DR MICHAEL GREGER's "How Not to Die" diet plan – what to eat and foods to avoid

This to me is a very practical guide to what it looks like when we eat a good balance of healthy whole plant based foods...

General guidelines

Know your own psychology
- If you tend to have an “addictive” personality, or if you are the kind of person who takes things to extremes— for instance, you either don’t drink at all or you drink in excess— it’s probably best for you to try to stick with the program
- You might find it easy to go cold-turkey, or have a 3-step method, starting with dinner:
  - (1) think of three meals you already enjoy that are plant based, like pasta and marinara sauce that could be easily tweaked to whole-grain pasta with some added veggies;
  - (2) think of three meals you already eat that could be adapted to become a green-light meal, like switching from beef chili to five-bean chili;
  - (3) discover new healthy options, 3 new whole-foods plant-based recipes to eat. Then rotate these 9 meals and add lunch and breakfast options
Remove junk food from your house
Note that your taste will change as you move to a new diet
Eat a variety of different plant foods, to get a full range of beneficial substances

Portions / servings

Every day, eat:
- 3 servings of beans/legumes
- 1 serving of berries
- 3 servings of other fruits
- 1 serving of cruciferous vegetables
- 2 servings of greens
- 2 servings of other vegetables
- 1 serving of flaxseeds
- 1 serving of nuts
- 1 serving of spices
- 3 servings of whole grains
- 5 servings of beverages
- 1 exercise
For serving sizes, see “foods to eat” section below
Plate proportions: ¼ grains, ¼ legumes, ½ vegetables, along with maybe a side salad and fruit for dessert
Try to combine foods to meet these goals, e.g. a peanut butter and banana sandwich. When sitting down to a meal, ask yourself what you could add to it – e.g. greens, beans, flax seeds
If you eat poorly one day, just try to eat well the next day
Buy the most colourful foods you can find – purple rather than white eggplant, the reddest of strawberries, the blackest of blackberries, the most scarlet tomato, the darkest green broccoli you can find

