#82 The Benefits of a Plant-Based DIet

Welcome to Season 3 of the Body Wisdom Podcast with Dr. Michele.

This season the podcast will be focusing on healthy habits. As your host, I’ll be recording solo episodes which will answer some of the most common questions I’m asked as a physician such as “how do I build a new habit?” "which habits are essential to get healthy again?" "what can I do to lose weight?" "how can I look and feel younger again?" "how can I start exercising again if I haven't done it in years?" and more. I will also be coaching patients and clients live on-air, and conducting interviews with other health & wellness experts. Of course, I am always open to new topic ideas, so if there is a topic you would like me to address or if there is a question you would like answered, please reach out. Email me directly at [email protected].

Today Dr. Michele discusses "The Benefits of a Plant-Based Diet."

I hope you enjoy the show!

About Dr. Michele:

As a physician & surgeon, certified Ayurvedic and Autoimmune health coach, yoga/anatomy teacher, and overall health & wellness expert, Dr. Michele Summers Colon is an Advocate for Women's Health. Her passion is helping women help themselves to heal their body. She is the author of Body Wisdom: 10 Weeks to Transformation, the creator and host of the Body Wisdom with Dr. Michele Podcast, and the leader of the Body Wisdom Membership Program.

She has been interviewed and quoted in many prominent publications including USA Today, US News & World Reports, Health Magazine, Yahoo! Makers, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. One of Dr. Michele’s greatest strengths is her ability to help women create balanced, healthy lives by looking at the whole picture. She combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine to create individualized health & wellness plans for her patients and clients. For over 24 years, Dr. Michele has dedicated herself to maintaining a private medical practice and providing exceptional care to her patients while at the same time studying holisitic and integrative medicine. Dr. Michele believes that food is medicine and that yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation are the keys to perfect health.

Dr. Michele has a Bachelor’s degree in Physiology from UCBerkeley, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Doctorate degree in Podiatry from Barry University, and graduated from a Foot & Ankle Surgical Residency in Los Angeles. Dr. Michele is also certified in Ayurvedic as well as Autoimmune Health Coaching, Yoga, Reiki, Reflexology, and Laser Therapy. Dr. Michele specializes in Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Therapeutic Yoga to provide the most healing, relaxation, and rejuvenation to her patients and clients. Dr. Michele has studied Ayurvedic Medicine extensively and has worked with some of the best practitioners throughout the United States to bring Ayurveda to the forefront of medicine.

Combining yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation is one of Dr. Michele’s passions so that she can spread the word to as many people as possible that this is the path to perfect health.

Show Notes:

This season we are going to be talking about Healthy Habits so that we can feel younger and healthier.

When we talk about what we eat, we all seem to have a method and an opinion. We are in the day and age of personalization — and this extends to diet. “I’m a vegan,” or “I’m into paleo,” or “I need to eat animal flesh to function.”

Around here, we’re less interested in labels and we’re more interested in the relationship between humans and the plants that feed us. In this habit, we turn our attention to taking your relationship between plants and your body to the next level of integration.

Eating a plant-based diet is about the relationship between our outer ecosystem, where our food grows, and our inner ecosystem. How you source your body’s energy and what you build your body’s tissue out of is of obvious importance.

We each have the opportunity to nourish and nurture ourselves from the outside in... and from the inside out.

The first activity is to check out where you are in the spectrum of how you feed yourself. Once you know where you are starting, the next action step reveals itself on your path to a healthier and more conscious body.

Next, investigate your relationship between your body and where you source your energy. You’ll become more aware of the exchange of consciousness, energy, and nutrients between the bodies of plants and your body.

It’s a process full of nourishment — not deprivation.

This relationship with our food and nature is very deeply tied to stress. Nature is trying to feed you. If we have the world view that life itself is nourishing, then we can’t really experience stress. The more connected we are to nature, the more connected we are to the plants, and the more nourishing we are to plants, then the more we understand that nature is trying t...