How Not to Die | Michael Greger, MD

Jan 31, 2025

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The American diet is the leading cause of death among Americans. Accumulating medical evidence now shows that poor diet not only contributes to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, but also to cancer, Alzheimer's disease, liver disease, and much more. Despite its direct and indirect roles in causing half or more of all deaths, food is not something doctors learn about in their training, nor is it something that's emphasized enough to patients by the medical establishment.

Our guest on this episode is Michael Greger, MD, a specialist in lifestyle medicine and one of the most trusted voices in evidence based nutrition and public health. He is the internationally best selling author of How Not to Die (2015), How Not to Diet (2019), and How Not to Age (2023).

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Greger shares his approach to healthy living, focusing on the surprising power of whole-food, largely plant-based diets in transforming our bodies at a molecular level. He discusses strategies for helping patients and ourselves achieve behavioral change and explores how our brains and palates are rewired by processed foods, how we can reverse this, the ethics of patient counseling around lifestyle interventions, why there is such a mismatch between nutrition beliefs and behaviors among physicians, and his most high-yield recommendations for starting your journey to eating well.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:45 - How Dr. Greger’s grandmother’s miraculous recovery due to diet change inspired him to build a career in nutrition science

6:58 - The disconnect that exists between the American medical system and the science of nutrition

13:57 - Why nutrition education is lacking in American medical training

21:31 - Issues with compliance among patients trying to adopt a lifestyle of healthy eating

28:00 - Supporting patients who are not interested in preventative healthcare measures

35:15 - Navigating the confusing and often conflicting landscape of nutritional studies

43:20 - Whether there is a universal dietary recommendation

46:49 - Simple ways to improve your diet, starting today

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