Introduction
Although vegans account for only one percent of the total population of planet earth, veganism has become increasingly popular over the past decade. This diet is considered healthy as it does not involve the intake of unpleasant fat and focuses on only plant-based nutrition, which is generally considered a healthier option than other diets.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A VEGAN DIET
Many people need clarification on vegan and vegetarian diets. Unlike the vegetarian diet, a vegan diet does not involve the intake of animal products, including cheese, milk, butter, etc. They do have alternatives for these options. For example, vegans have almond or soy milk instead of milk, and they feed on genetically engineered cheese, etc.
Top 20 Plant-based Doctors You Should Know
With the popularity of plant-based diets, the popularity of plant-based doctors has also increased. They are considered the primary factor in promoting the vegan diet as people think the word of a doctor is more essential and authentic than any research paper.
Listed below are the 20 most famous plant-based doctors that you should know about to learn more about the diet.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell
Dr. Campbell completed his education at Cornell University (M.S., Ph.D.) and MIT as a Research Associate in nutrition, biochemistry, and toxicology. Afterward, he spent ten years on Virginia Tech’s Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition faculty. He currently holds the title of Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry in the Division of Nutritional Sciences.
Dr. Campbell faced a great deal of bewilderment regarding the nutrition world and the effects it generates on the body. In recent years, he has been focused on queries regarding nutrition. His writings revolve around queries on food as well.
He is the author of The New York Times bestseller Whole (2013), The Low Carb Fraud (2013), and The Future of Nutrition; An Insider’s Look at the Science, Why We Keep Getting It Wrong and How to Start Getting It Right (2020). Dr. Campbell is featured in many documentaries. He also has famous research like Forks Over Knives, Eating You Alive, Food Matters, and PlantPure Nation. He still shares proof-backed information on health and nutrition whenever given the opportunity. The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and the online Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate powered are both founded by Campbell.
Famous articles written by him are;
· Is saturated salt terrible?
· Salt, sugar, and fat
· Could changing our diets defeat COVID19
Caldwell B. Esselstyn
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Western Reserve University. Dr. Esselstyn was the President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons in 1991. He has over 150 famous publications. In 1995 he published his long-term nutritional research regarding stopping and reversing coronary artery disease in critically ill patients.
Neal Barnard
Neal D. Barnard is an American author, clinical researcher, and President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Dr. Barnard conducted many research-based studies inquiring about the effects of diet on diabetes, body weight, and chronic pain, including a groundbreaking study of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, aided by the National Institutes of Health. This research further led to the viewing of type 2 diabetes as a potentially reversible condition for many patients. Dr. Barnard has written over 100 scientific publications and 20 books for medical and lay readers. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians, which is a textbook available for all U.S. medical students for studies.
Dr. Barbard serves as the President of the physician committee. It was his research that helped achieve the major milestone of the addition of plant-based diets in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. He was given the title of the Fellow of the American College of Cardiology in 2015. The next year, as a model to make nutrition a part of routine life, he developed the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
He received the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. He even hosted four PBS television programs on nutrition and health.
John McDougall
John McDougall holds the position in the Great Nutrition Debate 2000 presented by the USDA due to his national recognition as a nutrition expert. He is a board-certified internist, author of 13 national best-selling books, and co-founder of the McDougall Program. He has dedicated over 50 years to caring for people with diet and lifestyle medicine.
Dean Ornish
Dean Ornish, MD, is the founder and President of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif. He is a clinical professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Ornish received his internal medicine training from the Baylor College of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts General Hospital.
For the first time, Ornish has directed clinical research demonstrating that complete change in lifestyle changes may lead to reversing even severe coronary heart disease without drugs or surgery for over 30 years. He was the one to direct the first random, controlled trial presenting that complete changes in lifestyle may stop or reverse the progression of early-stage prostate cancer.
His research also testified that extensive changes in lifestyle might affect gene expression, ‘turning on,’ disease-preventing genes, and ‘turning off’ genes that promote cancer and heart disease. In collaboration with Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., he also showed that these lifestyle changes could lengthen telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that control how long we live.
He is the writer of six best-selling books, which include the New York Times bestsellers Dr. Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; Love & Survival; and his most recent book, The Spectrum.
Dr. Pam Popper
Pam Popper is an internationally recognized nutrition, Medicine, and health expert. He is also the founder and Executive Director of Wellness Forum Health.
