How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

by Michael Greger

If you don’t believe me, try roasting red bell peppers, brussels sprouts, beets, or squash. Never thought you

Dr. Greger’s Favorite Flaxseeds Golden or brown Serving Size: 1 tablespoon ground Daily Recommendation: 1 serving per day

Honestly, it’s pretty easy to make your own flax crackers. Mix two cups of ground flaxseeds with a cup of water, add whatever herbs and spices you want, and then spread the dough thinly on a parchment- or silicone-lined baking sheet. Score the dough into thirty-two crackers and bake at 400°F for about twenty minutes. To flavor mine, I use a half teaspoon each of smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder, but you should play around until you find a (salt-free) spice profile you prefer.

Flaxseeds have a wonderful binding quality that makes them a great ingredient for thick, milkshake-like smoothies. Toss a tablespoon of ground flax into a blender with some frozen berries, unsweetened soy milk, and half a ripe banana or mango or a few dates for sweetness, and you have a delicious drink containing both classes of protective phytoestrogens—lignans in flax and isoflavones in soy. (See chapter 11.) Blend in some cocoa powder for a chocolate milkshake that could help improve your chances of both preventing and surviving breast and prostate cancers.

One of my favorite treats is dipping fresh strawberries into a decadent chocolate sauce. All you need is a half cup of an unsweetened milk, one tablespoon of chia seeds, one tablespoon of cocoa, one teaspoon of almond butter, and sweetener to taste. (I use one tablespoon of erythritol, discussed here.) Mix all the ingredients, and heat until the almond butter melts and the sweetener dissolves. Pour into a bowl, whisk until smooth, and put it in the fridge to cool. The chia and fiber from the cocoa powder help it thicken into an indulgent delight. (You can grind up the chia seeds first, but I like the tapioca-like texture the little chia balls form.)

¼ teaspoon of turmeric, along with any other (salt-free) herbs and spices you enjoy

You can whip up a pumpkin pie smoothie in less than three minutes. Simply blend a can of pumpkin purée, a handful of frozen cranberries and pitted dates, pumpkin pie spice to taste, a quarter-inch turmeric slice (or quarter-teaspoon of powder), and unsweetened soy milk to reach your preferred consistency.

lemon-ginger apple chews

Try making my lemon-ginger apple chews: In a blender, liquefy one peeled lemon with a palm-sized “hand” of fresh gingerroot. Use the mixture to coat thin slices of four apples, and then place them in a dehydrator until they reach desired chewiness. I like them a little moist, but you can dehydrate them further to make lemon-ginger apple chips, which store longer than the chews.

Ground cloves are great on stewed pears and baked apples, giving them a pleasant, mulled cider taste, and a mug of chai tea is a fantastic way to pack in a bunch of high-impact common spices at once.

There are two main types of cinnamon: Ceylon cinnamon and cassia cinnamon (also known as Chinese cinnamon). In the United States, anything simply labeled “cinnamon” is probably cassia, since it’s cheaper. This is unfortunate, because cassia contains a compound called coumarin, which may be toxic to the liver at high doses. Unless it’s specifically labeled Ceylon cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon even a few times a week may be too much for small children, and a daily teaspoon would exceed the tolerable upper safety limit for adults.111 Can’t you just switch to Ceylon cinnamon and get the benefits without the risks?

The first double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled gluten challenge was published in 2011. Patients complaining of irritable bowel–type symptoms who claimed they felt better on a gluten-free diet—despite not having celiac disease—were tested to see if they could tell if bread and muffins they were given contained gluten or were gluten-free. All the subjects started out gluten-free and symptom-free for two weeks, and then were challenged with one of the two types of bread and muffins. Even those who ate the gluten-free placebo products felt worse, meaning they started out on a gluten-free diet and continued on a gluten-free diet, yet they reported feeling crampy and bloated. This is what’s called the nocebo effect. The placebo effect takes place when you give patients something useless and they feel better; the nocebo effect occurs when you give someone something harmless and they feel worse. Nevertheless, the subjects who received actual gluten felt even worse. So the researchers concluded that non-celiac gluten intolerance may indeed exist.

I suggest using the Five-to-One Rule. When buying healthier, 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 five or less (see figure 7). For example, let’s see if 100 percent whole-wheat Wonder Bread passes the test: Per serving, the package lists 30 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber. Thirty divided by 3 is 10. Well, 10 is more than 5, so the 100 percent whole-wheat Wonder Bread goes back on the shelf even though, technically, it’s a whole-grain product. Compare that to Ezekiel bread, a sprouted-grain bread based on a biblical verse. It has 15 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, and, just like that, passes the test. So do Ezekiel english muffins, which taste great with fruit-only jam and nut butter.

But you know, water can be so boring. So try adding fresh fruit or veggies as they do in fancy spas and upscale hotels. I like adding frozen strawberries in place of ice cubes. Sometimes I add a few drops of a potent juice concentrate, like tart cherry or pomegranate. Cucumber slices, ginger shavings, a cinnamon stick, lavender, and a mint leaf or two are also common refreshing additions. My latest favorite flavor fusions involve mixing tangerine slices and fresh basil or frozen blackberries and fresh sage.

The only two concentrated, green-light sweeteners may be blackstrap molasses and date sugar.

To eight cups of water, add a handful of bulk dried hibiscus or four bags of tea in which hibiscus is the first ingredient. Then add the juice of one lemon and three tablespoons of erythritol, and leave it in your fridge to cold-brew overnight. In the morning, strain out the hibiscus or take out the tea bags, shake well, and drink throughout the day.

For extra credit, add green foam: Pour a cup of the tea into a blender with a bunch of fresh mint leaves, blend on high, and enjoy. You end up with dark-green leafies blended into what may be the highest antioxidant beverage in the world, and it tastes like fruit punch.

In other words, a long and healthy life is largely a matter of choice. In 2015, Dr. Kim Williams became president of the American College of Cardiology. He was asked why he chose to eat a strictly plant-based diet. “I don’t mind dying,” Dr. Williams said. “I just don’t want it to be my fault.”19