Plant-Based Diet Reduces MS Symptoms

A woman who adopted plant-based diet plan saw MS symptoms fade, and will speak at a nutrition conference.

Dr. Saray Stanic will provide the keynote address at the annual Maine Nutrition Council conference April 10 in Augusta.

An internist who changed her career and reversed her health after discovering the peer-reviewed power of a plant-based diet, Dr. Saray Stancic heads to Maine next month to deliver the keynote address at the annual Maine Nutrition Council conference. Her speech will focus on her individual journey and the shifts she states have to happen in healthcare.

” Exactly what I speak with is evidence-based,” Stancic stated from her practice in Ridgewood, New Jersey. “We have to get this message out to everybody. We need to get this into the curricula of U.S. medical schools. This is going to require society to alter.”

Sonja Carvalho, who handles food programs for Catholic Charities and chairs the Maine Nutrition Council’s board of directors, said the council decided to focus on plant-based nutrition in reaction to demands from conference attendees. The council choose Stancic as speaker, Carvalho said, because she had an interesting story and was “experienced in the field, not simply professionally but also personally.”

The conference is scheduled for April 10 at Maine General Medical Center in Augusta. The day’s programs likewise consists of a talk about water quality, a panel on diet plan and disease prevention, a plant-based cooking demonstration, and an all-vegan lunch.

In addition to the keynote address, Stancic will deliver a talk on managing autoimmune disease with diet plans, which led to her going into the field of plant-based medicine. It took place years after she was identified with multiple sclerosis at age 28 while working an over night shift at the medical facility.

By 2003, Stancic had actually been experiencing MS for many years, required a walking cane or crutch to stroll and was taking a dozen medications a day to handle the condition. One day, she stumbled upon a research study that found a blueberry-rich diet plan helped in reducing tiredness in MS clients. She was skeptical– “In all my training, never ever did any mentors or teachers mention a connection in between diet and illness,” Stancic stated– however the idea that they might be linked persisted.

” I started to read the peer-reviewed medical literature, and I found that diet was the most important variable in preventing disease and dealing with persistent disease,” Stancic stated.

She adopted a plant-based, vegan diet herself, and even though MS is thought as an incurable, degenerative illness, her symptoms gradually faded. Over time, she no longer required a crutch to walk. She stopped taking her medications. 6 years after she changed to plant-based eating, she had the ability to run a marathon.

On the other hand, she was working as a contagious illness professional and frequently spoke with patients who had diabetes and other chronic conditions. She started to share info with them about the impact of a plant-based diet, and she saw that their own conditions improved when they altered their own diet plans.

” I have a lot of clients in my practice who are medical professionals,” Stancic stated. “If I get that doctor healthy, they can use the information to their clients.”

She also coaches Rutgers New Jersey Medical School students who are interested in way of life medicine.

” We have to gear up and educate not only our clients but also our doctors,” Stancic said. “It’s no fault of their own that they do not know this. They’re not being taught.”

Her most current task is a feature film called “Code Blue,” produced with documentarian Marcia Machado. The film’s title refers to healthcare facility terminology for a patient who requires resuscitation. In the movie, it’s a metaphor– the patient is the American health care system. The film will examine the wave of plant-based lifestyle medication sweeping the nation, include interviews with a lot of the motion’s leading figures and address the obstacles that keep plant-based medication from being more extensively practiced.

When we spoke, Stancic was thinking about bringing the film crew to Maine for her talk.

” I wholeheartedly believe this a movement that is taking off in medication and redefining medication,” Stancic stated, adding that such a transformation cannot come quickly enough. “We remain in trouble. Our healthcare system cannot support much more of this persistent illness epidemic we remain in. It will implode. We have to act now.”

Tom Mellette knows some individuals have issues with tofu. This is why at this year’s Maine Nutrition Council conference the scientific dietitian for Maine General Medical Center will show the best ways to prepare a Thai dish with tofu.

” One of the greatest complaints I get about tofu is that it is flavorless,” Mellette told me by phone, “and marinating is a terrific way to add taste to tofu, particularly with strong Thai flavors.”

The Maine Nutrition Council conference draws in approximately 125 attendees yearly from across the state and a wide range of organizations and companies. Mellette presumes the number will include tofu skeptics. “I’m hoping this quick demonstration will show how easy and how delicious tofu can really be,” Mellette stated.

The noodle and vegetable dish with an option of marinated tofu is one of the alternatives in a brand-new program the hospital is presenting that uses staff and visitors pre-portioned ingredients to prepare in your home. The service, which is similar to mail-order meal packages, is amongst the numerous resources Mellette states the hospital and its dining services offer to individuals seeking to approach plant-based eating.

The Augusta Winter season Farmers Market is present in the lunchroom every Tuesday through the month of April. During the month of March, the medical facility is showcasing plant-based dishes and working to decrease the amount of meat on individuals’s plates. For example, the cafeteria’s featured hamburger for March is made from half veggies and half meat.

” We have actually been getting more and more interest in vegetarian and vegan choices from clients, personnel and visitors alike,” Mellette stated. “There is a big push for moving toward a plant-based diet.”

Not everyone will convert to a mainly plant-based diet, but if people can begin eating more plant-based meals it’s a definite step in the right direction.