We are almost at the end of the 1st quarter of 2022 “ are you keeping up your health nutritional promises? Here are Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen. He recommends that every day we consume…
To increase your chances of spending more time with your grandkids and great-grandkids, consider heeding Greger’s Daily Dozen. He recommends that every day you consume…
- Three servings of beans. The most comprehensive analysis of diet and cancer ever performed recommends that we eat whole grains and/or beans (legumes) with every meal. Not every week or every day.Every meal.
- Two servings of greens. Those may include kale, arugula, sorrel, spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens or turnip greens. Dark green leafy vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet, offering the highest nutrient density per calorie.
- Two servings of other vegetables, including asparagus, artichokes, beets, carrots, peppers, corn, onions, potatoes, snap peas, squash, tomatoes or zucchini. A wide diversity of vegetables provides you with the greatest health benefits.
- At least one serving of berries. Strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are the healthiest fruits – and loaded with anti-aging, anti-cancer antioxidants.
- Three servings a day of other fruits: oranges, apricots, bananas, grapefruit, peaches, pears, pomegranates, mangoes, etc. (Greger says people who claim they don’t have time to eat healthfully have never met an apple.)
- One tablespoon of ground flaxseed. You can sprinkle it on yogurt, salads, whatever. Flaxseed averages 100 times more lignans than any other food and may even reduce tumor-proliferation rates.
- Three servings of whole grains. These include brown or wild rice, barley, oats (or oatmeal), quinoa, millet, rye, whole-wheat pasta and popcorn.
- At least one serving of cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, collards, kale or Brussels sprouts. Greger calls this the single most important change you can make to your diet. Cruciferous vegetables may cut the risk of cancer progression by 50%.
- One serving of nuts or seeds, including almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chia seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and walnuts. No food is more highly correlated with human longevity than nuts.
- One-quarter teaspoon of ground turmeric. Research shows that curcumin – the bright yellow chemical found in turmeric – may play a role in preventing lung disease, brain disease and a variety of cancers, including multiple myeloma, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer. Greger calls turmeric the closest thing he knows to “a magic pill.”
- Five glasses of water. You can get some of that through coffee or – better still – green tea.
- One serving of exercise, ideally either 45 minutes of vigorous exercise (like running) or 90 minutes of moderate exercise (like brisk walking). In addition to helping you maintain a healthy body weight, exercise can ward off mild cognitive decline, boost your immune system, prevent high blood pressure, bolster your memory, enhance your mood and improve your sleep quality.