It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Dr. Greger’s evidence-based approach to nutrition.

We live in a time of catchy headlines that proclaim things like “Champagne boosts brain health” without:

a) Demonstrating causation and not just correlation using a double-blinded study on human participants (ie, not rats drinking champagne)

b) Taking into consideration the other health impacts of that food

People love good news about foods they love to eat, myself included! But if a friend in an unhappy relationship received a nice gift from their significant other would we suddenly encourage them to stay with that person? We should be cautious about letting one exciting headline form our impression about foods.

Enter Dr. Greger. He combs through research publications and summarizes the evidence on nutrition topics and puts them into laymen’s terms for the rest of us in short videos on his nonprofit site Nutritionfacts.org. His book “How Not To Die” summarizing current data on food and health is 562 pages long, and 133 pages of that are citations for every study mentioned in the book.

I love watching his videos and reading about the health benefits of specific foods in his book, but while it’s fascinating to read about mushrooms reducing breast cancer risk or cardamom boosting our immune system, it’s nice to have a quick summary of which foods someone with his level of expertise would recommend we eat regularly.

So if you have 10 minutes, check out this video where Dr. Greger explains what he tries to eat just about every day based on the evidence.

I find the more of these foods I incorporate into my daily routine, the healthier I eat and the better I feel, not just because of how good these foods are, but also because of what I no longer have room to eat because I had that piece of fruit instead.

 

You can share a direct link to the video by accessing it on Dr. Greger’s non-profit website Nutritionfacts.org here: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dr-gregers-daily-dozen-checklist/

How do I “Daily Dozen”?

Here are some common ways I check off the boxes.

• Beans – hummus on toast or as a salad dressing, hummus and vegetables, white bean dip and whole grain crackers, burritos, black bean enchiladas
• Berries – smoothies, as a side for dessert, on top of whole grain pancakes for breakfast, as a snack, topping oatmeal
• Other Fruits – snack, smoothies, sides for lunch, on oatmeal or in salads
• Cruciferous Vegetables – cauliflower based cream sauces, kale toast, broccoli in stir fries, kale chips
• Greens – added to soups, steamed on top of hummus slathered toast, shredded in wraps, microgreens used to garnish foods, green smoothies
• Other Vegetables – sliced raw as a side for meals, cooked in soups, in sandwich wraps, baked into whole grain muffins, mixed into rice bowls or stir fries
• Flaxseeds – added to smoothies, sprinkled on oatmeal, used as a binder for baked goods
• Nuts & Seeds – snacks, peanut butter and fruit/jelly/chocolatechip sandwiches, sprinkled on salads or on top of avocado toast, cashew based sour cream
• Spices & herbs – added to hummus, soups, stir fries etc, herbs sprinkled onto rice bowls, stir fries or soups to add flavor
• Whole Grains – toast, rice bowls, whole grain pastas, baked goods, oatmeal, oatmeal “breakfast” cookies, oats added to smoothies
• Drinks – water, black coffee, teas (black, green and herbal – decaf after 10 a.m.)
• Exercise – I think you guys know how I get this done

 

Here are a few examples of meals over the last 10 days that looked pretty enough to photograph. I’ve been focused on greens recently after realizing I’d gotten out of the habit of eating them daily, so they’re highly represented below.

The rice bowl below has whole grain wild rice mixed with mushrooms, teriyaki glazed chickpeas, shredded kale, cilantro, and microgreens. It checks off both greens boxes, two beans, herbs, and two whole grains.

This hummus slathered whole grain toast topped with paprika and microgreens checks off 1-2 greens boxes, 1 beans, spices, and 1-2 whole grains.

These smoothie jars that I prepped and tossed in the freezer contain greens, a serving of fruit, some whole grains, a whole serving of flax seeds. Other flavors usually have half to one serving of berries.

This kale toast is another good greens, grains and beans combo – top it with walnuts and it’s at least 5 checkboxes. That’s two servings of greens (half a bunch of steamed kale) right there on that toast, and it’s an energizing breakfast or a filling lunch if you add a side of fruit.

Happy eating! Eat to live, and you’ll fall in love with the amazing potential of maximizing the percentage of healthy foods in your daily diet! Besides, strawberries taste good. Really good. You don’t even need the champagne.