When METI set up its Healthy Living Clinic, now ten years ago, our message that non-communicable diseases (NCD) like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease could be controlled and even reversed by following the whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet, such a message was received with disbelief. 

We remember being interviewed by one of the local radio stations. When the announcer asked how we could get rid of diabetes and we answered: ‘by stopping eating meat!’ he burst out in uncontrollable laughter. It was the first stage of the classical description by the German philosopher, Schopenhauer, who declared that all truths pass through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. 

METI has had its share as a consequence of this second stage and still is facing an unwillingness from certain quarters to accept that things are changing… and that we now should pass to the final stage, namely, accepting that the benefits of a WFPB diet (to reverse NCD) are "self-evident". 

As we have reported in previous columns, the ‘medical evidence’ (that should inform medical practice) as reported over the past 30 years in reputable international medical journals is now so overwhelming that the American College of Cardiology, already in 2015, set out its clinical practice guidelines, explicitly endorsing a plant-based diet as its general recommendation for diabetic and heart patients. 

It allowed one of the top American cardiologists (heart specialists), Dr Joel Khan, to quip by saying that there are two types of cardiologists: "Vegans and those, who have not kept up with the latest (medical) literature"! 

The American and the Canadian Diabetes Associations are now also openly in support of plant-based eating as one of the dietary patterns acceptable for the management of the diabetic condition. The Canadian Association is more explicit and specifies that it recommends plant-based diets for disease management “because of their potential to improve body weight and blood sugar control, total cholesterol and non-HDL-cholesterol levels, in addition to reducing the need for diabetes medications.” 

The Canadian Diabetes Association further specifies that the preferred eating pattern should be: “a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meats, dairy products and eggs, as well as all refined and processed foods.”  

Among the list of international professional bodies is KDIGO, the peak international body for clinical practice guidelines for kidney disease, which in its 20020 Guidelines on Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is very specific: "Patients with diabetes and CKD should consume an individualized diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fibre, legumes, plant-based proteins, unsaturated fats, and nuts; and lower in processed meats, refined carbohydrates, and sweetened beverages."

It further explains: "A focus on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fibre, legumes, plant-based proteins, unsaturated fats, and nuts is common to many diets associated with good health outcomes in the general population. It is an appropriate starting point for patients with diabetes and CKD.” 

There was further mention that the biggest obstacle identified to the population adopting eating plant-based was ignorance. Nearly nine out of ten patients interviewed “had not heard of using a plant-based diet to treat or manage Type 2 diabetes.” 

This is of course the same as METI’s experience when we invite patients to attend our weekly Health Seminar. And invariably, they report that they never heard about the benefits of a plant-based diet to control or reverse diabetes, heart disease or other non-communicable diseases. Overseas research on the issue of why conventional doctors do not expressly invite their patients to follow a plant-based diet is that they believe the patient will not be willing to stick to the diet. Our experience refutes such belief. 

When people are unwell – many times feeling miserable because of their NCD condition – if properly explained, they will try out the WFPB diet and in a matter of a week or two reap the benefits. When, in addition, they have the support of their loved ones, they will persist and reverse these life-threatening medical conditions. The challenge now is to 'spread the good news’ to as many people as can be reached. That is why METI believes that its community programs by rallying the support of the women’s committees around Samoa are vital to bring the NCD epidemic under control. 

We invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Moto'otua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change programs. Or call us at 30550. Learning how to follow these programs might be your ‘game changer’!