My Journey Through Plants

I am a rural GP and senior lecturer at Dunedin medical school. Rural practice has been a hugely fulfilling career and I’ve really enjoyed being able to help people at times when their health has been suffering. At the same time I’ve valued my own fitness and health, and remained active in sport and cycling became a pursuit for our whole family. Eating well was part of that, and we followed the guidelines of low fat foods.

Over time I’ve realised that helping people thrive and flourish is my passion, having been drawn into teaching and coaching within medicine and life in general.

One of the hardest aspects of medical practice for me to deal with was that patients could slowly deteriorate despite my best efforts, no matter how thorough I was. I recall learning to accept that as a fact of life.

Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I discovered the evidence around Whole Food Plant based eating and reversal of chronic disease. My excitement was tinged with the dismay of realising that evidence for this has been around for a long time, and even published in major journals, without my ever hearing about it in mainstream practice.

It’s such a pleasure now to be able to inform people of the possibilities for their health simply through what they eat plus other lifestyle changes, and empower them to be in charge, rather than be at the mercy of inevitable decline. I’ve been able to read up on studies and established that this way of eating was perfectly safe (in fact much safer than eating any other way in current fashion) and through trying it myself, realised that it was far tastier than I ever could imagine. I find I enjoy eating now more than I’ve ever done and I’ve always enjoyed food. Being part of Plant Strong Living is my way of helping as many as possible become informed so they can make the choice which is best for them.

Dr Martyn Williamson