On this edition of Your Call’s US at 250: A Native Perspective Series, we discuss the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Native Food for Life program, which works with Native communities to use their ancestral plant-based foods to treat, reverse, and prevent chronic diseases.
Native adults have some of the highest rates of some chronic diseases, including being 36% more likely than other adults to have prediabetes or diabetes, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A recent PCRM survey found that 78% of Native American respondents would be willing to adopt a plant-based diet if it were affordable, accessible and culturally appropriate, yet only 13% knew that a plant-based diet can help prevent or even reverse Type 2 diabetes.
How can ancestral plant-based diets help reverse the health disparities caused by the lasting impacts of colonization?
Guests:
Dr. Josie Howard (Cherokee), educator with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Native Food For Life program, and psychiatrist
Jenson Yazzie (Diné), participant in Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Native Food For Life program, photographer, and artist
Resources:
Native News Online: Survey – Most Native Americans Open to Plant-Based Diets to Fight Chronic Disease
Native News Online: Food Sovereignty, Plant-Based Eating and Native Health With Dr. Josie Howard
The Colorado Sun: How the Navajo Nation is tackling diabetes with a return to its ancestral diet
KUNM: Diné dieter says plant based dieting can help combat diabetes in Native communities
AP: RFK Jr. wants to target chronic disease in US tribes. A key program to do that was gutted
ProPublica: Trump Pledged to “Make America Healthy Again,” Then Cut a Program Many Tribes Rely on for Healthy Food
