by Dr. Elisabeth Fontaine
My intention is to educate women on health topics related to nutrition. Both women and men will learn or review some of the important facts of nutrition with an emphasis on an anti-inflammatory diet: whole plant food based.
What makes me so interested in women's health? I am doubly Board Certified as an OB/GYN and Lifestyle Medicine. I also have a Master's Degree in Obesity and Exercise Physiology. I worked as an OB/GYN for over 27 years and had the chance to work with women of all ages. I incorporated the importance of exercise and movement with my patients due to my background, yet never was I trained to understand the significant impact of our western diet on our health.
Don’t get me wrong the exercise and movement is good and removing fast food, excess carbs, (the bad ones) was helping somewhat. However, it is only when I became involved with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine that I realized how much I could change and improve the health of my patients with a focus on a whole food plant-based diet. It is therefore my reason to continuously trigger interest on how to improve your health and that of your loved ones with an accent on nutrition. It is with great pleasure that I now have the chance to practice with a group of like minded Physicians at Plant Based TeleHealth. We all share this desire of helping our population getting healthier focusing on a whole plant based diet. I am proud to be part of this growing field of Lifestyle Medicine Physicians.
My story as a physician is revealing. It showed me the importance of what we eat and using diet as a vital sign to your health. I offered a safe space to review the pros and cons, as well as clarifying misconceptions and perceptions on what we should eat or not eat, calories in and calories out (very confusing for some) and no, there is no quick fix like most of them would like to think when it comes to … losing weight. In itself a healthy diet does not really have a good definition as I have experienced with my own patients.
Here is an important fact from a study published in Lancet (a very prestigious scientific worldwide journal):
“Our findings show that a suboptimal diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risks globally, including tobacco smoking, highlighting the urgent need for improving human diet across nations. Although sodium, sugar, and fat have been the main focus of diet policy debate in the past two decades, our assessment shows that the leading dietary risk factors for mortality are diets high in sodium, low in whole grains, low in fruit, low in nuts and seeds, low in vegetables, and low in omega-3 fatty acids; each accounting for more than 2% of global deaths.” If you read between the lines, this means a diet that gravitates more toward Whole Plant Foods.
With that in mind, I am greatly interested in the Lifestyle Medicine approach and that is why I joined the Plant Based TeleHealth group of Physicians. These Physicians recognized the importance of nutrition in helping people to improve their health. We represent the future of Medicine and I begin to tell you the pleasure we all have to assist you gaining back your health.
I want to use this important message and invite you to keep an eye on our 8 weeks review on a topic related to the impact of diet and in our case whole plant food diet on women’s health.
In the meantime, if you are a woman, a woman with teenagers, a group of women (yes your significant other as well) and you would like to start on this new journey but don’t know where to start, I encourage you to communicate with us at plantbasedtelehealth.com. We offer personalized but also group visits to start on a journey of a whole food plant-based diet with our PlantpureRx program. It is actually very fun to share this new life with people you know and love.