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Obesity Is An Epidemic: Join Our 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge
July 16, 2025
A fundamental mission of the Plant Based Treaty is to put food systems at the forefront of combating the climate crisis. When we leave animal products off our plates and move towards a sustainable plant-based diet, it helps reduce greenhouse gasses and climate change, saves animals, and improves our health. In Plant Based Treaty’s diet change series we have covered diseases that improve with diet change, including type two diabetes, asthma, lupus, and psoriasis. Keep reading to learn how the obesity epidemic can also be improved by a healthy plant-based diet.
Health Issue: Obesity
PubMed explains that rising obesity rates have resulted in a global epidemic, and this does not appear to be slowing down. The World Health Organization calls the obesity epidemic one of the most neglected public health problems and one that “poses a major risk for serious diet-related noncommunicable diseases.”
Mayo Clinic states, “Obesity is a complex disease involving having too much body fat. Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic concern. It’s a medical problem that increases the risk of many other diseases and health problems. These can include heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver disease, sleep apnea and certain cancers.”
But they explain the good news is that losing even modest amounts of weight can improve or prevent the health issues connected to obesity.
Studies
In his keynote address at the 5th annual Canadian Plant-Based Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine Conference in Toronto, Dr. Michael Klaper references his time as a physician at True North Health Centre in California. He says most of the patients arriving at the health center were overweight, if not clinically obese, with multiple medical issues. They were all put on a diet of whole plant foods with no added salt, sugar, or oils, and he shares that all nine diseases “improve under the influence of a whole foods plant-based diet.”
Dr. Klaper, an endorser of the Plant Based Treaty, says patients ate big bowls of oatmeal in the morning with lots of fruits and nuts and various plant milks. “Every lunch and dinner had a big colourful salad, hearty vegetable soups, big plates of steamed green and yellow vegetables, and a host of filling entrees [including] chilies, stews, soups, and curries.”
“They ate these healthy foods day after day and the changes we saw in these participants was nothing short of remarkable…Within days the obesity begins to melt away, they lose about two pounds a day to start”, Dr. Klaper says.
Dr. Klaper mentions a study in PubMed called Adipose tissue in obesity-related inflammation and insulin resistance: cells, cytokines, and chemokines.
“Obesity is a proinflammatory condition in which hypertrophied adipocytes and adipose tissue-resident immune cells (primarily lymphocytes and macrophages) both contribute to increased circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines.” – PubMed
Another study in PubMed, Plant-based diet for obesity treatment states, “The implementation of PBD [plant-based diets] among overweight participants resulted in improvements in body composition, weight loss, and insulin resistance according to an RCT [randomized controlled trial] by Kahleova et al.”
Success Stories:
There are multiple inspiring success stories published on T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies about people that have become healthier when switching to a whole foods plant-based diet. An endorser of the Plant Based Treaty, Dr. Campbell is famous for the China Study and Forks Over Knives, a revolutionary documentary that uses food as medicine to help people regain control over their health and their lives.
“A good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness.”
– T. Colin Campbell
John Dempsey lost 150 pounds in less than 26 months and writes about his weight loss journey for Forks Over Knives in an article titled; 150 Pounds Ago, I Was One Chinese Buffet Away from a Health Crisis.
Success story: John Dempsey weighed 380 pounds, and was on blood pressure and cholesterol medicine until he switched to a plant-based diet after watching Forks Over Knives. (Photo: John Dempsey / Forks Over Knives).
“On March 1st of 2012 I was 44 years old, weighed 380 pounds, and was on blood pressure and cholesterol medicine. I watched Forks Over Knives, then checked out some other resources for plant-based eating, which really opened my eyes and saved my life! I came to realize that most sicknesses came from my high-fat and high-protein animal-based diet.”
Dempsey, now fully plant-based, not only lost weight to regain his health but ran his first half marathon.
Jake Stevanja writes about turning his life around by changing his diet in the article Before Forks Over Knives, I Thought Obesity and Misery Were My Destiny. Stevanja explains he lost 66 pounds in four or five months and then “stopped looking at the scale. I stopped worrying about restricting foods and stopped worrying in general. All I had to do was eat fresh, plant-based food as close as possible to its whole, natural state—and everything took care of itself.”
Success story: Jake Stevanja lost 66 pounds after going plant-based and now runs in marathons. (Photo: Jake Stevanja / Forks Over Knives)
This idea of eating fresh plant-based foods is what Dr. Brooke Goldner and her husband Thomas Tadlock believe. In her video, Stop Counting Calories, Goldner explains counting calories is a common problem and is a very outdated way of looking at food. “…if you assume that any time you eat something with fat in it it’s going to make you fatter, that is an oversimplification. It’s not true because some fats will become fat in the body, like saturated fats, but other fats are actually useful for the body. So omega-3 fatty acids, for example, those become parts of your neurons, your cell membranes, your anti-inflammatory immune system, they do not become body fat. So we have to stop over simplifying food and start looking at the actual nutrient density of food.”
Recipes
Join our 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge to get healthier!
Kickstart your journey to better health by signing up for Plant Based Treaty’s 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge and revolutionize your physical and mental health. This fabulous hyper-nourishing green smoothie by Dr. Brooke Goldner is something she credits for helping to fully reverse her Lupus over 17 years ago. To get started, you will need one pound of power greens including kale, spinach, and chard; a handful of flax or chia seeds; bananas, mangoes, and pineapple; and water!
Read more about Dr. Goldner and her famous hyper-nourishing green smoothie here.
Some delicious and healthy plant-based recipes found on Forks Over Knives include:
Disclaimer: This blog should not replace medical advice from a physician and is for informational purposes only.
Miriam Porter is an award-winning writer who writes about veganism, social justice issues, and eco-travel. Miriam currently lives in Toronto with her son Noah and many rescued furry friends. She is a passionate animal rights activist and speaks up for those whose voices cannot be heard.
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