COVID-19 Update : New Year and New Opportunities

RVAchironeuro • January 5, 2021

Hello everyone, and Happiest of New Year’s Wishes for a Healthy and Prosperous 2021!

As we watch this incredible past year fade into history, we are still faced with many challenges for the foreseeable future. As I reported in an earlier blog, the U.S. is the most co-morbid country in the world, with only 1 out of every 10 of us being metabolically fit and healthy. This is largely due to our dietary choices as food has been recognized as the leading cause of death and disability in America, and this fact that is reported regularly in the scientific press is not widely known or acted upon.

“Specific diseases and risk factors, such as drug use disorders, high BMI, poor diet, high fasting plasma glucose level, and alcohol use disorders are increasing and warrant increased attention. These data can be used to inform national health priorities for research, clinical care, and policy.”  (1)

Bottom Line:  There has seldom been a better time or motivator than Covid-19 related to urging us all to get rid of or reduce any co-morbidities that we may have. The best way to do that is to simply focus on health improvement and lifestyle upgrades, and as I have mentioned, food is the place for most of us to start. So where to start? From what I can read, it seems that shifting to a plant based dietary strategy offers multiple possibilities of health promotion for most of us. Given the facts about co-morbidities driving illness severity in Covid-19, that two thirds of us have insulin dysregulation issues, and 73% of Americans are either overweight or obese, this approach can offer enormous benefits in a pretty fast timeline. Why not get started now and kick off this promising New Year of 2021 with strong steps to safeguard your health and well-being!? As these authors found out, a vegan diet brought a slew of metabolic benefits, including an average weight loss of 13 pounds and increased insulin sensitivity, lower liver fatty infiltration and more. They go on to state:

“Excess body weight and insulin resistance lead to type 2 diabetes and other major health problems. There is an urgent need for dietary interventions to address these conditions.

In this 16-week randomized clinical trial, a low-fat plant-based dietary intervention reduced body weight by reducing energy intake and increasing postprandial metabolism, which was associated with reductions in hepatocellular and intramyocellular fat and increased insulin sensitivity.  Conclusion:  A low-fat plant-based diet is an effective tool for reducing body weight and increasing insulin sensitivity and postprandial metabolism.”  ( 2)

We send you our sincere best wishes for a healthy, safe and successful 2021!

Keep calm and eat your veggies!

By Mark Smith March 30, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith March 23, 2026
Health News Update: How To Fight Inflammation and Chronic Disease 3.23.26 Hello again everyone: You might wonder why I keep focusing on food…so here are some of the reasons: food choices are the leading cause of death in the U.S. and spreading around the world. Poor food choices lead to inflammation which slowly destroy health. It is that simple, plain, and clear and backed by research. The next question: how do we fight back? Introduction The positive impact of food on health was postulated by the ancient Hippocrates, father of modern medicine with his famous quote: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” [1]. In the 21st century, scientists have focused on the effect of nutritional habits in diseases. Nowadays, it is well documented that food plays a noteworthy role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases namely cardiovascular diseases (CVD), metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus type II, and cancer [2–5], as it correlates with others with the lipid pattern, the blood pressure, and the endothelial function. The scientists examine the effect of nutritional habits on disease emergence and progression in both individual nutrient intake and dietary patterns models. Worldwide, two dietary patterns are usually compared—the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the Western diet (WD) [3,6]. The Mediterranean diet reflects the food culture of most Mediterranean countries based on olive oil consumption, seasonal fresh vegetables, cereals, and plants in balance with low consumption of meat [7]. The Western diet, on the contrary, is dominated by high-fat dairy products processed and red meat [8]. However, discordance in the different MD patterns and consumed food doses had been recognized. Without any doubt, those discrepancies could confine and restrict our knowledge on the health benefit mechanisms of the MD [9]. Due to the above, the medical community along with nutritionists and dieticians take a keen interest in MD and its traits [7]. https://www.academia.edu/45378994/biomedicines_Mediterranean_Diet_as_a_Tool_to_Combat_Inflammation_and_Chronic_Diseases_An_Overview?email_work_card=view-paper food choices can fight inflammation and chronic disease Bottom Line: This is a 2020 paper and since then literally hundreds of papers on the MD have emerged showing how the food plan lowers inflammation and the risk for developing multiple chronic illnesses. Even still, lots of research needs to be done to elucidate the many mechanisms of how food impacts our system and how to optimally individualize dietary recommendations. At this point, our best strategy to prevent and/or recover from any chronic condition is to eat as clean and natural as possible. It has become rather obvious that the further away from a natural diet we get, the sicker we become. On top of that, I have yet to see a full recovery from any health issue without the foundation of a predominantly plant-based, unprocessed, whole foods approach…which is why I keep posting about this subject. All the best to you and yours!
By Mark Smith March 16, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith March 2, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith February 23, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith February 22, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith February 16, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith February 2, 2026
New Title
By Mark Smith January 26, 2026
New Title
More Posts