Healing Hearts and Lives with Dr. Baxter Montgomery MD (vegan), Part 2 of 2

One may wonder precisely how plant-based foods lead to such significantly positive results. Dr. Montgomery gives us a detailed insight into this. “There's an interplay between natural plant foods and the human body. And natural plant foods have what we may refer to as a pleiotropic effect, meaning that it has multiple factors. It affects the body in multiple ways, simultaneously, in a favorable manner. It allows the body to get into biochemical physiological balance by reducing inflammation, reducing what's called oxidative stress, allows the body to work effectively at the cellular level. So, it has a global effect on the body and controlling these multiple factors simultaneously, whereas the medication doesn't. Also, the medication, given that it's not natural for the body, it’s not designed for human consumption, it’s an abnormal foreign chemical, virtually always has adverse reactions or adverse effects.”

An essential facet of Dr. Montgomery’s work is stabilizing patients and ascertaining when medications need to be adjusted or ceased. “So, you have a situation where an individual has, let's say high blood pressure, heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, and is on multiple medications. When they come in, we assess where they are, we try to stabilize them and we may make adjustments in the medication. But we start them on a detox regimen. When they're ready to detox, we put them on 100% raw plant foods, 0% animal protein, 0% cooked foods, and we monitor them very carefully. And we make adjustments in their medications. We counsel them throughout the detox reactions. And typically, our published data show 40% medication reduction in about four weeks.”

“I think it's really important that we all take account of our health and often times, you know, we as individuals, in our lifestyle, we get very focused on our families and our businesses or school and those things are extremely important. But one thing you have to remember is that whatever your short-term or long-term goals are, all of those things will be better off if you have a healthier you.”