Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

by T. Colin Campbell

What you eat every day is a far more powerful determinant of your health than your DNA or most of the nasty chemicals lurking in your environment. ♦ The foods you consume can heal you faster and more profoundly than the most expensive prescription drugs, and more dramatically than the most extreme surgical interventions, with only positive side effects. ♦ Those food choices can prevent cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, macular degeneration, migraines, erectile dysfunction, and arthritis—and that’s only the short list. ♦ It’s never too late to start eating well. A good diet can reverse many of those conditions as well.

The ideal human diet looks like this: Consume plant-based foods in forms as close to their natural state as possible (“whole” foods). Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, raw nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, and whole grains. Avoid heavily processed foods and animal products. Stay away from added salt, oil, and sugar. Aim to get 80 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein.