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July 12, 2023 15 mins
Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN, aka, The Plant-Powered Dietitian, is an editor, writer, and speaker, and one of the most recognized nutrition and vegan food experts nationally and internationally. She’s the author of three previous vegan cookbooks: The Plant-Powered Diet: The Lifelong Eating Plan for Achieving Optimal Health, Beginning Today (The Experiment, July 2012), Plant-Powered for Life: Eat Your Way to Lasting Health with 52 Simple Steps & 125 Delicious Recipes (2014), and California Vegan: Inspiration and Recipes from the People and Places of the Golden State (2021). Palmer has authored more than a thousand articles in a variety of publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, Oprah Magazine, Prevention, and the Los Angeles Times. A registered dietitian nutritionist, with a master’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems, Palmer is associate faculty in the Master of Science Sustainable Food Systems program at Prescott College. Her latest book, The Plant-Powered Plan to Beat DiabetesA Guide for Prevention and Management, is available now.



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(00:01):
Yeah, this is not live.It's completely recorded, broadcasting from one of
the top recording studios in all ofNashville, Tennessee. Yeah, that's not
true at all. I'm probably athome doing this. He's been called one
of the greatest thinkers of his time. Literally, no one has ever called
me that. I knew. Kindof agree with it though, right right
right here, twenty seventeen, Ressippientto the Nobel Peace Prize. That's just

(00:23):
a flat Ali talking politics, community, race, religion, entertainment, sports,
and whatever the fuck else. TheWhite Podcast, Episode one oh five
Now The Dola White Podcast. Myguest today other the new book The Plant
Power Planned to Beat Diabetes, AGuide for Prevention and Management, Sharon Palmer,

(00:43):
Thank you for being here, Thankyou for having me. So,
just so you know, I amplant based going a little over three years
now. So I gave up meatin its entirety March of twenty twenty.
I believe, and I feel alot better about it. I still have
pizza every now and again. Forthe most part. I know you're vegan.
I'm pretty much vegan. My wifeis vegan, and it's just I'm

(01:06):
not diabetic or anything. I don'tnoticed the basis of your book, But
I just feel better about it andalways try to promote it whenever I can,
whenever I can use my voice todo. So that's great. I'm
so happy for you, and it'sso exciting that you found it to be
beneficial. And you know, eventhough my book is about diabetes, we
all know how beneficial plant based eatingis for the whole body, for so

(01:26):
many different things. So your research. How long have you been plant based?
Well, I was raised in asemi vegetarian family, but I've been
eating one hundred percent plant base forabout thirteen years. Wow. You were
introduced to it at a young age, so the transition for you was probably
a little easier than I'd say formost people because this wasn't really a big

(01:48):
thing when I was growing up inlike the eighties. I'm forty four now,
Like you saw people that you heardof people being vegetarian and you'd be
like, okay, yeah, whatever, But it wasn't like it is now,
Like if you're a rest on arepretable restaurant, you need to have
plant based options on your menus.At this point, did you ever kind
of see it exploding as big asas it is now. You're absolutely right.

(02:08):
I mean I could really see thistrend taking off when I wrote my
first book on plant based eating intwenty twelve. It was really starting to
explode where you would just see allthese products in the supermarkets and as you
said, you every restaurant was startingto have items. And I mean it
was not like that before. Itwas not very common, but it's really

(02:29):
changing, and you can surveys showmore people are eating plant based, in
particular young people, but even olderpeople who want to live a longer life.
Now you're seeing people take charge oftheir lives. It's not just going
to the doctor anymore. It's likewhat you do at home to live longer
and to have a higher quality oflife. And I think one thing that

(02:49):
when I tell people on plant basedor I don't eat meat, they think
automatically that everything I eat is healthy. For some reason, I think people
and you can still eat very badlyand be plant based. At the same
time, there's still a lot ofsugars, a lot of carves, a
lot of other things out there thatyou can eat that have nothing to do
with animals, but overall it isa healthier lifestyle. Correct, absolutely,

(03:12):
yeah, And you can. Youcan find a lot of vegan junk food,
especially now, but even when youthink about it, SODA's vegan.
You know, chips are vegan minichips and cookies. You can find all
of those things. So the beautyin the health benefits of a plant based
diet is when it's more based onwhole foods, things like beans and lentils
and whole grains and lots of vegetables, nuts and seeds. Those are the

(03:37):
things that are part of this healthprotective diet. So let's get into diabetes.
I know that's what your your bookis about. What is kind of
the research around that. Can yougive us kind of an overview of the
benefits of prevention and of I guessdealing with diabetes if you're already have been

(03:57):
diagnosed, you know, switching toa plant based diet. Yeah, that
we've known for a while that peoplewho ate a plant based diet had a
much lower chance of even getting diabetes, So that research was around. In
fact, there was a study thatshowed vegans have a seventy seven percent lower
risk of diabetes, which is huge. Vegetarians a fifty four percent lower risk.

