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

121 " to try to bean-up any dish, we always have a purple (or red) cabbage in the crisper to help us cruciferize our meals. I slice off shreds and garnish nearly anything with them. Red cabbage averages about one dollar per pound,17 is found at pretty much any grocery store or market, can last weeks in the fridge (though if it does, that means you’re not using it enough!), and has more antioxidants per dollar than anything else you’ll find in the produce aisle. There are healthier foods you can buy, but not for the same amount of money. "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

123 " Broccoli sprout seeds can be purchased online or at natural foods stores for about twenty dollars a pound, but that makes about seventy-five cups of sprouts. In terms of sulforaphane content, that may be around three hundred cups of mature broccoli. So DIY broccoli sprouts provide a green-light sulforaphane source for about a nickel a day. Sprouting broccoli sprouts is as easy as sprouting lentils. Start with a mason jar with a sprouting (screen) lid. Add a tablespoon of seeds, let them soak overnight in water, drain in the morning, and then after that, just quickly rinse and drain twice a day. Most people wait for about five days, until the seeds fully sprout (taking on the look of alfalfa sprouts), but new science suggests sulforaphane content peaks at forty-eight hours after the seeds are initially drained.20 This makes them even quicker and easier to grow and eat. "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

125 " Drinking just one can of soda a day appears to raise the odds of getting fatty liver disease by 45 percent.25 Meanwhile, those who eat the meat equivalent of fourteen chicken nuggets or more daily have nearly triple the rate of fatty liver disease compared to people who eat seven nuggets’ worth or less.26 "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

127 " Dr. Ornish “realized reimbursement is a much more powerful determinant of medical practice than research.”97 "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

129 " Heart Disease Starts in Childhood In 1953, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association radically changed our understanding of the development of heart disease. Researchers conducted a series of three hundred autopsies on American casualties of the Korean War, with an average age of around twenty-two. Shockingly, 77 percent of soldiers already had visible evidence of coronary atherosclerosis. Some even had arteries that were blocked off 90 percent or more.20 The study “dramatically showed that atherosclerotic changes appear in the coronary arteries years and decades before the age at which coronary heart disease (CHD) becomes a clinically recognized problem.”21 Later studies of accidental death victims between the ages of three and twenty-six found that fatty streaks—the first stage of atherosclerosis—were found in nearly all American children by age ten.22 By the time we reach our twenties and thirties, these fatty streaks can turn into full-blown plaques like those seen in the young American GIs of the Korean War. And by the time we’re forty or fifty, they can start killing us off. If there’s anyone reading this over the age of ten, the question isn’t whether or not you want to eat healthier to prevent heart disease but whether or not you want to reverse the heart disease you very likely already have. Just how early do these fatty streaks start to appear? Atherosclerosis may start even before birth. Italian researchers looked inside arteries taken from miscarriages and premature newborns who died shortly after birth. It turns out that the arteries of fetuses whose mothers had high LDL cholesterol levels were more likely to contain arterial lesions.23 This finding suggests that atherosclerosis may not just start as a nutritional disease of childhood but one during pregnancy. It’s become commonplace for pregnant women to avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. It’s also never too early to start eating healthier for the next generation. "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

131 " The dietary cholesterol found in eggs, meat, and dairy can become oxidized and then set off a chain reaction that results in excess fat in the liver.31 When the concentration of cholesterol in your liver cells gets too high, it can crystallize like a stick of rock and result in inflammation. This process is similar to the way uric acid crystals cause gout "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

133 " The researchers noted that their most important finding may be that cholesterol consumption was a strong predictor of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Those consuming the amount of cholesterol found in two Egg McMuffins34 or more each day appeared to double their risk of hospitalization or death.35 "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

135 " Can Strawberries Reverse the Development of Esophageal Cancer? Esophageal cancer joins pancreatic cancer as one of the gravest diagnoses imaginable. The five-year survival rate is less than 20 percent,124 with most people dying within the first year after diagnosis.125 This underscores the need to prevent, stop, or reverse the disease process as early as possible. Researchers decided to put berries to the test. In a randomized clinical trial of powdered strawberries in patients with precancerous lesions in their esophagus, subjects ate one to two ounces of freeze-dried strawberries every day for six months—that’s the daily equivalent of about a pound of fresh strawberries.126 All of the study participants started out with either mild or moderate precancerous disease, but, amazingly, the progression of the disease was reversed in about 80 percent of the patients in the high-dose strawberry group. Most of these precancerous lesions either regressed from moderate to mild or disappeared entirely. Half of those on the high-dose strawberry treatment walked away disease-free.127 "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

137 " viruses present in poultry and poultry products may then be transmitted to those in the general population who handle or eat inadequately cooked chicken.47 These results were replicated recently in the largest such investigation to date, studying more than twenty thousand workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants. They confirmed the findings of three other studies to date: Workers in these facilities do have increased risk of dying from certain cancers, including cancers of the blood.48 Researchers are "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

139 " Whenever I’m boiling pasta, for example, I’ll add a bunch of fresh greens to the pot a few minutes before I’m ready to drain the pasta. I know I’ll be losing some nutrients when I pour off the cooking water, but it’s worth it to me for the convenience of throwing everything into one pot and getting my family to eat even more greens. "

― Michael Greger , How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease