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“Why do some people live to be 100 and others not?” This is the opening proposition given by Dr Michael Greger in his latest TEDx talk. The physician and bestselling author was speaking at his third TEDx event in a longevity summit edition of the talks held in Boston. He was joined by two fellow plant-based experts, Dr Columbus Batiste, known as the Healthy Heart Doc online, and Toni MacAskill, a researcher at Plant Chompers.
Dr Greger began the longevity talk by discussing data from Blue Zones, areas in the world where the local people live unusually long lives. “The Blue Zones organization distilled findings from the 150 dietary surveys from the world’s longest living people to create a set of 10 food guidelines. The foundation of the Blue Zones food guideline is to make your diet at least 95% plant-based, avoiding highly processed foods, emphasizing beans as the healthiest source of protein, water is the best beverage, and nuts as the healthiest snack.
“The final five guidelines are to go easy on fish, eliminate eggs, slash sugar, reduce dairy, and retreat from meat. There are a number of Blue Zone lifestyle characteristics: avoiding smoking, daily exercise. But plant-based nutrition is considered to be the principal component. No surprise, since the number one risk factor for death in these United States is the American diet.”
Read more: The Best 5 Foods To Eat For Longevity, According To Dr Greger
His speech was given in tandem with a screen showing the graphs, studies, and data from which he was drawing evidence from. He illustrated that the Standard American Diet is the top cause of USA mortality, placed above tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption.
“Cigarettes only kills about half a million Americans every year, whereas our diet kills many more,” he added.
Never too late to add years to your life with whole plant foods
Speaking about when is the best point in life to switch to a whole plant foods diet, the answer is now, whatever age you are.
“For the few of us who aren’t 20 anymore, not to worry. Starting to eat healthier at age 60 could still mean adding eight or nine years to your life. Even in one’s 80s, it could add years, and it doesn’t take much.”
Dr Greger spent portions of the 12-minute talk speaking about how heart disease can potentially be both prevented and even reversed by a whole foods diet. He also presented the data on two of the other leading causes of mortality in western countries, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and the role the diet can play in preventing them.
Read more: Is A Plant-Based Diet Healthy? What You Need To Know
Who is Dr Greger, and what foods does he recommend eating?
Dr Greger has become one of the most recognisable advocates of the whole foods plant-based diet, often abbreviated to ‘WFPB’. The plant-based physician is the author of the New York Times bestselling titles How Not to Die, How Not to Diet, and How Not to Age. He also founded NutritionFacts.org, where he shares the latest scientific evidence about foods and diets and videos.
The WFPB diet revolves around meals rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), whole grains, and some healthy fats (for example, nuts, seeds, and avocado). Dr Greger recommends reducing processed food as much as possible, with a few exceptions such as tofu and tempeh. He is known for strongly advising people to avoid meat, dairy, eggs, and other animal-based foods as much as possible.
Read more: Dairy Is Worse Than Coca-Cola, Says Leading Longevity Expert
