PLANT BASED DIET

When it comes to dietary patterns, the South Africans have one of the worst diets

                      I have ever seen. I was shocked when I learned the favourite food items such as fat cakes, bunny chow, chips, Russians, McDonald's, and KFC. All of them have high starch and fat content and low fibre. Later on, I got married in 2020 and moved in with my grandmother-in-law for three months, while I was waiting for our home transfer documents to go through. She was a lovely and friendly lady, and A very good cook. We mostly had some sort of curry with roti and rice. I soon realized that there is hardly any fruit or vegetable in that house. I started getting my own fruits and vegetables to be able to survive. In my home country, fruits and vegetables were an important part of our diet. We always had one or two fruits in the season and veges such as herbs and lettuce.

In recent years, there have been extensive studies on the relation of dietary patterns and various cancers and cardiovascular risk. The Mediterranean diet is known to be mainly plant-based with lots of nuts and olive oil, which is associated with less cardiovascular events.

A plant based diet is a broad term that covers many different diet patterns. From vegetarian to vegan etc. A diet that has at least more than two thirds of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans, and no more than a third of animal protein. It does not have to be entirely vegan or vegetarian. It simply means that we are consuming more plants than anything else. This diet definitely has a profound effect on the person’s general health.

Digestive system cancers, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, liver and possibly pancreas, appear to be cancer types that are reduced with a plant-based diet. Studies show there was a 9% reduction rate of breast cancer, 13% prostate cancer, and 18% of digestive tract. This is something to think about next time we go grocery shopping to try and make small changes in our diet and become healthier.