LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Many people share the goal of losing weight and getting health. Some are trying to accomplish that by turning to a plant-based diet.
That includes Perry Thomas, who knew something had to change. The days of burgers and barbecue had caught up with him. Something clicked shortly after watching a documentary on Netflix about how changing your diet can reverse some serious health problems.
“I’m going to change my food and I’m going to embrace it and do whatever I need to do to get because I want to be around for my kids and grandkids," Thomas said.
His search for a new way of life led to Bob Hobbs, the nurse practitioner and owner of Louisville Lifestyle Medicine. He promotes whole-food plant-based eating and is passionate about it.
“We do know eating a whole-food plant-based diet is the healthiest diet. It's the most researched diet. We have quite a few cohort, longtitudinal, 20-years-plus studies that indicate the more you get down to eating whole-food/plant-based the more healthier you are going to be. Less risk you have for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, developing multiple-sclerosis, developing Parkinson’s Disease. It eliminates a huge amount of health risks that we take on a daily basis by eating an American diet," Hobbs said.
Plant-based eating is just like it sounds. You only eat things that grow from the ground, or from a tree, like nuts and fruits. Veggies, legumes and lentils are staples.
It's been eye-opening changes for Thomas. He surprisingly doesn't miss his old way of eating or his beloved burgers.
“I did at first the texture of it the taste of it everything about it bacon loved bacon now I just don't it actually seems a little gross, Thomas said.
Hobbs says the price tag for his recipes doesn't really differ from the of cost eating meat or processed foods.
“My wife and I, we eat oatmeal (and) bananas every morning. We walk out of the house with a very cheap breakfast in us. We didn't have pay for eggs, pay for bacon, pay for sausage. I'll put our cost of our breakfast every morning up against anyone else that's eating an American diet," Hobbs said.
He also wants to remind people it's a marathon, not a sprint, when you choose a whole-food plant-based lifestyle.
“How to eat, and how to make those behavioral changes, because when it boils down it to its behavioral modification, and when we can get them to establish a goal, say 'I’m going to eat healthy one day out of the week or two days out of the week' and commit to exercising a little bit more, then we get those small little rewards. They get some positive improvement out of it and then that's just kind of a snowball that just kind of keeps moving along. That's kind of how you would introduce someone into a plant-based diet," Hobbs said.
The journey is still in-progress for Thomas but he's confident knows there's no turning back.
“So now this is just how I live it's got to be sustainable it's got to be delicious food tastes great and its nutritious and I feel good and if it does all that then i can do that for life," Thomas said.