The Plantrician Project Commends the NAACP for Making Plant-Based Meal Availability a Legislative Priority in 2020 and Beyond
The Board of Directors of the NAACP officially ratified a resolution stating that advocacy for mandatory plant-based meals in prisons and options for plant-based meals in K-12 schools and hospitals shall be a 2020 legislative priority for the NAACP. Further, it resolved that by the Fall 2021 school year, all K-12 schools, prisons and hospitals will implement the plant-based meal options or 100% plant-based meal program and that the K-12 meal options shall include whole meal options and not just "side dish" options for children, said meal plans shall include a high concentration of whole fruits and vegetables as grown.
ST. LOUIS, March 10, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Plantrician Project commends the NAACP for its commitment to supporting legislation that as it states "is consistent with data driven research regarding the health outcomes provided by plant-based meals and consistent with the California legislation which passed a mandatory plant-based meal option of K-12 schools and hospitals and mandated 100% plant-based meals in prisons to reduce the current recidivism rates"
While there's a mounting body of scientific evidence indicating that a nutrient rich, whole food, plant-based diet is capable of preventing and or reversing up to 80% of illnesses the current global population is facing today, the western diet, rich in saturated fat and low in fiber, is still by far the dietary norm. This is a fact reinforced by the NAACP resolution's citation of the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent health data that indicates heart disease, cancer and stroke, conditions significantly impacted by dietary lifestyle, were three of the top five causes of death of African Americans in 2016. While this statistic closely mirrors the American population as a whole, the NAACP's resolution further highlights alarmingly grim data indicating 1 in 100 black adults develop heart failure in their 30's and 40's, a rate that's 20x higher than similarly aged white men and women; and that heart failure among young black adults was more like that of white men and women in their 50's and 60's.
"The legislation passed in California and New York, that mandates plant-based food availability in health, educational and penal institutions," says Scott Stoll, MD, board chairman and co-founder of The Plantrician Project "lays a critical foundation for the cultural and dietary lifestyle shift so critically needed to stem the growing burden of disease facing the world today. We commend the NAACP for its advocacy."
With this resolution, the NAACP joins a growing list of revered national health and advocacy institutions in recognizing the critical role that plant-based nutrition plays in reducing and burden of chronic disease our nation and world face. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society, the American Dietetic Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health, all recommend a greater emphasis in the American diet on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, which contain fiber and essential nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, but are low in fat and calories and contain no cholesterol.
The Plantrician Project is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation dedicated to educating, equipping and empowering our physicians, healthcare providers and other health influencers, with knowledge about the indisputable benefits of whole food plant-based nutrition. The Plantrician Project will be presenting the 8th Annual International Plant Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference (PBNHC), at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa, this September 11-14, 2020 in Palm Desert, CA. For more information visit http://www.plantricianproject.org.
SOURCE The Plantrician Project
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