Ophthalmologist, Dr Rohit Modi, shares his journey to veganism at the Global Vegan Business Expo 2020. He discusses the benefits he and his family and his patients have experienced in the last one year.
Last year, I was introduced to the concept of whole food plant based diet (wfpbd) by my fellow retina specialist, Dr Anand Kumta in a conference. I tried it for a few days and decided to give up dairy permanently. I grew up in a lacto-vegetarian family and was surprised when I lost a few kilos in the initial few days. Occasionally, I would have ghee, but during the lockdown I did a lot of reading by eminent doctors like Dr Michael Greger and I decided to follow the wfpbd seriously. Since then, I have lost 17kg and wife has lost 12-13kg, my mother has lost 8kg and my father has lost 10kg.
Slowly, I started implementing wfpbd in my practice also. A lot of my patients who adopted wfpbd have experienced tremendous results. Many diabetic patients call me within a week and have reported reduced sugar levels and said that their doctors have cut down on their medications. A doctor patient of mine was suffering from vitiligo and his condition is reversing after turning to a plant-based diet. Another patient has reversed psoriasis with this diet. Also a patient on dialysis has said that his activity level has increased after turning to a plant-based diet.
When I started watching videos, I realized there was an ethical and environmental aspect to it. I would request everybody to go for wfpb diet, for not only ourselves but for our children as well and our planet as well. It is the biggest inheritance we can give to our children.
Dr Rupa Shah, the first step to becoming healthy is what we eat and that is missed by our educational system. Just eating right, not even exercising, just taking care of your food and the transformation will happen effortlessly.
