Jackson instructor urges plant-based meals to lower grocery costs, improve health

Jackson-based Food for Life instructor Charles Smith wrote in Mississippi Today Ideas that switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet can lower grocery bills and improve health amid what he called rising costs and potential changes to federal food assistance. Smith wrote that Mississippi now has the fifth-highest grocery prices in the country, at an estimated $291 per week, and that proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could add costs and red tape for what he described as one in eight Mississippians.

Smith, who teaches virtual and in-person classes through the Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Food for Life program, said he shows students how to buy inexpensive plant-based staples in bulk, even at dollar and discount stores. He described using a large bag of oats for breakfast, as a binder in bean burgers and as a base for oatmeal cookies. He also described a versatile black bean chili made with salt-free canned beans and tomatoes that can be served several different ways, and a stove-top macaroni-and-“cheese” made with potatoes, carrots, cashews and nutritional yeast that he said costs less than $1.50 per serving.

Smith cited data he said show about 40 percent of Mississippi adults are obese and referenced a study published in JAMA that projects nearly 47 percent of the U.S. population could be obese by 2035. He wrote that research supports the idea that a whole-food, plant-based diet can help people lose weight and prevent or reverse some chronic diseases, and that many of his students find the approach simpler and less expensive once they learn a few techniques.

Smith retired from the insurance industry after 45 years and has served with his wife as children’s pastors at New Horizon Church International for more than 35 years, according to his biography. He is the founder and chief executive officer of My Health My Mississippi, LLC, and the author of 7 Steps to Raising Amazing Children. Smith said he adopted a plant-based lifestyle more than 20 years ago after a month-long church fast and was inspired by his mother’s death at 58 from obesity-related health issues to promote better nutrition.

Source: Original Article