CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1207923
46 | Februar y 2020 "W here Your C hildren C ome Fi rs t " www.kidsfirstpedsraeford.com Jose Buenaseda, MD, FAAP Leamor Buenaseda, MD, FAAP Sreelekha Sashidhar, MD, FAAP Katrina Perez, CPNP Melanie Pitts, DNP, NP-C Whitney Smith PA-C Danielle Trigg NP-C Kids First Pediatrics of Raeford and Fayetteville has created a professional and caring medical environment for infants, children, adolescents and their families. We provide complete pediatric and adolescent care. W hen you think of adhering to a vegetarian diet, odds are your mind goes right to the things you'd miss: holiday roast turkey, spaghetti and meatballs, hot dogs on the Fourth of July. But the benefits could be significant: a longer life, a leaner body and a decreased risk of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In some cases, a plant-based diet can even reverse advanced coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes. A plant-based diet avoids some of the troubling features of meaty foods: saturated fats, cholesterol and inflammation-causing carnitine, not to mention the antibiotics routinely pumped into most livestock today. And by leaving more room on your plate for vegetables, fruits and whole grains, you can reap more of the well-known health benefits those foods offer. "It's really a diet for everybody," says Dr. Solomon Ghebregziabiher, of Village Internal Medicine (known to his patients as Dr. Solomon). "In internal medicine, my main job is preventive care. Helping people avoid medication when possible, Could a plant- based diet grow on your family? BY LIA TREMBLAY keep their weight and blood pressure down… a plant-based diet is helpful with all of this." Dr. Solomon is especially eager to recommend this change for patients who have struggled with obesity, diabetes and heart trouble. But, as you might imagine, it can be a tough sell. "I tell them, 'You've been doing the standard American diet for all these years and this is where we are,'" he says. "Just try to cut back on the meat a little bit, increase the plants in your diet, see how you do." Testing the Waters For many people, this gradual approach to a plant-based diet is helpful. Knowing that they don't have to commit to a completely meat-free life can make it easier to change their diet overall. Some people introduce the change to their families with "Meatless