Experts endorse no-meat fare
It’s not the contagious diseases that are killing most Filipinos. Health experts have sounded the alarm: the No. 1 killer today is literally a heart-stopper. There is a strong direct link between an individual’s risk of contracting cardiovascular disease and other lifestyle diseases, and his or her consumption of meat and animal-based processed foods.
This also explains why the Department of Health has advised people to go easy on the meat, especially during this time of the year.
Among the experts who espouse a whole food plant-based diet are retired Cleveland surgeon Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., author and former Olympic rowing champion; T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and coauthor of “The China Study”; clinical researcher and author Neal D. Barnhard, MD, founding president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine; John A. McDougall, American physician and author; Dr. William Castelli, director of Framingham Heart Study; and Dr. Dean Ornish, an author who pioneered the reversal of heart diseases without resorting to drugs or surgery.
Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, a former Philippine health secretary along with other Filipino physicians, has been openly endorsing a whole food plant-based diet. Tessa Salazar