DETAILS ABOUT EACH TYPE OF FOOD

Beans/legumes
- Recommended: 3 servings per day
- Serving size: ¼ cup of hummus or bean dip; ½ cup of cooked beans, split peas, lentils, tofu, or tempeh; 1 cup of fresh peas or sprouted lentils. Note that peanuts are listed under nuts instead of beans, and green beans are listed under vegetables.
- Beans, including black beans, butter beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas, great northern beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, small red beans
- Canned beans are okay, just get no-salt-added varieties if you can
- Chickpeas / garbanzo beans, black-eyed peas, split peas (yellow or green)
- Lentils (beluga, french, and red varieties)
- Soybeans; edamame, miso, tofu, tempeh
- Sprouted beans
- English peas / garden peas
- Hummus, bean paste
Fruits
- Berries
  - Recommended: 1 serving per day
  - Serving size ½ cup fresh or frozen, ¼ cup dried
  - Defined in this book as small edible fruits
  - Açai berries, barberries, bilberries, blackberries, black currants, blueberries, cherries (sweet or tart), cranberries, goji berries, concord grapes, kumquats, mulberries, raspberries (black or red), strawberries
  - Dried berries inc. raisins
- Other fruits
  - Recommended: 3 servings per day
  - Serving size is a medium-sized fruit, 1 cup of cut-up fruit, or ¼ cup dried fruit
  - Apples (including the peel), dried apricots, avocados, bananas, cantaloupe melon, clementines, dates, dried figs, grapefruit, other grapes apart from concord grapes (preferably with seeds), honeydew melon, kiwifruit, lemons, limes, lychees, mangos, nectarines, oranges, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums (especially black plums), plumcots, pomegranates, prunes, rhubarb, tangerines, watermelon
- If you buy dried fruit, look for no sugar added and un-sulfured
- Inform your physician if you eat grapefruit, as it can interact with more than half of commonly prescribed drugs
Vegetables
- Eat a mixture of raw and cooked vegetables. Some veggies are best raw (e.g. bell peppers); some benefit from cooking (e.g. carrots, celery, and green beans); some are hardly affected (artichokes, beets, onions)
- Best cooking methods so you don’t lose antioxidants are griddle / dry pancooking and microwaving. Boiling and pressure cooking lose the most antioxidants. Baking and frying are in between, but deep-frying could have other negative effects
- Buy organic when you can
- At least half your plate should be filled with vegetables
- Cruciferous vegetables
  - Recommended: 1 serving per day
  - Serving size is ½ cup chopped; ¼ cup brussels sprouts or broccoli sprouts; 1 tablespoon horseradish
  - Arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, horseradish, kale (black, green, and red), kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, red cabbage, rutabaga, turnip greens, wasabi, watercress
  - “Hack and hold” – chop the cruciferous vegetable, wait 40 minutes, then you can cook it as much as you want without destroying beneficial compounds
  - Note that frozen cruciferous vegetables are blanched, so they don’t contain all the beneficial compounds – to compensate, add some mustard powder, horseradish, or raw cruciferous veggies
- Green leafy vegetables
  - Recommended: 2 servings per day
  - Serving size 1 cup raw, ½ cup for cooked
  - Arugula, beet greens, collard greens, kale (black, green, and red), mesclun greens (assorted young salad greens), mustard greens, oak leaf lettuce, sorrel, spinach, silverbeet, turnip greens
  - If you are taking warfarin/Coumadin, talk with your physician before you increase your greens intake
- Other vegetables
  - Recommended: 2 servings per day
  - Serving size ½ cup raw or cooked non-leafy vegetables, ½ cup vegetable juice, ¼ cup dried mushrooms
  - Acorn squash, artichokes, asparagus, beets, bell peppers, carrots, celery, corn, cucumber, eggplant, endive, fennel, garlic, green beans, green onion, leeks, mushrooms (button, oyster, portobello, shiitake), okra, onions, purple potatoes, peppers, pumpkin, radicchio, red onions, scallions, sea vegetables (arame, dulse, nori), snap peas, squash (delicate, summer squash, spaghetti squash), sweet potatoes/yams, tomatoes, zucchini
Nuts and seeds
- Flaxseeds
  - Recommended: 1 serving per day
  - Serving size: 1 tablespoon
  - Golden or brown
  - Grind them well with a blender or coffee or spice grinder, or buy them pre-ground or “milled” – ground flaxseed should last at least 4 months at room temperature
- Nuts or other seeds
  - Recommended: 1 serving per day
  - Serving size: ¼ cup of nuts or seeds, or 2 tablespoons of nut or seed butters
  - Almonds, Brazil nuts (at least 4 a month), cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts
  - Note that chestnuts and coconuts don’t nutritionally count as nuts)
  - Almond butter, peanut butter
  - Chia seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds
Spices and herbs:
- Recommended: 1 serving per day
- Serving size: ¼ teaspoon a day of the spice turmeric, plus any other salt-free herbs and spices you enjoy
- If you suffer from gallstones, turmeric may trigger pain. Too much turmeric may increase the risk of certain kidney stones
- When pregnant, limit ginger to 20 grams per day (about 4 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger)
- Spices – e.g. allspice, amla (Indian gooseberry), cardamom, chili powder, cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon is preferable to cassia), cloves, coriander, cumin, curry powder, fenugreek, ginger, horseradish, lemongrass, mustard powder, nutmeg, paprika, pepper, saffron, turmeric, vanilla
- Limit poppy seeds and nutmeg
- Spice mixes (make sure they’re salt-free) e.g. pumpkin pie spice, curry powder, chili powder, Chinese five-spice powder, a savory Indian spice blend called garam masala, an Ethiopian blend called berbere, Italian seasoning, poultry seasoning, and a Middle Eastern blend called za’atar.
- Herbs – e.g. basil, bay leaves, cilantro, dill, garlic, marjoram, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme
Whole grains
- Recommended: 3 servings per day
- Serving size: ½ cup of hot cereal (e.g. oatmeal, cooked grain such as rice or quinoa, cooked pasta, corn kernels); 1 cup of ready-to-eat/cold cereal; ½ a bagel or english muffin; 3 cups of popped popcorn
- Barley, corn / popcorn, oatmeal, brown rice, rye, whole wheat, wild rice
- Pseudo-grains – e.g. amaranth, buckwheat, millet, quinoa
- Products made with whole grains – e.g. pasta, bread
- Intact whole grains are better than whole grains that have been processed, e.g. whole grain pasta or bread
- For the 98% of people who don’t have wheat issues, there is no evidence to suggest that following a gluten-free diet has any benefits
- Use the Five-to-One Rule for whole grain foods. When buying whole-grain products, look at the Nutrition Facts label on the package and see if the ratio of grams of carbohydrates to grams of dietary fiber is 5 or less (e.g. 30 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, 30/3 = 10, which is more than 5, so should be avoided)
Beverages
- Recommended: 5 servings per day
- Serving size 1 glass / 12 ounces; have 5 glasses a day in addition to the water you get naturally from the foods in your diet
- Water
- Green and white teas, e.g. green tea, jasmine tea, matcha tea, white tea
- Black tea, e.g. tea, chai tea, earl grey tea, oolong tea
- Herbal tea, e.g. chamomile tea, hibiscus tea (not more than a quart a day), lemon balm tea, peppermint tea, rooibos tea
- Hot chocolate (no milk)
- Coffee – moderate daily ingestion of unsweetened coffee may be helpful against liver damage, depression, and Parkinson’s disease. Be careful if you have GERD or glaucoma. However, green tea is preferable to coffee as a healthy beverage
- Unless you have a condition like heart or kidney failure or your physician otherwise advises you to restrict your fluid intake, the author recommends you drink five glasses of tap water a day (not bottled water, which may have chemical and microbial contamination); that water can be flavored with fruit, tea leaves, or herbs
Sweeteners
- Blackstrap molasses and date sugar
- Stevia – up to 2 stevia-sweetened beverages a day
- Erythritol – if you need a sweetener in order to eat a healthy food, e.g. cranberry juice. Don’t use it as an excuse to eat junk food
Condiments and pantry
- Mustard, nutritional yeast, vinegar
- Liquid smoke is okay, it doesn’t contain most of the smoke cancer compounds (unlike smoked fatty foods)