Ana Negrón, MD
Healing from the Kitchen
by Lucía Rivera
A doctor focused on improving patients' health through plant-based vegan nutrition may not be common; however, Dr. Ana M. Negrón believes it's the right approach to cultivating a healthy life experience.
"Though I transitioned to a plant-based (whole foods, vegan) diet around 1987, it was not until I studied a vast amount of research that I began to discuss plant-based diets in earnest with my patients — that was in 2003," Negrón said. "Before then, I did not have the education necessary to confidently prescribe this as the primary medical intervention for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, acne, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and so much more."
Now, she educates every patient on how to adopt and sustain a whole foods vegan diet. Negrón runs a nutrition consultation firm called Practice Wellness: Beyond a Wish in Haverford, Pennsylvania. In addition, she educates resident physicians about the role of food in medicine and does community work to spread the benefits of plant-based food.
Negrón describes ahimsa, which is respect for all living things and avoidance of violence toward others, as a vegan philosophy that is at the center of her work now. Her medical approach eliminates processed and animal-based foods and advocates consuming whole plant foods.
Having attended medical school in Puerto Rico, where she grew up, Negrón also offers medical care in her native tongue, Spanish.
"There are not that many plant-based physicians and even fewer fluent in Spanish," she stated.
As a national and international lecturer, she educates people about the connection among food, health, and environment. As a board certified plant-based family physician, she urges people to seek healthy ways to treat medical issues, and offers real life suggestions in her book, Nourishing the Body and Recovering Health. She believes it is crucial for one to reconnect with the body and use pharmaceuticals only when necessary.
Through her work promoting organized health changes for her patients, Dr. Negrón has been able to teach the benefits of being kind to one's body and treating symptoms sourced back to daily choices.
"Remember that most of the diseases that run in families do so through the kitchen," she said. "We get all the calcium, protein, fat, and carbohydrate we need by consuming an abundance of plants in a great variety of colors every day."
Lucía is a high school student and long-distance VRG intern in southern California. She has been a vegetarian for almost ten years and spends her spare time volunteering, reading, and baking.