(04:18):
So we knew this and more studieshave confirmed it, but now we
have research that shows if you alreadyhave diabetes, a plant based diet can
help you control your glucose better,It can reduce your medications, It can
help you reduce all these complications becausewhen you have diabetes, you're going to
have a much higher rate of heartdisease, Alzheimer's cancer, all these things

(04:43):
that come along with it. Youcan help prevent those and you can even
get off your meds with a plantbased diet. So it's very exciting what's
going on in the research world ondiabetes. Are we starting to see more
things with the research world about aboutplant based eating? And I asked that
because I think when people think diabetes, they think, oh, if I

(05:05):
eat too much sugar, if Ieat too much carves, I'm going to
get diabetes. They don't associate itwith animal product, right, And I
used to think the same thing.I don't get heartburn every now and again,
like I thought it would be,like, you know, tomato based
stuff would give me heartburn. Itdoesn't if there's no meat in it,
if there's no animal product in it. It was the animals. There was

(05:28):
the animal product that was giving meheartburn. I rarely, if ever get
heartburn anymore. And I'm wondering,like, I don't think there's enough negative
stuff out there about really what theanimal products are doing to our bodies,
because it can be a lot morethan what we associated with. And I
think diabetes is probably one of thosethings. Yeah, that's a really good
point, because you're right, wethink a lot about carbohydrates and when we

(05:51):
think about diabetes, but it turnedout to be true that people who ate
a lot of red meat, inparticular, red meat is the worst,
and process are even worse. That'slike bacon, sausage, and ham.
Those people who ate those foods athigher levels had a higher chance of getting
diabetes. And also again, whenyou have diabetes, you're really primed to

(06:12):
get heart disease, hypertension, youknow, Alzheimer's disease. It just goes
on and on. So we knowthat plant based stites help in those areas
dramatically. So it just all itreally became more knowledge knowledge on this that
these plant basedites could help in allof these ways. So I know one
thing that people worry about these daysis you know, weight fluctuating, and

(06:35):
I think I think there's a sectional, a portion of a crowd that believes
that, you know, if Igive up meat, I'm gonna just carve
it up for in every meal andI'm gonna blow up to however many pounds.
Is there truth to that or isit taking the meat out and the
animal product out kind of balance ita little more than than people might think.
Yeah, actually that it's a lotof evidence right now that pople who

(07:00):
at a plant based diet weigh less. There's just a significant amount of this.
I mean one study that showed thatthey weigh on average vegans without even
being on a weight loss diet WAGHone whole category less on the BMI Squill
scale than non vegans. So historicallyvegans have weighed less without even you know,

(07:23):
counting calories or whatever. So thisidea that you know, carbs are
bad, it's really the quality ofcarbs it matters. And plant based diets
are lower in calories overall because there'sless fat, there's less saturated fat,
there's so much fiber, so youcan get full. When you think about
vegetables, they're so low in calories. So when you're eating this healthy diet,

(07:46):
it's easier to keep your weight undercontrol, which is one of the
reasons why it helps diabetes, becauseweight is highly connected to diabetes. I've
also read somewhere that like, whenyou're eating, your body is not craving
necessarily, it is craving nutrients,and so if you're eating a plant based
diet, you'll get full quicker thanif you're eating just junk where and we've

(08:09):
all been there before, where you'relike, can I eat another slice of
this pizza or whatever? And youdo it because you feel like you can
still do that, but you don'treally have those same urges eating whole foods
and eating on a plant based dietat least, I don't you know.
I think that's a great point.And I like to bring that up too,
because can you imagine like eating toomany beans, Like at some point
you're just so full it's I mean, or how much I mean, how

(08:31):
much salad can you eat? Likeat some point your stomach is gonna be
so full. I like to sayit's hard to overeat whole plants. I
mean, it's easy to eat,like if you have a basket of bread
on the table at an Italian restaurant, you can just keep going in Those
are refined plant foods. But whenyou're eating like whole grain like wheat berries,
you just get so full you can'treally overeat them, you know.

(08:54):
I think that's one of the beautiesof a plant based diet, because you
get full with all that fire.Yeah, let's go back to diabetes for
a minute. I know I'm notwell versed on diabetes at all, luckily,
and I'm happy to say that,But I know there are different types
of diabetes. Are there different dietsthat you would put people on for the

(09:16):
different types of diabetes? Is everyonekind of a different thing or is it,
you know, one size fits all. Yeah, Well, actually,
the type of diet that would begood for any type of diabetes is this
plant based diet that we're talking about, which would be based on whole foods.
It would be based on beans andlentils and whole grains, vegetables,
fruits, nuts and seeds, lotsof herbs and spices. So that kind

(09:39):
of diet would be good for alltypes of diabetes, whether it's pre diabetes,
type one, type two. Infact, that's the same diet that
we should all be eating it becauseit's good for your heart, it's good
for your brain, it's good foryour kidneys, it's good for everything.
So it's really something that we canall gain from. And when you think
about the fact that that diabetes isa global epidemic and that we're really so

