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Cancer And Heart Disease

Decent Essays

Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are the three leading causes of death in the African-American population. Cancer and heart disease rank as the top two for Hispanic or Latino populations. Intermediate risk factors for all three causes include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Although the pharmaceutical industry bombards mass media with copacetic images of average people managing their disease through prescription drugs, all of the stated risk factors are preventable, and sometimes reversible, through the incorporation of a plant-based diet. You are probably familiar with the terms vegetarian and vegan. If that made you shudder, pause, instinctively reach for the meat product closest to you, and/or question if this is worth reading, do not fear the article’s purpose is not to force veganism upon you. Proverbs 18:13 insists that “Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.” Please, soften your heart and bear with me. A plant-based diet consists of vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and fruits with few to no animal products. What’s the difference between plant-based and vegan? The term plant-based is typically adhered to by those that choose to adhere to a primarily plant-based diet without the commitment to animal rights philosophies. A vegetarian may or may not subscribe to animal rights philosophies but typically integrates lacto-ovo products into their diet on a more consistent basis.

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