The Wellness Forum Health provides educational programs, extensive libraries of videos and articles, diet and lifestyle interventions, and assistance to consumers interested in regaining and maintaining optimal health. It also offers professional development programs for health professionals who want to convert or start a practice focused on health instead of sick care.
Through its network of providers, Wellness Forum Health offers direct-to-consumer healthcare services.
Dr. Michael Greger
Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM is a physician, a New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized professional speaker on several important public health issues.
Dr. Greger has presented his lectures at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the International Bird Flu Summit, among countless other symposia and institutions. In 2017, he was honored Lifestyle Medicine Trailblazer Award by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Greger’s most recent scientific publications include the Journal of Preventive Medicine, Critical Reviews in Microbiology, Family and Community Health, and the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Public Health explores the public health implications of industrialized animal agriculture.
Dr. Michael Klaper
Dr. Klaper is a gifted clinician, internationally-recognized teacher & a speaker on diet & health. Besides his clinical practice and private consultations with patients, Dr. Klaper is an ardent as well as a dedicated teacher of physicians and other healthcare professionals about the importance of nutrition in clinical practice and integrative Medicine.
He is also the author of Vegan Nutrition, Pure & Simple & has produced numerous videos, webinars, and a good number of articles for both scientific journals and the popular press. Dr. Klaper contributed to making 2 PBS television programs, Food for Thought and the award-winning movie Diet for a New America, as a source of inspiration advocating plant-based diets & the end of animal cruelty worldwide. He teaches that “Health Comes From Healthy Living” & is dedicated to the healing & flourishing of all living beings & our planet.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman
Joel Fuhrman, M.D., a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (Perelman) School of Medicine (1988), is a board-certified family physician, seven-time New York Times best-selling author, and internationally recognized expert on nutrition and natural healing. He has specialized in preventing and reversing disease through nutritional methods. Dr. Fuhrman is also the President of the Nutritional Research Foundation and a part of the Northern Arizona University Health Sciences division. He was the one who devised the term “Nutritarian” to describe a nutrient-dense eating style designed to prevent cancer, slow aging and extend lifespan.
Dr. Fuhrman has shown that it is possible to achieve sustainable weight loss and reverse heart disease, diabetes, and many other illnesses using smart nutrition for over thirty years. In his medical practice and through his books and television specials, he continues to bring this life-saving message to hundreds of thousands worldwide.
Dr. Brenda Davis
Brenda Davis is a registered dietitian and one of the world’s chief plant-based pioneers, and an internationally acclaimed speaker. She is popularly known as “the rock star of plant-based nutrition.” The VegNews referred to her as “The Godmother” of vegan dietitians.
Brenda is the author and co-author of 13 books with nearly a million printed copies in 15 languages. Brenda’s contemporary works include Plant-Powered Protein (Melina, Davis, and Davis, 2022), Nourish The Definitive Plant-based Nutrition Guide for Families (Shah & Davis, 2020), Kick Diabetes Essentials (Davis, 2019), The Kick Diabetes Cookbook (Davis & Melina, 2018), Becoming Vegan: Comprehensive Edition (Davis & Melina, 2014) and Becoming Vegan: Express Edition (Davis & Melina, 2013). Nourish won gold in the 2020 Nautilus Book Awards and was also a Canada Book Award winner.
Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai
Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai are a husband-and-wife team and directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Both of them are also the authors of The 30-Day Alzheimer’s Solution. The husband and wife duo are working to demystify the steps to achieving long-term brain health and the prevention of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia through research and their extensive collective medical backgrounds.
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz
William John Bulsiewicz is an American board-certified gastroenterologist and author famous for his findings on the relationship between the gut microbiome and plant-based nutrition. He attended medicinal education at Georgetown School of Medicine. Later he got his training in Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and gastroenterology at The University of North Carolina Hospitals. He got his Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) from Northwestern University and also received a certificate in nutrition from Cornell University. He is certified by the board in Internal Medicine and gastroenterology and also serves as an expert in digestive diseases and the gut. He holds multiple awards and distinctions for his services as a doctor. Dr. Will also conducted research that contributed to over 20 published scientific articles and over 40 presentations at national meetings.