(10:03):
many of us are at risk forgetting diabetes, it's it's really the way
we should all be eating so thatwe stay healthy. Now, if you
do have type one diabetes, whichis the insulin dependent diabetes, it does
take a little planning. I alwaysrecommend that you should, you know,
meet with your healthcare practitioner and planout, you know, a plan that
matches your medication regime and all that. But it's the same style of eating

(10:28):
we're talking about. I always tellpeople, um, if you're interested in
plant based eating, because I hearthis a lot, and now I've said
this a lot, like I justcan't see myself getting up giving up meat,
Like meat has been the centerpiece ofevery meal I've had since since I
was growing up. And I alwaystold people to start with foods that if
you took the meat out of it, you might not notice it. So

(10:50):
like a stir fry or you know, even like a fahita or something like
that, if you took the meatout. If you extracted to meet the
the flavor of the meal, itdoesn't really lose anything, And that was
an easier way for me to getoff meat. What advice do you have
for people start out like because Ithink I think just the idea of giving

(11:11):
up meat is hard for a lotof people. I agree, and I
recommend similar things to what you're suggesting. One of the things I say is,
look at your favorite foods. Imean, what are your what are
the foods that you're eating during theweek, what's your favorite dinner? And
can you just make a couple oftweaks, you know, like what if
you love tacos, you can easilymake the same tacos but use black beans

(11:35):
instead of you know, your shreddedbeef for whatever. If you love lasagna,
I mean, you can make anamazing vegetable asagnya, so things that
you're familiar with so it doesn't seemso different. And even just starting out
slowly, for example, you couldstart like Mondays doing all plant based Monday,
so and you just give it atry and you see how you like

(11:56):
it, and then maybe you addWednesday to that and you grably realize it's
not that difficult. It's not thathard, and it's delicious and I feel
good. It's a lot easier thanI thought it was. I was gonna
give it up. I was givingup meat for a week, and I
had a hamburger on I don't know, it was a Sunday, I believe,
and I was like, after thishamburger, I'm gonna give up meat
for the week. You know,check back in next week. And I

(12:18):
just never went back. It wasjust you. I think a lot of
people, myself included, we makeit out to be this big thing and
it's really not that different, andthen giving up for the most part,
giving up just dairy products that thevegan cheeses are getting so much better now.
Like I had a deep dish likeChicago style vegan pizza like a couple

(12:39):
of weeks ago, and it wasI didn't I didn't notice the difference.
I honestly didn't notice the difference anymore. So, I mean, these things
are coming around and getting so muchbetter, and they're getting even healthier because
they're not using like the pizza thatI had the place that I got it
from, Like they only use likewhole ingredients. So it was like a
nut milk cheese that was really goodand they did a really good job.

(13:01):
And these options are out there now. Absolutely, there's so much more out
there, and I do I agreeone hundred percent. I mean, I
think people think it's going to beso much harder than it is. I
hear that from people all the time, and you know, there's and I
think a challenge like what you didis another easy way to just tell yourself
I'm going to do it for oneweek or one month or two weeks,
whatever it is, so there's youdon't have this pressure about like making this

(13:24):
life changing, life altering change.You know, you can just do it
kind of a gradual challenge and thensee and you know, so many people
try that challenge and then they feelgood and they say, hey, that
wasn't so hard after all. Ilike how I feel about my life right
now. Have you seen or isthere a research done as far as mental

(13:45):
health with eating a plant based becauseI do feel better just as a human
being. I feel like I dealwith situations better as well. And I
don't know if there's anything out thereabout that, but it seems true to
me, So yeah, there isthere's actually that shows that eating more vegetables,
for example, makes you feel happier. And what they think is all

(14:07):
these phytochemicals that are in plant foods. These are these compounds that are only
in plants, and they act asantioxidants, they act as anti inflammatories,
and they think that it's those compoundsthat actually make you know, make you
feel better. So literally you canhave you can have less depression, you
can feel happier, you can justfeel better about yourself, and then you

(14:31):
add exercise to it, and thenyou're adding even another element of feeling good
about yourself. Absolutely, and thefew times a month or one time a
month, or I try to keepit at one time a month when I
have like pizza and go off thevegan rail a little bit, I always
notice I feel so much tired.I feel so tired, like twenty minutes
after finishing, like I've I've gotto go lay down. Whereas a normal

(14:52):
day, even if I'm eating likeplant based junk food one day, like
I don't feel that I have togo take a nap right then and there
like I do after have if Iingest animal product, like I feel like
I need to go lay down likea sap because I feel so tired.
Yeah, and I think that's verycommon. Even just if you look at
ay, you know your biology,the way you digest food. When you're

(15:13):
eating meat versus plant based diet,it changes, so some people will feel
this heaviness because literally your body isgoing to take longer to digest that food,
Whereas when you're eating a plant baseddiet, things are your digestions going
much more rapidly, so you're feelinga little lighter, not so weighed down.
That feeling. I love that.Thank you so much for taking time

(15:37):
out. The book is The PlantPowered Plan to Beat Diabetes, a Guide
for prevention and management. Sharon Palmer, thank you so much for doing this.
Thank you for having me
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