Yesterday I had the opportunity to
listen to a lecture by Dr. Michael Greger as a part of monthly lecture series by
Vegetarian society of Hawaii.
Michael Greger,
MD, FACLM is a
physician, New York Times bestselling author, and internationally recognized professional
speaker on a number of important public health issues. Dr. Greger has lectured
at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the
International Bird Flu Summit, among countless other symposia
and institutions; testified before Congress; has appeared on shows such as The
Colbert Report and The Dr. Oz Show; and was invited as an expert witness in
defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial.[1]
His website is NutritionFacts.org, which has got a collection of videos and articles
about healthy plant based diet.
The topic of his presentation was How
not to die: The role of diet in preventing, arresting and reversing our top 15
killers. The presentation was based upon his latest book How not to Die, which became an
instant New York Times Best Seller.
The book is available on Amazon and
other sites in kindle, audio CD, paperback and hardcover.
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| Photo courtesy: Amazon |
The presentation begins with a
personal note about Dr.Greger’s grandmother, who was diagnosed with end stage
heart disease at age 65 and was sent home to await death as Drs. Said that
nothing could be done to improve her condition.
She was confined to wheelchair and was in a really bad shape. She was
rescued by Nathan Pritikin, one of our early lifestyle medicine pioneers.
She was put on a completely different
diet of lots of fruits and vegetables, and the outcome is a history.
Not only she defied death, but lived a
healthy life for another 31 years --- till the age of 96, and enjoyed her 6
grandchildren and great grandchildren.
This incidence inspired Dr. Greger to choose
medicine and later specialize and dedicate his life to life style changes and
prevention and cure of diseases.
He maintains his non-profit website
solely dedicated to nutrition, diet and cure of diseases through healthy plant
based diet- NutritionFacts.org.
The 15 most common cause of diseases
worldwide are Heart disease, Cancer, Hypertension, smoking and COPD, Stroke,
Diabetes, kidney failures, respiratory infection, suicide, blood septicemia,
parkinsonism.
Talking about heart disease Dr. Greger
said “Heart disease is a choice like dental cavities.”Coronary
heart disease; atherosclerosis; hardening of the arteries, begins in childhood. By
age 10, the arteries of nearly all kids raised on the standard American diet
already have fatty streaks—the first stage of the disease.[2]
When
researchers took people with heart disease and put them on the kind of
plant-based diet followed by those populations that didn’t suffer from heart
disease, their hope was to slow the disease process down—maybe even stop it.
But instead, something miraculous happened.
The disease
started to reverse, to get better. As soon as patients stopped eating an
artery-clogging diet, their arteries started opening up. Their bodies
were able to start dissolving some of the plaque away. Even in some cases of
severe triple vessel heart disease, arteries opened up without drugs, without
surgery—suggesting their bodies wanted to heal all along, but were just never
given the chance. This improvement in blood flow to the heart is after just
three weeks of eating healthy.
Similarly,
he has put out reasons and evidence for each of the 15 diseases he described
that can be prevented, or reversed with diet.
The complete lecture can be heard
here.
He has a famous list of daily dozen
that should be consumed daily to add years to your life.
This is the list by Dr.Michael Greger as told to Daily Mail, UK.[3]
1Cruciferous
vegetables, such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale,
spring greens, radishes, turnip tops, watercress
One serving a day: A serving is half a
cup chopped or quarter of a cup of broccoli or brussels sprouts.
2 Greens
including spring greens, kale, young salad greens, sorrel, spinach, swiss chard
Two servings a day: A serving is
one cup raw or half a cup cooked.
3 Other
vegetables: Asparagus, beetroot, peppers, carrots, corn, courgettes, garlic,
mushrooms, okra, onions, pumpkin, sugar snap peas, squash, sweet potatoes,
tomatoes
Two servings a
day: A serving is one cup raw leafy vegetables; half a cup raw or cooked
non-leafy vegetables; half a cup vegetable juice; a quarter of a cup dried
mushrooms
4 Beans: Black
beans, cannellini beans, black-eyed peas, butter beans, soyabeans, baked beans,
chickpeas, edamame, peas, kidney beans, lentils, miso, pinto beans, split peas,
tofu, hummus
Three servings a
day: That's a quarter of a cup of hummus or bean dip; half a cup of cooked
beans, split peas, lentils or tofu; or a full cup of fresh peas or sprouted
lentils.
5 Berries: Any
small edible fruit, including grapes, raisins, blackberries, cherries,
raspberries and strawberries
One serving a
day: A serving is half a cup of fresh or frozen, or quarter of a cup of dried.
6 Other fruit,
such as apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, cantaloupe melon, clementines,
dates, figs, grapefruit, honeydew melon, kiwi, lemons, limes, lychees, mangos,
nectarines, oranges, papaya, passion fruit, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums,
pomegranates, prunes, tangerines, watermelon
Three servings a
day: One serving is a cup of cut-up fruit, or one medium fruit, or a quarter of
a cup of dried fruit.
7 Flaxseeds
Snack on one
tablespoon a day.
8 Nuts
A quarter of a
cup a day, or two tablespoons of peanut, almond or other nut butter.
9 Spices
A quarter
teaspoon of turmeric in addition to any other spices you enjoy.
10 Whole grains
Buckwheat, rice,
quinoa, cereal, pasta, bread.
Three servings a
day: Half a cup of cooked rice or pasta; one cup of cereal; a slice of bread;
half a bagel.
11 Exercise
Ideally 90
minutes a day of moderate activity, such as walking.
12 Water
Five large
(12oz/340ml) glasses a day.
Here are some important links to his articles:
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