A Lesson From Covid-19
Poor over all health contributes to poor coronavirus outcome
In a just released analysis of 57,000 seriously ill Covid positive patients at one of New York’s largest health care systems, 57% had HBP, 41% were obese, and 34% had type 2 DM. (Feinstein Institute for Medical Research)
When we look at these three conditions, simply changing what we put in our mouths can make a significant difference in the course of each of those respective diseases.
Of course, suddenly changing to a healthy diet will not prevent us from becoming infected with coronavirus. But perhaps this pandemic can become a motivating force. What if we used the knowledge of the statistics of this pandemic to instill a change? What if we listen to the countless medical professionals who support the adherence to plant based diets? What if we looked beyond this pandemic and considered the long term benefits of plant based eating?
As a pharmacist, I studied how medicines work in your body. The science of pharmacology is fascinating, however after working for many years in the field I question how many of these medicines would even be necessary if we maintained a better lifestyle. I find myself more interested in using food as medicine.
The cost of prescriptions, medical visits and lab work continue to rise and medical insurance follows right along with it. Eating a healthy plant based diet may be slightly more expensive upfront but there is no doubt given the health benefits that it is more economical in the long run.
There are many reasons Americans have poor diets: convenience, economic, cultural and even apathy. But if we use this pandemic as a motivating force we can overcome these issues. We can use this platform to educate and encourage change. We can make proper nutrition a sustainable habit.
When we are able to finally sit back and take time to reflect on the coronavirus pandemic I hope we can say that we learned about the importance of public health. I hope that we can include proper nutrition in that discussion. Lastly I hope we can engage people across all backgrounds to have heightened awareness of proper nutrition and it’s correlation to preventing serious disease.
