Quotations by Michael Greger

The optimal LDL cholesterol level is probably 50 or 70 mg/dL, and apparently, the lower, the better. An LDL around 70 mg/dL corresponds to a total cholesterol reading of about 150. The population target should be a total cholesterol level under 150 mg/dL. To become virtually heart-attack proof, you need to get your LDL cholesterol at least under 70 mg/dL. Researchers have found that kale--dubbed the "queen of greens"--might help lower LDL cholesterol and boost HDL cholesterol. [2015] - Michael Greger

Higher stroke rates are found among individuals sleeping six hours or less, or nine hours or more. Those at lowest risk get around seven or eight hours of sleep a night. [2015] - Michael Greger

You can tell whether a food is rich in antioxidants by slicing it open, exposing it to air (oxygen), and then seeing what happens. If it turns brown, it's oxidizing. Think about our two most popular fruits: apples and bananas. They turn brown quickly, which means there aren't a lot of antioxidants inside them. (Most of the antioxidants in apples are in the peels.) Cut open a mango and what happens? Nothing happens, because there are lots of antioxidants in there. The food category that averages the most antioxidants is herbs and spices. High-antioxidant fruits and vegetables, such as berries and greens, have been found to douse systemic inflammation significantly better than the same number of servings of more common low-antioxidant fruits and veggies, such as bananas and lettuce. [2015] - Michael Greger

Red meat is strongly associated with cancer in the esophagus itself, whereas poultry is more strongly associated with cancer down around the stomach-esophagus border. The most protective foods for cancer at the esophagus-stomach border appear to be red, orange, and dark-green leafy vegetables, berries, apples, and citrus fruits. In a randomized clinical trial of powdered strawberries in patients with precancerous lesions in their esophagus, subjects ate 1-2 ounces of freeze-dried strawberries every day for 6 months--that's the daily equivalent of about a pound of fresh strawberries. The progression of the disease was reversed in about 80% of the patients in the high-dose strawberry group. [2015] - Michael Greger

Waist-to-Height Ratio, or WHtR, is a better tool than BMI that we can use to gauge the health risks of body fat. Stand up straight and take a deep breath, exhale, and let it all hang out. The circumference of your belly (halfway between the top of your hip bones and the bottom of your rib cage) should be half your height--ideally, less. If that measurement is more than half your height, it's time to start eating healthier and exercising more regardless of your weight. [2015] - Michael Greger

The American Heart Association defines "normal" blood pressure as a systolic pressure under 120 and a diastolic pressure under 80--or 120/80. Anything above 140/90 is considered hypertensive. Values in between are considered prehypertensive. The 140/90 threshold for hypertension is considered an arbitrary cutoff. There are benefits to having a blood pressure that is even lower than the "normal" range. So even people who start out with a so-called normal blood pressure of 120/80 appear to benefit from going down to 110/70. [2015] - Michael Greger

Try to buy foods with fewer milligrams of sodium on the label than there are grams in the serving size. For example, if it's a 100 g serving size, the product should have less than 100 mg of sodium. Alternatively, you can shoot for fewer milligrams of sodium per serving than there are calories. Most people get around 2,200 calories a day, so if everything you ate had more calories than sodium, you would probably make it at least under the Dietary Guidelines for Americans' upper limit of 2,300 mg of sodium a day. Ideally, though, you'd buy mostly food without any labels at all. It's considered almost impossible to come up with a diet consisting of unprocessed natural foods that exceeds the strict 1,500 mg a day American Heart Association guidelines for sodium reduction. [2015] - Michael Greger

Here is a simple recipe for a whole-food version of a tasty cranberry beverage, what I call my Pink Juice: Place 1 handful fresh or frozen cranberries, 2 cups water and 8 teaspoons erythritol (a naturally derived low-calorie sweetener) in a blender and blend at high speed. Pour over ice and serve. This recipe has 25 times fewer calories and at least 8 times more phytonutrients than typical cranberry juice drinks. For extra boost, blend in some fresh mint leaves. You'll get a weird-looking green foam on top, but you're chugging down berries and dark, leafy greens, two of the healthiest foods on the planet. [2015] - Michael Greger

Combinations of antioxidants like vitamin A, vitamin E, and beta-carotene in pill form were associated with increased risk of death in those who took them. Supplements contain only a select few antioxidants, whereas your body relies on hundreds of them, all working synergistically to create a network to help the body dispose of free radicals. High doses of a single antioxidant may upset this delicate balance and may actually diminish your body's ability to fight cancer. [2015] - Michael Greger

