Quotes from Michael Greger

CHIP doesn't provide meals—just advice and encouragement, empowering people with knowledge.2505 Within a month on the program, blood sugars, cholesterol, and blood pressures dropped enough for many participants to drop their antidiabetic, cholesterol-lowering, and blood pressure–lowering medications. Better numbers on fewer drugs, along with an average six-pound weight loss.

That's why the glycemic index of intact wheat kernels (wheatberries) or even cracked wheat (like bulgur found in tabbouleh) is down around 45, but whole-wheat bread is nearly as bad as white bread with both up about 70.

A recent American Heart Association-funded study compared the lifestyles and arteries of nearly five hundred twins. It found that diet and lifestyle factors clearly trumped genes.

Serving Sizes: 1 cup raw leafy vegetables ½ cup raw or cooked nonleafy vegetables ½ cup vegetable juice ¼ cup dried mushrooms Daily Recommendation: 2 servings per day

According to the current U.S. Department of Agriculture database, bananas don't even make the list of the top-thousand foods with the highest levels of potassium; in fact, they come in at number 1,611, right after Reese's Pieces.27 You'd have to eat a dozen bananas a day just to get the bare minimum recommended amount of potassium.

This argument didn't seem to placate the critics, so the AAFP executive

Zucchini is even less calorie dense than broccoli. You could eat 100 cups of sliced zucchini a day and still lose weight.1700 The calories in cucumbers are so dilute you'd have to eat more than 150 cups a day to gain weight1701 and more than 250 cups of chopped kale.

In smoothie form, you can drink fruits and vegetables at about two cups a minute—ten times faster than it might take to eat fruits and vegetables in solid form.

The glycemic index of pasta is in the moderate range, at 55, compared to the glycemic index of even whole-wheat bread, which may exceed 70.

CHIP's name was changed from the Coronary Health Improvement Project to the Complete Health Improvement Program.

There is a natural circadian rhythm to hunger that peaks at about 8:00 p.m. and drops to its lowest level at around 8:00 a.m.

In the Dietary Inflammatory Index, the single most anti-inflammatory food is the spice turmeric, followed by ginger and garlic, and the most anti-inflammatory beverage is green or black tea. The two most anti-inflammatory food components are fiber and flavones.1021 Dietary fiber is found in all whole plant foods, but it is most concentrated in legumes, such as beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils.1022 Flavones are plant compounds concentrated in herbs, vegetables, and fruits,

Back in 1903, Thomas Edison predicted that the "doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of [the] human frame in diet and in the cause and prevention of diseases."12

My friend Paul mashes cannellini beans into his oatmeal and swears you can't even see or taste them.

and the leading sources in the U.S. diet are parsley, bell peppers, celery, apples, and oranges.1024 The most flavone-filled beverage is chamomile tea.

At the time of the American Revolution, we consumed about an estimated four pounds of sugar per person per year.1575 Now, we may each average more than fifty pounds annually.1576 That's the equivalent of about seventeen teaspoons of added sugars every day.

On average, those who eat low-energy-density diets consume hundreds of fewer calories, yet they eat significantly more food, about three-quarters of a pound more a day.

Fenugreek appears to significantly improve muscle strength and weight-lifting power output, allowing men in training, for example, to leg press an extra eighty pounds compared to those ingesting a placebo.37 Fenugreek may also possess "potent anticancer properties" in vitro.38 I don't like the taste of the powder, so I just throw in fenugreek seeds with my broccoli seeds when I'm sprouting.

If you do eat tofu, choose varieties made with calcium (you'll see it in the ingredients list), which can weigh in at a whopping 550 mg of calcium per (3 oz) slice.2

Vegetarians and vegans are recommended to take supplements containing at least 50 mcg of cyanocobalamin (the most stable form2452) a day or at least 2,000 mcg once a week2453 (or brush twice daily with a B12-fortified toothpaste

Fast food averages about 1,200 calories per pound,1709 whereas traditional African diets, which more closely represent the likely diet of our ancient ancestors, average fewer than 500 calories per pound.

It's easy to avoid added phosphorus in processed foods—just don't buy anything containing ingredients with the word "phosphate" in their names, including pyrophosphate and sodium triphosphate.87 With meat, it's more difficult to determine the phosphate content, as producers aren't required to disclose injected additives.

Note that none of these recommendations to cut down on added sugars applies to fruit. As you'll read in the Rich in Fruits and Vegetables section, fruit can actually facilitate weight loss. If you randomize people to a diet low in all sugars, even the naturally occurring sugars in fruit, they do worse than those randomized to just cut down added sugars. Those who retained fruit in their diets lost nearly 50 percent more weight.

Regardless, why accept any risk at all when you can choose organic soy products, which by law exclude GMOs?