Dec 10, 2019
Dr Michael Greger is featured on this episode of the New Normal Project.
Yes, the good doctor from NutritionFacts.org, the book How Not To Die and his latest book How Not to Diet, which was released today.
When I was at medical school we learnt all about diseases, syndromes, drugs and procedures. There was very little education about nutrition. I don’t remember being told the sickest patients in our hospital mostly have the conditions which are heavily influenced by the lifestyles they lead. Conditions like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, obesity and cancer. And noone ever mentioned these could be treatable or at least halted in their progression using simple lifestyle interventions.
So when I came across a doctor like Dr Michael Greger who, after witnessing his grandmother’s health transformation through nutrition, decided to read every research study on nutrition in the English language and made it his life mission to help people with clear and understandable messages about the health benefits of nutrition, I became pretty interested in his work.
Michael is a physician, bestselling author, and internationally recognised speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues. A founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, he is licensed as a general practitioner specialising in clinical nutrition. He is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine. He has lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health; 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. In 2017 he was honoured with the ACLM Lifestyle Medicine Trailblazer Award and became a diplomat of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.
Both his previous books, How Not to Die and the The How Not to Die Cookbook, became instant New York Times Best Sellers. His other great resource is the website NutritionFacts.org, a strictly non-commercial, science-based public service, provided by Michael, providing free updates on the latest in nutrition research via bite-sized videos.
Dr Greger and I met up at the International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare conference in Oakland this recent September. Our conversation covered:
- His grandmother’s transformation from end-stage heart disease with a plant-based diet
- Nathan Pritikin and how he discovered and used plant-based eating
- Why Michael didn’t adopt a plant-based diet until Dean Ornish’s Lifestyle Heart Trial
- The tremendous nutritional ignorance of the medical profession
- How NutritionFacts.org began and developed
- The assistance he received from a philanthropist to turn a DVD series into a website
- The rigorous work of synthesising the evidence for a NutritionFacts video
- Some of the resources people should consider when starting a plant-based diet
- Why both anecdote and the evidence are important for dietary change
- The healthy and less healthy ways that people can lose weight
- What is in his new book How Not To Diet
- The title and subject of the book that will follow
- How Michael evolves his diet over time
Enjoy the knowledgeable, charismatic, and mission-focused Dr Michael Greger.
Live well, feel well, do well.
Andrew Davies
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About the New Normal Project podcast: The podcast is aimed to help you to become more healthy, fulfilled and conscious through a plant-based, body-moving and mind-focused way of living. I hope to inspire and empower you with scientific evidence, helpful information and real-life stories, based on eating mostly plant foods, being physically active, particularly in nature, sleeping well, being mindful and refining both the connections in your life and your purpose.
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Links related to Michael Greger
Dr Michael Greger on Wikipedia
Dr Michael Greger on Instagram (@nutrition_facts_org)
Book “How Not to Die” (by Michael Greger)
Book “The How Not to Die Cookbook” (by Michael Greger)
Book “How Not to Diet” (by Michael Greger)
Dr Michael Greger’s Evidence-Based Eating Guide
Dr Michael Greger’s Medical Nutrition Blog
Dr Michael Greger’s Daily Dozen List
Dr Michael Greger’s Dining by Traffic Light System
Podcast "Nutrition Facts with Dr Michael Greger"
Links to people and resources (in order of mentioning)
American College of Lifestyle Medicine
International Plant-based Nutrition Healthcare Conference
Book “Pritikin: The Man Who Healed America's Heart” (by Tom Monte)
Publication 1 from Dr Ornish’s Lifestyle Heart Trial
Publication 2 from Dr Ornish’s Lifestyle Heart Trial
Introductory videos on Nutrition Facts
Book “The China Study” (by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell)
US News and World Report on Best Diets
New Normal Project podcast - Episode 60 with Gemma Newman
New Normal Project podcast - Episode 61 with Jackie Busse
Links related to New Normal Project podcast
New Normal Project on Facebook
New Normal Project on Instagram: @newnormalproject
New Normal Project on Twitter: @newnormalproj
Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66
Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66