Flaxseed is a safe, low-cost source of nutrition and may reduce tumor-proliferation rates. Make sure to grind the flaxseeds first if you don't buy them preground--otherwise, the seeds may pass right through your body undigested. [2015] - Michael Greger

Research has found that flaxseed can be used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Eating garlic and onions has been associated with significantly lower risk of BPH. In general, cooked vegetables may work better than raw ones, and legumes--beans, chickpeas, split peas, and lentils--have also been associated with lower risk. [2015] - Michael Greger

As you age, your risk of developing and dying from cancer grows every year--until you hit eighty-five or ninety, when, interestingly, your cancer risk begins to drop. In deed, if you don't get cancer by a certain age, you may never get it. What accounts for this relative resistance to cancer among centenarians? It may have to do with a cancer-promoting growth hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The release of IGF-1 appears to be triggered by the consumption of animal protein. Vegetarians who include eggs and dairy in their diets don't seem to achieve a significant reduction in IGF-1. Only men and women who limit their intake of all animal proteins appear able to significantly drop their levels of the cancer-promoting hormone and raise their levels of the protective binding proteins. [2015] - Michael Greger

Just one round-trip, cross-country flight may subject you to about the same level of radiation as a chest x-ray. The research team found that green, leafy vegetables like spinach and kale appear to have an edge over other vegetables and fruits when it comes to radiation protection. Other common foods that may be protective against radiation damage include garlic, turmeric, goji berries, and mint leaves, but none of these has been tested in clinical studies. [2015] - Michael Greger

Aspirin may lower the risk of cancer. Its active ingredient, salicylic acid, is widely found in many of the fruits and vegetables in the plant kingdom. Herbs and spices contain the highest concentrations. Chili powder, paprika, and turmeric are rich in the compound, but cumin has the most per serving. Indeed, just one teaspoon of ground cumin may be about the equivalent of a baby aspirin. This may help explain why India, with its spice-rich diets, has among the lowest worldwide rates of colorectal cancer--the cancer that appears most sensitive to the effects of aspirin. And the spicier, the better! [2015] - Michael Greger

Premedicating with eight drops' worth of peppermint essential oil four hours before a colonoscopy was found to significantly reduce colon spasms, patient pain, and make the scope easier to insert and withdraw compared with a placebo. If you do need a colonoscopy, ask your doctor about using this simple plant remedy. It might make it easier on both of you. [2015] - Michael Greger

Sometimes, processing can make foods healthier. For example, tomato juice appears to be the one common juice that may actually be healthier than the whole fruit. the processing of tomato products boosts the availability of the antioxidant red pigment lycopene by as much as fivefold. Similarly, the removal of fat from cacao beans to make cocoa powder improves the nutritional profile. Using my definition of "nothing bad added, nothing good taken away", steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and even (plain) instant oatmeal can be considered unprocessed. [2015] - Michael Greger

If you have to cook and just want the cheapest, easiest way to make healthy meals, I highly recommend dietitian Jeff Novick's Fast Food DVD series. Using common staples like canned beans, frozen vegetables, quick-cook whole grains, and spice mixes, Jeff shows you how you can feed your family healthfully in no time for about four dollars a day per person. The DVDs also include grocery store walk-throughs, shopping tips, and information on how to decipher nutrition labels. Check out this cooking series at jeffnovick.com/RD/DVDs.html. [2015] - Michael Greger

Everyone should try to incorporate one tablespoon of ground flaxseeds into his or her daily diet, in addition to a serving of nuts or other seeds. A quarter cup of nuts is considered a serving, or two tablespoons of nut or seed butters, including peanut butter. (Chestnuts and coconuts don't nutritionally count as nuts.) I also recommend one-quarter teaspoon a day of the spice turmeric, along with any other (salt-free) herbs and spices you may enjoy. [2015] - Michael Greger

Edamame is about as whole a soy food as you can get. After all, these are soybeans still in their pods. You can buy them frozen and just throw a handful into some boiling water anytime you want a healthy snack. They cook in about 5 minutes. All you need to do is strain them and, if you're like me, crack lots of fresh pepper onto the pods and nibble the beans right out. (You can also buy them pre-shelled, but then they're not as fun to eat.) [2015] - Michael Greger

Canned beans are as healthy as boiled beans--with one exception: sodium. Salt is often added to canned beans, resulting in sodium levels up to 100 times more than if you cooked them without any salt. I recommend purchasing the no-salt-added varieties and cooking with the bean liquid in whatever dish you're whipping up. The only legumes I have the patience to cook from scratch are lentils. They cook quickly and don't need to be presoaked. You can just simmer them as you would pasta, in a pot with an abundance of water, for about half an hour. [2015] - Michael Greger