A Rochester radiologist is part of a team of doctors encouraging people to switch to a vegan diet.

Dr. Ted Barnett says a plant-based diet is a prescription for combating chronic health problems such as obesity and diabetes.

"There's over a million people in the Rochester metropolitan area, and if 10 percent of them have diabetes - which is s a conservative estimate - that means there's over 100,000 people with diabetes. Almost all of them would either have their diabetes resolved or get significantly better if they adopt this, and we could certainly prevent future diabetics from coming into existence."

Dr. Barnett thinks doctors and other health care professionals should set the example.

"We don't expect doctors to smoke, and doctors who do smoke have a hard time convincing their patients to stop smoking. By the same token, it's hard for doctors who are overweight and eating a horrible diet to lose weight and eat better."

A nonprofit called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is asking people to try a vegan diet for 3 weeks. Dr. Barnett says most of the barriers to that idea are societal and cultural, and they can be overcome.

"Most of us who have access to supermarkets like Wegmans and Tops and the Public Market can easily do this. We could do it today; just decide you're going to change your diet. Now, there are going to be other folks living communities who don't have access to some of the better fresh vegetables and so forth, but they certainly have access to beans and rice."

You can find recipes and other information at www.KickstartYourHealthRochester.org