Dr. Brooke Goldner
Dr. Goldner is a board-certified medical doctor. She also wrote three best-selling books, Goodbye Lupus, Autoimmune Disease, and Green Smoothie Recipes to Kick-Start Your Health and Healing. She has been a part of many documentaries, such as Disease Reversal Hope and Eating You Alive, on tv news, the Home & Family Show, and many radio shows and podcasts. She is a highly sought-after keynote speaker. She also appeared as the leading face of Vegan Health & Fitness Magazine 3 times. This includes being on the front cover of Fit Over Forty. She was also featured in the Journal of Disease Reversal, reversing lupus in herself, and publishing multiple case studies in reversing end-stage lupus nephritis (kidney failure) with her hyper-nourishing nutrition protocol for autoimmune disease-reversal.
Dr. Kristi Funk
Dr. Funk graduated with a distinction in Psychology from Stanford University in 1991. Afterward, she completed her medical degree from the UC Davis School of Medicine in 1996. She then completed her 5-year general surgery residency in Seattle and a surgical breast fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her academic achievements are exemplary. Dr. Funk founded the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills, becoming the first breast cancer center of its kind, fusing state-of-the-art screening, genetic testing, diagnosis, and surgical treatment with preventive strategies and holistic, compassionate care. This means all treatment was made available under one roof.
Dr. Judy Brangman
Dr. Judy has been following a plant-based diet for over eight years. She was inspired by the plant-based diet in 2010 when she learned about the power of a vegan diet in preventing and reversing chronic diseases. In 2020, she launched a lifestyle medicine practice named Newell Health, where she provides lifestyle medicine consults and health coaching. She also founded a seven-week program, Plant-Based Eating 101, helping women transition to a healthy plant-based diet.
Dr. Qadira Ali Huff
Dr. Qadira Ali Huff, MD, MPH, FAAP, DipABLM, is a board-certified pediatrician and lifestyle medicine physician. She is a lifestyle health enthusiast. Dr. Qadira founded Sprouting Wellness to creatively coach families, from providing information to the practical implementation of healthy lifestyle habits.
Dr. Columbus Batiste
Dr. Columbus completed medical studies at Loma Linda Medical School, California, in 1998. His sole goal is to educate so that people are well-informed about the power of health-promoting foods in the form of plant-based natural food sources combined with activity, sleep, and gratitude
Dr. Alan Desmond
Dr. Alan specializes in Gastroenterology and General Internal Medicine; he completed her specialist training in Ireland and Oxford. Moreover, he has made evidence-based dietary advice an essential part of his clinical practice. The results of his research made him dedicated to spreading the word about the benefits of a whole-food, plant-based approach to nutrition.
He has a special interest in the role of diet in preventing and treating digestive diseases. Being a part of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, Dr. Alan published several influential research papers in the study area of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Originally from County Cork in Ireland.
He had the honor of sharing the stage at numerous international conferences alongside renowned plant-based advocates such as Dr. Michael Greger, Dr. Michael Klaper, Dietician Brenda Davis, Dr. Kim Williams and Dr. Neal Barnard. He is an Ambassador for Plant-Based
Health Professionals U.K., a not-for-profit group that educates the public, health professionals, and policymakers on the incredible health benefits of a plant-based diet.
Dr. Melissa Mondala
Dr. Melissa Mondala is a complete plant-based physician, nutritional & wellness expert, health coach, mental health advocate, and recipe inventor. She is famous in renowned media, such as Forbes, Local News outlets, and Social Media.
Dr. Melissa Mondala is a triple specialist in family medicine, lifestyle medicine, and primary care psychiatry. She is one of the first and youngest nationally recognized lifestyle medicine fellows and is a strong community health advocate. She is also the co-founder of the Dr. Lifestyle Clinic.
She said she is very passionate about studying human nutrition and keeps herself updated about every new development in the field.
Dr. Micah Yu
Dr. Micah is a Triple Board Certified Rheumatologist and an Autoimmune Warrior. He became inclined towards a plant-based diet when he transitioned to a more plant-based one in 2018. He experienced first-hand the power of food for healing diseases. This changed his approach towards diseases not only as a patient but as a doctor as well.
Conclusion
A plant-based or vegan diet needs critical management for it to be balanced and healthy for individuals of every age. The vegan doctors are experts who know your body’s requirements well, as well as the nutrition a diet, can offer so it is important to study and consult these doctors before choosing a vegan diet.