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Bozeman Health is helping patients make changes in their lives to help alleviate and prevent chronic disease. According to the Board of Lifestyle Medicine, 80 percent of chronic health conditions we face today (including obesity, prediabetes/diabetes, and heart disease) are ones that might be treated, slowed down, or possibly even reversed through lifestyle choices.
Under the direction of board-certified Lifestyle Medicine doctor Joseph Sofianek, MD, Bozeman Health offers the resources, support, and tools to help patients make good choices that are sustainable and effective. With his team of board-certified nurses, health coaches, and physical therapists, the Lifestyle Medicine division of Bozeman Health is effecting real change in our community.
Food is one of the foundational pillars of good health in the Lifestyle Medicine approach. There are so many diets and food fads, and many patients are confused about where to start. They especially have questions about how much protein they should have in their diets, and they are looking for ways to understand how to eat right for their health.
Sofianek believes, and research supports, that the healthiest diet plans are the ones that follow a predominantly whole-food plant-forward style of eating. And what he likes about this philosophy is that so many of these diets include a variety of nutrient-dense foods rich in healthy fiber, lean lower-saturated-fat proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.
He also loves that they are flexible, adaptable, and sustainable and recommends using the following methodology to have an appropriate amount of protein and build “the perfect plate.”
In an ideal world, a dinner plate can be divided into three parts. Half of the plate should be filled with vegetables and fruit (less fruit, more vegetables), a quarter of the plate with healthy whole grains, and a quarter of the plate with healthy proteins.
We live in a protein-obsessed world, so Sofianek gets questioned often about “optimal protein intake.” His patients also want to know what the healthiest protein sources are. He says that “science provides us with lots of good information to support the idea that the healthiest protein choices are low in saturated fat, like fish, beans, lentils, skinless white meat poultry, nuts, seeds, soy (tofu, edamame, tempeh), low or nonfat dairy, and lean grass-fed beef.
He goes on to say that recent studies have debunked the myth that soy-based protein sources such as tofu, edamame, tempeh, and soy milk cause or increase the risk of breast cancer. “The data now supports the fact that these foods actually can lower the risk of breast cancer. They also do not cause breast tissue development in men.”
For more information about Bozeman Health’s Lifestyle Medicine program, visit bozemanhealth.org/services/lifestyle-medicine.
RELATED RECIPE
Trout Piccata
Balance a “perfect plate” with 50% vegetables, 25% whole grains, 25% healthy protein.
