A healthy diet focuses on fruits and vegetables

Fall is the season for cooler temperatures, apple cider and pumpkin spice lattes. Unfortunately, it is also the season for colds and coughs and flu. While it is not possible to prevent such seasonal illnesses, a healthy diet may help boost immunity and thus improve your overall health.

So what is a healthy diet?

As a dietitian, actually I cringe at the word “diet.” The word, which is supposed to be a noun to describe what we eat, has sadly been turned into a verb that describes the latest fad. Our eating habits and lifestyle need to be viewed with a broader vision of long-term health for the whole body instead of a narrow focus on counting calories or a single food or ingredient.

A healthy diet is one focused on eating plants. It is not magic and it may not be easy for some, but it has the potential to make us a lot healthier as a society.

The Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee stated that such a diet prevents disease and highlighted the benefits to the environment. The report noted: “The major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet.”

I recently had a chance to hear some detailed discussions on the topic. In September, the McKimmon Center at N.C. State University hosted the Plant-based Prevention of Disease Conference. The objective was to discuss the merits of such a lifestyle change for preventing and treating many chronic diseases. Various experts in the medical, nutrition and research fields from around the country offered evidence and data confirming that switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet can indeed have benefits on a variety of health issues. You can learn more about the conference by visiting this website: preventionofdisease.org/about-p-pod.

October also happens to be Vegetarian Awareness Month. An upcoming local event can help you learn more about a vegetarian diet. From noon-5 p.m. Oct. 17, the Triangle VegFest will feature vendors, food samples and cooking demonstrations at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh. For details: trianglevegfest.com.

So let us welcome this autumn by putting some healthy meatless meals on our plates.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 9:54 AM with the headline "A healthy diet focuses on fruits and vegetables."