients, because food plays a key role in many urologic disorders. He also told me about his “new favorite book,” called “Fiber Fueled, The Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Microbiome,” by gastroenterologist Will Bulsiewicz, M.D., MSCI (Master of Science in Clinical Investigation—in other words he’s an expert in analyzing and interpreting clinical studies).

Today’s column is about Dr. Bulsiewicz’s story. He attended Vanderbilt for undergraduate school, and went on to graduate from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He took an internal medicine residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. His gastroenterology fellowship training took place at The University of North Carolina Hospitals. He has written multiple articles published in top American gastroenterology journals.

Dr. Bulsiewicz notes that the average American eats 3 pounds of food a day, one thousand pounds per year, and about eighty thousand pounds of food during an 80-year lifespan. So, it’s no wonder that what we eat affects our health. As he puts it: “You could nourish your body with life-giving food and reap the rewards of better health. Or you can punish your body with poisons disguised as food that actually take health away with every bite.”

Dr. Bulsiewicz admits to being a junk food addict growing up. Like most physicians, he received minimal training about nutrition in medical school. During the subsequent ten years of training to become a board-certified gastroenterologist, nutrition was never mentioned! Towards the end of his training, although he was able to drag himself to the gym a few times a week, he was 50 pounds overweight, and felt tired, overworked, and just plain lousy.

Then he met his future wife, who happened to be plant-based, and he began to realize there was a better, healthier way to eat. He lost weight, no longer had “post-meal hangovers,” and felt more energized and stronger. His mind had “more stamina for work,” his mood became more positive, and he looked better.

He began to wonder why he hadn’t heard about plant-based nutrition during his years of medical training, and figured there probably weren’t good studies to support it. Having an advanced degree in clinical investigation, he spent some time in the medical library, and found “a mountain of evidence” that confirmed that unhealthy food was responsible for the way he felt. He found “study after study providing a uniform, consistent result. Plants are good for our health.” Plants have the most nutrients per calorie of any type of food. They have “vitamins, minerals, antioxidant compounds called polyphenols, and unique medicinal chemicals only found in plant food called phytonutrients.”

 Furthermore, Dr. Bulsiewicz found out why fiber is so important:  the health-promoting microorganisms in our gut microbiome depends on it. He learned that only plants have fiber, which he came to believe is “the single most important missing piece in the American diet.” This led to his book, “Fiber Fueled.”

Dr. Greg Feinsinger is a retired family physician who started the non-profit Center For Prevention and Treatment of Disease Through Nutrition. For questions or to schedule a free consultation about nutrition or heart attack prevention contact him at gfmd41@gmail.com or 970-379-5718.